Body count rises along Gulf Coast
GULFPORT, Miss. – Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters today as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80.
"The devastation down there is just enormous," Gov. Haley Barbour said on NBC's Today show, the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph and engulfed thousands of homes in one of the most punishing storms on record in the United States.
Barbour said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County—which includes devastated Gulfport and Biloxi—and the number was likely to rise. At least five other deaths across the Gulf Coast were blamed on Katrina.
"We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," the governor said. "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life."
Tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets prevented rescuers from reaching victims. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chain saws to remove trees blocking the road.
Officials said it could be a week or more before many of the evacuees are allowed back. They warned people against trying to return to their homes while the rescue and recovery are still going on.
"What we're doing is trying to make the best of a bad situation, and we need people to cooperate," New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass said.
More than 1,600 Mississippi national guardsmen were activated to help with the recovery, and the Alabama Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi.
In New Orleans, residents who had ridden out the brunt of Katrina faced another threat: rising water. Failed pumps and levees sent water from Lake Pontchartrain coursing through the streets today in the Big Easy, which sits mostly below sea level.
Authorities said rising water forced one New Orleans hospital to move patients to the Louisiana Superdome, where some 10,000 people have taken shelter since late Sunday.
In downtown New Orleans, streets that were relatively clear in the hours after the storm were filled with 1 to 11/2 feet of water. Water was knee-deep around the Superdome. Canal Street was literally a canal. Water lapped at the edge of the French Quarter.
Little islands of red ants floated in the gasoline-fouled waters through downtown. The Hyatt Hotel and other high-rises around the Superdome had rows and rows of shattered windows.
"We know that last night we had over 300 folks that we could confirm were on tops of roofs and waiting for our assistance. We pushed hard all throughout the night. We hoisted over 100 folks last night just in the Mississippi area. Our crews over New Orleans probably did twice that," Capt. Dave Callahan of the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mississippi said on ABC.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on ABC: "The biggest concern is that this whole situation is totally overwhelming. I know the desperation of all of the folks who had evacuated. I know they desperately want to get in. In most cases, it is totally impossible for them to get in. The streets are inundated with water."
In Mississippi late Monday, Harrison County emergency operations center spokesman Jim Pollard said about 50 people had died in the county, with some 30 of the dead at a beachside apartment complex in Biloxi.
"This is our tsunami," Mayor A. J. Holloway told the Biloxi Sun Herald.
In Louisiana, officials said people in some swamped neighborhood were feared dead but gave no immediate numbers.
Katrina's surge also demolished major bridges along the Mississippi coast. The storm swept sailboats onto city streets in Gulfport and obliterated hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks, and condominiums.
A foot of water swamped the emergency operations center at the Hancock County Courthouse – which sits 30 feet above sea level. The back of the courthouse collapsed under the onslaught.
The hurricane knocked out power to more than 1 million people from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and authorities said it could be two months before electricity is restored to everyone. Katrina also disrupted petroleum output in the very center of the U.S. oil-refining industry and rattled energy markets.
According to preliminary assessments by AIR Worldwide Corp., a risk assessment company, the insurance industry faces as much as $26 billion in claims from Katrina. That would make Katrina more expensive than the previous record-setting storm, Hurricane Andrew, which caused some $21 billion in insured losses in 1992 to property in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.
Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on CBS that it will be "quite awhile" before those displaced by the hurricane can return, particularly in areas close to downtown New Orleans. In some places, "it's going to be weeks at least before people can get back."
Mike Spencer of Gulfport made the mistake of trying to ride out the storm in his house. He told NBC that he used his grandson's little surfboard to make his way around the house as the water rose around him.
Finally, he said, "as the house just filled up with water, it forced me into the attic, and then I ended up kicking out the wall and climbing up to a tree because the houses around me were just disappearing."
He said he wrapped himself around a tree branch and waited four or five hours.