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B.R. airport openThe Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is open, said Bill Profita, spokesman for the airport. It has not been shut down to accommodate relief efforts, as some sources have reported, he said. Updates as they come in on Katrina11:59 AM CDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005
11:58 A.M. - SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah's religious congregations are working with national relief organizations to help ship relief supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finished loading the last of fourteen trucks headed for the area yesterday. Pallets of sleeping bags, tents and other relief supplies were transferred from the Mormon church's central storehouse to trucks headed to Louisiana and Mississippi.Church spokesman Dale Bills says several LDS church buildings in the area are being used as emergency shelters, as well.
11:44 A.M. - St. Bernard Parish official Walter Leger - thousands still trapped in St. Bernard. Thousands more are staying on the levee and are being taken by ferry to Algiers.
11:42 A.M. - Leger: For friends and family of people in St. Bernard - help is on the way.
11:42 A.M. - Leger: "We will rebuild."
11:41 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis: There is no gasoline in St. Tammany Parish. If you enter, you will be stranded if you run out of fuel. Do not attempt to cross St. Tammany to reach any areas on the south shore. ALL bridges are closed. Most have severe structural damage or are closed indefinitely for safety reasons. THERE IS NO ACCESS TO NEW ORLEANS OR ITS IMMEDIATE SUBURBS FROM ST. TAMMANY PARISH.
11:31 A.M. - (AP) BURBANK, Calif. -- A shaken and emotional Ellen DeGeneres says her 82-year-old aunt had to quickly evacuate her home in Pass Christian, Mississippi, as Hurricane Katrina headed toward the Gulf Coast.
DeGeneres, who was born in Metairie, says her childhood was filled with weekends at her aunt Helen Currie's home in Mississippi, just over the state line from New Orleans. DeGeneres told A-P Radio yesterday that her aunt lost everything.
11:26 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims, the White House said Thursday.
11:23 A.M. - (AP) Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, survivors are growing more frustrated with the lack of help after Hurricane Katrina.
One man says, "No one has thought enough of us to even bring us a cup of water."
Daniel Edwards says many people have gone days without food or water. He says tens of thousands of people are standing on the streets with no sign of emergency workers.
Several bodies lie scattered around. Edwards pointed to an elderly lady dead in a wheelchair and said, "I don't treat my dog like that." He says he buried his dog.
11:21 A.M. - (AP) Desperation continues mixing with random lawlessness inside some New Orleans stores.
The looting goes on, even after the city pulled some police officers off relief duty and ordered them to go after people who are ransacking shelves.
One woman was sobbing uncontrollably as she loaded children's clothing and snack food into bags to take to her kids in a shelter.
Another man approached a reporter with an armful of toothpaste and deodorant and said he was only taking personal hygiene products -- and not anything he could "get drunk or high with."
A woman on a bike played it safe -- riding up to a drug store and asking others if any arrests were being made. When she was told no, she said she's diabetic and needed to find test strips.
11:13 A.M. - WHITE HOUSE (AP) -- President Bush says while Nine-Eleven was a man-made attack and Hurricane Katrina natural, their aftermath is "just as serious."
Bush tells ABC "New Orleans is more devastated than New York was." But, he promises the city will rise again.
He says seeing the destruction from Air Force One was emotional. Bush plans to tour devastated areas tomorrow.
10:52 A.M. - Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said 15,000 people are now without a home in his city. Morris said incidents of looting have occurred. |