Mayor: Katrina May Have Killed Thousands ~~ Full Report from AP

Las Vegas Sun ^ | August 31, 2005 at 17:15:29 PDT | BRETT MARTEL ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If the mayor's estimate holds true, it would make Katrina the nation's deadliest hurricane since 1900, when a storm in Galveston, Texas, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. The death toll in the San Francisco earthquake and the resulting fire has been put at anywhere from about 500 to 6,000.

[zendari]

Not surprising.

[Mamzelle]

I'm unimpressed by both NO's mayor and LA's governor. They appear inept. Fox News has reported that they can't even get messages communicated to the stranded residents via police--the common theme..."Tell us where to go, and how to get out of the city."

I don't see Mary Landrieu interviewed, either...and both the mayor and guv seem to have gone into hiding.

[longshadow]

"Lt. Kevin Cowan of the state Office of Emergency Preparedness..... " [emphasis added]

Unintentional Irony Award winner....

[BunnySlippers]

This not meant to be taken as criticism ... but did the states (primarily NO) have any semi-firm contingency plans if the city flooded?

[HangnJudge]

But the Mayor of New Orleans didn't
call for a mandatory evacuation
The Governor of Louisiana didn't order
the evacuation, it required the intervention of the
POTUS to force the issue.

The locals looked like deer in the headlights
Incompetent, indecisive, inadequate to task.

[Sometimes A River]

How did Bush manage to cause such a huge storm in 1900?

[WorkingClassFilth]

Uh, not to nitpick here, but...

"Sections of Interstate 10, the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, lay shattered, dozens of huge slabs of concrete floating in the floodwaters."

[Sometimes A River]

Blanco Babineaux looked like someone had kicked her in the gut...

She needs to get a grip.

[Howlin]

You can't actually *see* Mary Landrieu; she's standing behind Blanco, whispering the answers in her ear.

[JABBERBONK]

The idiot mayor had not the insight to get all the school busses to high ground, and full of gas??? amazing. New Orleans has been under the gun for decades..this is a collasal breach of the public trust!!!!

[apackof2]

With 50,000 to 100,000 staying in NO, I am not suprised by the death toll....how terribly, terribly tragic

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

AMEN!

[LibFreeOrDie]

Not just bodies floating in the streets. Many more are in the flooded houses. And not only in NOLA, but also in Mississippi. And I heard NOLA is pulling crews away from search/rescue to help guard against looters, so there'll probably be more casualties because of the delay.

Link to video "Searching for Bodies" at http://www.cnn.com/

Shows rescue crew breaking into boarded up homes finding dead families. That's just in one small neighborhood in Mississippi...

[My Favorite Headache]

Orlando Salinas in Gulf Port,Mississippi adding to what I reported here last night...18-wheelers are being stocked with dead bodies, the call is being made for help pulling bodies out of homes along the coast. Entire families are dead from drowning in their homes and under rubble.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Thanks for trying to post this info earlier on the threads that got pulled. That video certainly confirms what you posted last night, too.

[fortunecookie]

Dear me, as many as 100,000 people still there? What a logistical nightmare, evacuating them and even finding some of them. And where will they go? New layers of devastation and nightmare keep unfolding.

[JimSEA]

Prior to the storm several posters asked about the use of city buses and school buses to evacuate. I can only contrast the NO Mayor's leadership with advance warning with Guliani's leadership with no warning. Ah Well, Bush will be blamed by the Lord High Journalists anyhow.

[benjaminjjones]

I don't see Mary Landrieu interviewed

She's on Larry King right now. Not a bad looking woman, even if she's a DemonRat.

I only have CNN on because my Foxnews has gone dead. It's painful, but educational.