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 ...
Good News for Nagin who is only responsible for a tenth as many negligent homicides as he was yesterday.
Translation: We need to find a different stick to beat GWB with, I think there was an earthquake in New Guinea that he slept through...
Didn't someone post a vanity on this forum a week ago that predicted exactly this?
Why is the MSM so lacking in common sense?
Not 10,000 bodies that the Slimes, Compost and LSM have been reporting?
Well TDIDS!!!
There is quite a current thru these canals, and while there are locks upstream, but the breach was right next to the lake.
The surge in the lake topped the levee along a broad front, but only broke it in a couple places. There is no lock on the levee adjacent to the lake.
The area in lower right is the lake. You can see it totally whiped out the lake side wall of the levee.
It used to look like this
I was surprised there wasn't a second defensive dike...inside of that one between that one and downtown...even a ring of higher ground...when you look at that photo downtown looks like a long way away...
The only list I've seen is the missing persons database on nola.com (the Times Picayune web site). But it isn't organized (it consists of roughly 500 messages from people trying to find loved ones). One wonders how many of the poorest and most vulnerable residents in NO have relatives with internet access.
"The surge in the lake topped the levee along a broad front, but only broke it in a couple places. There is no lock on the levee adjacent to the lake.
The area in lower right is the lake. You can see it totally whiped out the lake side wall of the levee."
Nice pics - notice all the debris that almost camed the canal at the bridge - its a shame they did not tow some hulls and sink them there - a couple dozen 40' sloops with 10,000 lb keels and tarps strung over the side would have plugged it.
I think NRO had a link yesterday to a big list of people seeking people - it was big
"I'm betting virtually all of them got out. "
From your mouth to God's ear.
"Democrats have urged the appointment of an independent panel like the Sept. 11 commission."
We all know how well that worked out!
I'm sure that the looters will all turn over their weapons too.
I guess that is one way to make people leave. "You can stay, but you won't be able to defend yourself from anyone who wants to rob, rape or murder you. Have a nice day."
The media started backing off this story two days ago. Rather than blast the idiot mayor who was throwing the figure around, Reuters said the hero mayor maybe did it to get the White House moving. So, the mayor lies...thousands didn't die and whose fault is it? Who do we blame,
BUSH, Of course.
ROTFLMAO.....YOU ARE SO RIGHT..ALSO LOVE YOUR SENSE
OF HUMOR......JAKE
The lowest number of dead bodies found, the better off everything will be. Last Tuesday night a FReeper had reports from ground zero in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, that placed the numbers in the thousands. Originally I thought 500-1000 people would turn up dead. Someone else said 10K! Another said 25K!! Lets all hope and pray for a low body count.
That's close to my prediction of 4700 TOTAL (LA, MI, and AL).
Is that higher or lower than the number that would have been murdered in New Orleans on a normal Friady night?
I wonder how many of those gators were shipped into N O from FL by Jeb Bush to get rid of the evidence?
All of them , God knows there are no gators in Louisana.
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