NPR said there are rumors of floating corpses, but said none have been confirmed. Streets are largely impassible, trees and shrubbery everywhere. In the Marinie neighborhood, they reported on one looting, the women getting food for their hungry families and the men getting beer. City authorities are calling for evacuation, the NG is to pull trucks up to the Superdome where now about 20000 people are.
The CG coordinator of SAR missions has a dozen copters for the entire coast. He told NPR he flew out to Pascagoula and the devastation was complete there, 90% vanished and 10% wrecked along the beach. The pilots were said to have that look in their eye of utter awe of what they have seen, chopping holes in roofs, beyond anything they could describe, and if MS looks this bad...
WWL Policeman shot by looter... Sherriff:"Get The Hell Out"
Besides the existing flooding, Katrina has been busily dumping rain upstream from NO, which is going to find its way downsream
CSPAN is rebroadcasting both the President's speech where he will return tomorrow, and Blanco talking about impassible interstates, a lot of rooftops, the TV coverage, the breaching of two drainage levees causing the problem. She noted the Dome population is growing with the rescued, and there is insufficient stuff there, so they are working with FEMA to plan (ha!) how to get people out of the untenable situation. Landrieu (?) said St. Bernard, parts of Tammany, etc had more water than she had ever seen, in NO East people on rooftops, etc. She asked those already evacuated to wait for search and rescue to get done first, as every boat is being used to evacuate people.
She said the tsunami area is equivalent to the Indonesian tsunami area, with places that have gone and highways that have vanished, and thousands may not have food, water or shelter.
Another speaker said this is THE most destructive and tragic event in LA.