Posted on 09/09/2005 11:05:16 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Authorities said Friday that their first systematic sweep of the city found far fewer bodies than expected, suggesting that Hurricane Katrina's death toll may not be the catastrophic 10,000 feared.
"I think there's some encouragement in what we've found in the initial sweeps that some of the catastrophic deaths that some people predicted may not have occurred," said Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief.
Ebbert declined to give a new estimate of the dead.
Authorities turned their attention to counting and removing the dead in a grid-by-grid search of the city after spending days cajoling, persuading and all but strong-arming the living into leaving the shattered city because of the danger of fires and disease from the filthy, corpse-laden floodwaters.
"Numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10,000," Ebbert said.
Mayor Ray Nagin had suggested over the weekend that the death toll could climb that high, and authorities ordered 25,000 body bags as they started gathering up the dead across a landscape awash in corpses.
Separately, Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, commanding general of 82nd Airborne Division, said the last of the bodies at the convention center would be taken out on Friday. Thousands of people took shelter there after the hurricane for days with little or no food or water, in what became an increasingly chaotic and violent situation.
In a small sign of progress, authorities said the New Orleans airport will reopen to commercial flights on Sept. 19. Caldwell said water and power are functioning at the airport.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Democrats must be pissed off.......
People actually saved themselves instead of sitting around waiting to die????
and daschle is very concerned..
I worry because the deepest parts have not been drained yet. Are those houses also part of the sweeps? Checking attics?
Nope - the “Voodoo cemetery” came through intact. No graves opened.
But there is a mandatory evacuation going on. People are being challenged at gunpoint for being on the street. It is not economically sensible to keep a hotel open in such circumstances, even if you can get special permission from the authorities to open and employ staff.
You truncated the headline which should read, "Fewer bodies than expected found in swamp; more, fatter alligators observed".
Waiting for Major Owens to claim that 20,000 blacks were eaten by sharks in the Gulf after Katrina washed them away.
Actually, they will probably claim that many were eaten by gators or crocs.
"They are still there???????????????????????"
It's unbelievable, isn't it?
"How many deaths were there at the Superdome?"
There were at least 2, the bodies were shown all over the place. There was one person dead in a wheelchair, and another just lying on the ground.
How the heck they just left these people there, in the middle of the city, for a week just amazes me.
This has to be very disappointing for CNN and the Democrats.
Howidid they get in the Gulf from N.O.?
Shrimpers have been snatching bodies from the waters that may have come from Miss.& lower La.
Did you not read thatCNN is trying to get approval to dig up bodies to show America the Federal Govt failure. They want us to see the "decaying" corps that suffered due to the Federal govt.
I haven't read all the posts yet but does anyone have the current death toll?
Hmmmm, seems like nagin exagerated just a weeeee too much.
The mayor was confused about the casualties since he knew there were 200,000 registered voters (D) that did not show up. The people that normally vote for them had already left town.
I'm new here and in a quandry. I hate the MSM just as much as everyone else but am often forced to watch CNN. I'm deaf and Fox News isn't captioned all the time. I know I can't do anything about it so I watch CNN when necessary with TONS OF GRAINS OF SALT.
Surely, you can't be serious...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.