Woman in Mason lied to get aid, police say
Professed victim of Katrina jailed on fraud charge



(Photo by Rod Sanford/State Journal file photo)

Published September 20, 2005
By Christine Rook
Lansing State Journal[ From the Lansing State Journal ]

Accused: Kim Horn, seen recently with her dog, told the State Journal for a Thursday story she returned to Mason after losing almost everything to Hurricane Katrina. Police say she lied.

MASON - Police on Monday led Kim Horn from the back door of her new home, her hands cuffed behind her back.

The woman who had told the Mason community she lost almost everything to Hurricane Katrina now stands accused of duping the very city where she grew up.

A police officer helped her into the back seat of a marked Ford Explorer.

She ignored a reporter's question, simply smiled at the officer and said in a quiet voice:

"You can close the door."

The door slammed shut, and the Explorer headed to Ingham County Jail, where Horn, 42, was arraigned and bond set at $25,000.

The charge: felony larceny under false pretenses, which carries a prison term of up to five years.

As difficult as it may be to accept, scams are often part of the aftermath of a major disaster. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, there were numerous reports of people grabbing for handfuls of the free aid that came flowing in.

For example, this past year, a woman in Grand Rapids was sentenced to 10 months in jail for wrongly accepting more than $90,000 in aid meant for 9/11 victim families.

Whether Horn will be cleared of her charge remains to be seen. A pretrial hearing is set for Sept. 29.

Community gifts

Horn and her 6-year-old daughter Tessa hadn't even spent a week in the house that was partially a gift from the community.

The rent had been reduced to $500 per month, and the first month was free. It came almost fully furnished through donations: dishes, furniture, towels, linens, a washer and dryer. There was even a bicycle for Tessa, a DVD player and a television.

But on Thursday, after a profile about Horn appeared in the Lansing State Journal, accusations bubbled up that her story was a scam.

If it was a scam, then city officials and St. Vincent Catholic Charities had also been tricked.

Horn told people her new house in a place called Kenner outside New Orleans had been swept away by the storm and that the family's vehicle had been spotted two miles away. She, her husband, their two children and their dog had fled north just ahead of the devastation. Her husband and son remain in Louisiana, she has said. They could not be reached for comment.

Details of the story, however didn't add up for officials.

"When things started smelling some," city police Chief John Stressman said, "we decided to follow the odor."

Far from Katrina

Police say that although Horn did live in Louisiana, she didn't live even close to Kenner or any area touched by the hurricane-force winds.

When asked if she bought a house in Kenner, Mason Detective Lynne Mark said, "No."

Mark delivered the arrest warrant to Horn.

In fact, Mark said Horn didn't have any property there. She has a house in Leesville, police say, which is unmarred by the storm.

Horn, who had graduated from Mason High School and was considered one of the city's own, had already made friends with the neighbors on her street.

"I still feel for the woman," said Marie Wingo, who lives across the street and helped organize some of the donations for Horn.

So many people in Mason had come together to help Horn.

"My child gave her daughter a toy," Mayor Robin Naeyaert said.

As for Tessa, she appeared blissfully oblivious to Monday's proceedings. Detective Mark led the girl and her tiny dog out of the house early so she did not have to see police handcuff her mother.

"We're just getting out of eyeshot here," Mark said, leading the girl to the next lot. They were eventually released to the custody of a family member.

"I'm convinced 99 percent of the population are doing the right things for the right reasons," Mark said, affirming that the day's events hadn't shaken his faith in people. "There are true and honest victims out there who still need our support."



Kim Horn, charged with felony larceny under false pretenses, which carries a prison term of up to five years, faces a preliminary exam Sept. 29. She is in the Ingham County Jail on a $25,000 bond.



Contact Christine Rook at 377-1261 or clrook@lsj.com.

Rita Inflicts Fresh Floods on New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Rita's wind-driven storm surge topped one of New Orleans' battered levees and poked holes in another Friday, sending water gushing into already-devastated neighborhoods just days after they had been pumped dry. An initial surge of water cascaded over a patched levee protecting the impoverished Ninth Ward, flooding the abandoned neighborhood with at least 6 feet of water.

Ray Nagin Mayor

Biloxi Ocean Springs Bridge











Biloxi
Community Center

The Superdome
New Orleans

Waiting

Trying to board buses

Nursing Home Tragedy

Louisiana officials filed criminal charges on Tuesday against the owners of the home where 34 patients died, although a lawyer representing the couple said they had behaved responsibly.

On Wednesday, the traces of the tragedy inside St. Rita's home in St. Bernard's Parish east of New Orleans where the 34 deaths occurred were still visible.

Beds were overturned and wheelchairs were stacked up near windows, perhaps indicating desperate attempts to escape by those who died. Water marks indicated the rooms were flooded to within 1 foot (.34 meter) of the ceiling. The names of patients were still on the doors, pictures of them on walls and stuffed animals and other belongings mired in mud on the floor.

Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said the owners had turned down an offer from local officials to take the patients out by bus and did not bother to call in an ambulance service with which they had a contract. Their lawyer said some of the patients were far too frail to have been moved and would have died had that been attempted.

Some hurricane victims go home; death toll rises

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Residents returning to homes for the first time since Hurricane Katrina struck more than two weeks ago found both ruin and relief on Thursday as the U.S. Gulf Coast region tried to stagger back to life.

With the death toll from the August 29 storm rising to 711 and recovery teams removing more bodies from partially flooded New Orleans, Republican U.S. Senate leaders in Washington suggested a modern-day "Marshall Plan" be established for recovery, patterned after the effort to rebuild Western Europe following World War Two.
The storm will likely be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with damage estimates ranging from $100 billion to $200 billion.

Residents of Gretna, Westwego and Lafitte, all suburbs of New Orleans, were allowed to return at daybreak after electricity, water and sewage systems were restored.
In Lafitte, a quiet fishing town where a summer seafood festival is the highlight of the social year, some homes were untouched, others piles of rubble.

"It was real hit and miss," said Lester Cipriano, whose home suffered only minor damage. A shattered mobile home nearby had lost its roof, with torn insulation covering the floor.
In Port Sulfur on the Mississippi River 45 miles south of New Orleans, residents were permitted to return for visits but not to stay.

"Our house used to be over there on Camellia Street," said Lynnell Taylor, 36, pointing to a spot about 50 yards (metres) away. The blue frame house evidently floated, almost intact, in the floodwaters, before collapsing in a tumble of boards and splinters.

"My daughter had the only upstairs room," added Taylor, fighting back tears. "It looks like everything in her room is salvageable" -- but nothing else was. Taylor said she planned to find a new home in another town.

In New Orleans, still technically under a mandatory evacuation order, some residents were sneaking back one by one to reclaim homes in areas that escaped heavy damage.

In the Garden District near downtown, where many gracious homes survived without heavy damage, some people had returned.

"It's better here than in a hotel," said David, who did not give his last name. He got past a security checkpoint through his girlfriend who has a medical ID and they moved back into their wood frame house, camping out with bottled water and flashlights.

That scene was in stark contrast to what was going on elsewhere in a city once home to 450,000 people. In the poverty-stricken 9th ward of New Orleans, the water had receded entirely but a thick layer of foul black and green sludge remained.

A refrigerator sat on top of one roof and a boat was shoved up on the door stoop of another. Dozens of houses had collapsed and disintegrated beyond apparent repair.

Body recovery teams in white coveralls were going to buildings marked earlier as containing human remains. They removed one body in a black bag then drove four blocks and carried out another.

The death toll in Louisiana stood at 474, with 218 dead in Mississippi. There were also 19 deaths in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Dr. Billy Graham Comments

"The disaster of Hurricane Katrina may be the worst tragedy America has known since the Civil War. The aftermath has almost been frightening," says Dr. Billy Graham, speaking from his home outside Charlotte, North Carolina. "Mayhem, looting, shooting, and raping on one hand -- compassion on the other. Millions of Americans, and millions of people in many countries abroad, want to help. The tragedy is so overwhelming that it is beyond comprehension. Yet it presents a challenge. With the aid of modern technology it is possible to turn the tragedy into blessing," Dr. Graham said in a statement released to media outlets.

Dr. Graham continued: "I pray especially for the hundreds of thousands who have become refugees because of what has happened. The flood of refugees may be one of the greatest challenges our society has ever faced. It is clear that it will take years for thousands of lives to return to normal. Once again, Americans are showing that they are the most compassionate people in the world. Scores of organizations and thousands of churches and individuals are involved in opening their arms of love and compassion to these refugees. It may be the greatest opportunity to demonstrate God's love in this generation.

"Whenever any disaster like this strikes, we often ask ourselves why. Why did God let this happen? I have been asked that question hundreds of times, and I have to confess that I do not know the full answer. I can recall walking through the aftermath of hurricanes in Florida and South Carolina, and a typhoon in India that killed tens of thousands, and earthquakes in California and Guatemala, and every time I have asked 'Why?' Job in the Bible asked the same question thousands of years ago, and his only answer was that God's ways are often beyond our understanding, and yet He is sovereign and He can still be trusted. The Bible says evil is a mystery. Someday we will understand, but not now."Dr. Graham adds: "I do know this, however: God knows what we are going through, and He still loves us and cares about us. In the midst of suffering and tragedy we can turn to Him for the comfort and help we need. Times like this will make us react in one of two ways: Either we will become bitter and angry -- or we will realize our need of God and turn to Him in faith and trust, even if we don't understand. The Bible says, 'He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds' (Psalm 147:3). The Bible also promises, 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. ...Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you' (Isaiah 43:2,4).

May this tragedy make each of us realize our need of God, and may we turn to Christ in repentance and faith and find our hope in Him."He concludes: "Across America this weekend, not a minute will go by without millions praying for those impacted by the hurricane – the loss of loved ones, homes, jobs. Our hearts go out to you, and the message we would like to get through to you is that we care, and that we are helping in every way we can."

Joni Eareckson Tada of the Agoura Hills, California-based Joni and Friends says: "Like you, I have been shaken by the horrific images of Hurricane Katrina...a tragedy like this really hits hardest the elderly and the disabled. Their lives have been devastated and, like you, I have been gripped by media images of these dear people who have lost their walkers and wheelchairs; even their homes! Each radio and television report reminds me that it is always the weakest and most vulnerable that are impacted the most in a natural disaster.

In an e-mail to media outlets, Joni continues: "Perhaps you heard the 'call' for wheelchairs on Fox News, and I specifically wanted you to know that, right now, Joni and Friends is helping to get wheelchairs and walkers to the elderly and disabled presently housed in Houston's Astrodome and other locations, including the River Center in Baton Rouge. Please visit http://www.joniandfriends.org/ if you wish to partner up to help us help others. "I can say that, for the present time, our Wheels for the World restoration centers at the prisons in Louisiana and Nashville have a sufficient number of wheelchairs for emergency use for disabled people and the elderly housed in temporary shelters, such as the Astrodome (although when the storm surge hit Gulfport, Mississippi, we lost a container of 200 wheelchairs on the docks about to be shipped to Cuba for an upcoming Wheels for the World the ministry trip). I cannot say we will have enough wheelchairs in the future -- like most organizations, right now we are simply trying to assess the need, the numbers, and mobilize resources into place (simple things like getting extra trucks to our Wheels restoration centers, loaded up with wheelchairs and walkers, filled with gas, and sent on their way)! "We are also in touch with the Salvation Army, the Southern Baptists, and the Christian Emergency Response Network to see how we might provide more wheelchairs and mobility equipment. There are several Centers for Independent Living in Mississippi, Louisiana and Houston which have put out an alert for urgent help -- we are in direct contact with them, especially as it regards need for wheelchairs and other mobility equipment. It’s amazing how people are coming together to help -- through Wheels for the World, we provided the Nashville Sheriff’s Department with 25 wheelchairs which they are transporting directly to one of the temporary shelters! Thank God we have the capacity to 'make a difference' not only through our JAF Field Ministry teams, but our volunteers and church partners in the South.

Joni concludes: "Most importantly, would you please join with us in praying for disabled people who are in distress and urgent need? May the Lord Jesus show them compassion and consolation through our combined efforts. And may we all continue to lift up our awesome God as supreme and sovereign in the aftermath of this tragic storm. Through it all, may many more families affected by disability come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and comfort! On behalf of our president, Doug Mazza, and all our JAF teams who are working hard to help, God bless you for caring."

NEW ORLEANS, Sept 8 - The hunt for the helpless and the hiding went on across New Orleans on Thursday as President George W. Bush promised to streamline the government bureaucracy to speed relief to the hundreds of thousands displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

In New Orleans, once home to 450,000 people, rescue teams hunted door to door for what may be as many as 10,000 people, some refusing to leave despite an evacuation order and pernicious flood waters, others perhaps still trapped.

CNN reported that shrimp fishermen had found 14 bodies inside an abandoned hospital in the eastern side of the city. Earlier 30 corpses were found inside a nursing home.

Officials have 25,000 body bags on hand for the gruesome clean-up operation, and while some have speculated the toll could reach into the thousands no one knows for sure how many lives were lost. Some say victims may have been washed out to sea or buried under sludge.

"We saw a lot of dead people, both in the water and in buildings," said South Carolina game warden Gregg Brown, whose team scoured flooded New Orleans neighborhoods by boat.


FLOATING CORPSES

Rescue teams tied floating corpses to trees or fences for future recovery, and a morgue set up outside the city stood ready to receive more than 5,000 bodies.

At least 30 bodies were found at the St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans, Louisiana state Sen. Walter Boasso said. He said as many as three dozen other residents were rescued from the facility.

In the bohemian neighborhood of Bywater, which escaped relatively unscathed, troops stepped up the pressure on residents to abandon the city.

"They came around last night and told us we had to get our asses out by 6 p.m. today," said Blaine Barefoot, a 41-year-old street musician who was getting ready to leave. "I'm not going to fight it."

Helicopters clattered overhead and National Guard troops peered into windows of homes in search of the sick or dying, the dead, and those resisting efforts to evacuate them.

"Certain people are hiding out and are not going to leave. They've got pets, and they ain't leaving them behind," said Adrian Tate, a carpenter with a pit bull dog, although he conceded he would now obey the orders to leave.

"I have no choice."

Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the U.S. Coast Guard chief of staff named this week to take over the federal response in New Orleans, said authorities would comb the city block-by-block, knocking on doors to find stragglers.


"We need everybody out so we can continue with the work of restoring this city," Allen said on the CBS "Early Show."

Katrina's survivors have been without fresh water and electricity in oppressive heat since Katrina roared in and levee breaks flooded most of New Orleans, one of the world's most famous cities and home to about 450,000 people.

About one million people were forced from their homes along the Gulf Coast.

So far, the official death tolls stand at 83 in Louisiana and 201 in Mississippi, but officials say they expect to find thousands of bodies in the attics of flooded homes and the rubble of destroyed towns and cities.

Congress was set to pass $51.8 billion in new hurricane relief on Thursday. The federal government has exhausted a $10.5 billion fund approved by Congress just a week ago.

The Congressional Budget Office said 400,000 jobs could be lost and the nation's economic growth slashed by up to one percentage point by the disaster.

With the high death toll and a national recovery effort that may cost taxpayers $150 billion to $200 billion there was widespread criticism of the federal response to the disaster and new concerns in Congress over controlling the money headed toward the effort.

"It's just a lot of money and people are worried that it's done correctly," said Rep. Ray LaHood (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Republican who serves on the House Appropriations Committee.

One success story came earlier this week when Army engineers filled wide breaches inthe levees with rocks and sand, and started pumping water out of flooded districts.

As much as 60 percent of New Orleans remained under water but state officials said on Thursday that city area pumps are now pushing out about 60,000 gallons of water per second.

(Additional reporting by Jim Loney in Baton Rouge, Adam Tanner in Houston and Maggie Fox in Washington)

For All Those Who Feel Tired and Faint

I have spent much time following the events of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the TV. To experience such loss and devastation to lives and possessions is hard to imagine. Yet over and over again I hear that people have got through because of their faith. It is their faith that has sustained them through physical, mental and emotional trauma. Although there are many things we don't understand, it is in such times of dire need that God draws close and gives us comfort and strength that is unexplicable , except for Him.
We appreciate and say 'Thank you' to all the rescuers and volunteers who have so tireless given and give of their time, energy and resources to help in this crisis. Know that you have made an incredible difference for so many.
Yesterday I was listening to a song by Relient K which reminded me not only of the many Katrina victims, but also my own impossibilities that I am trusting God for. As you read these lyrics, join me in making them a prayer for all the Katrina victims, helpers, and all those who feel their world is crumbling .

For The Moments I Feel Faint
Lyrics Artist(Band):Relient K

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement.
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

[Chorus:]
Never underestimate my Jesus.
You're telling me that there's no hope.
I'm telling you your wrong.
Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong

I throw up my hands "Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

[Chorus]
I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
Gather my insufficiencies and place them in your hands, place them in your hands, place them in your hands

[Chorus](x2)

He will be strong (x3)

Father God
We pray right now for all those who are thinking -they can't. For all those whose world has crumbled and are feeling like they are losing their hope. We know we can't, but You, God, can!
Prove Yourself to us as we put our trust in You.
Help us not to underestimate the power of Jesus.
Amen

Some Katrina evacuees say there's no going back



HOUSTON, United States (AFP) - Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have made the Houston Astrodome stadium their home are pondering an uncertain future, but many say they will never return to New Orleans.



"I will not go back to New Orleans. I love that city, it was where I was born, but there is no future there," said Gil George, a 52-year-old who had been working in New Orleans port until the killer storm bulldozed along the Gulf Coast last week.

Now he is among 17,000 people sleeping at the Astrodome, spending his days going between the Federal Emergency Management Agency office and the Texas social services, looking for a temporary home.

More than 250,000 hurricane evacuees are now believed to be in Texas. Officials say they have had 500,000 requests for aid from Louisiana residents.

George arrived in Houston last Thursday, shocked and exhausted. Now he has decided to stay.

"It is a new opportunity. The Lord brought us here; this is like a wakeup call," he said.

Even before the storm, New Orleans was struggling, according to George. "Apart from tourism, there is no industry in New Orleans. How long will the city need to rise up economically? You have to go where the opportunity is.

"It is like a growing cancer, they are going down into poverty," he said.

George said he could not understand the people who are determined to return to the ravaged jazz capital.

Leaflets at the Astrodome offer transport and jobs in Wisconsin. But George is determined to stay in Texas.

When he fled his ground-floor apartment with his 14-year-old son, George took just a few clothes, a Bible and some important papers. He said he would only go back to find anything else that can be saved and retrieve his car.

The Astrodome conditions are basic, but it is nothing like the Superdome in New Orleans, which became notorious for its rapes and violence until the authorities got a grip on the city.

At the Houston stadium, police and National Guard patrol the entrances and search people entering. The doors are closed from 11:00 pm to 5:30 am.

"There is a big difference," said Steve Kukuruza, manager of the registration centre at the Astrodome.

"There is enough food, water, and we have a backup generator. In the Superdome, they lost power. It was dark and hot."

Thousands of camp beds cover the stadium field and every corridor and available corner. Supermarket trolleys act as the wall between each family.

Telephones where free calls can be made are used 24 hours a day. Everyone has a lot of family members to reassure.

But not everyone is happy. Ryan Vega, who arrived Saturday with his parents, grandmother and an aunt, said he wanted to leave.

"We have lost everything and they treat us like criminals," he said. "At night, we can hear people cry. During the day, there isn't much to do, just wait. It is like a prison."

Images of the New Orleans disaster are shown 24 hours a day on the stadium's giant screens. This increases the atmosphere of desperation.

Karew Thomas, 31, could not get a place in the stadium and is begging for money outside. She is living in a motel room with her five children and needs 25 dollars to be able to keep the room for another night.

Her friend Glenda Milling is in the same situation with eight children. "Right away, we need money and a house," she pleaded.

It Could Have Been Me- But For The Grace Of God

This week the world has reeled in shock at the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the southern Gulf States of America. Although other major events have also happened this week, people who live in North America, in particular, are still trying to come to terms with the reality and extent of this disaster in their own back yard. Thoughts and images of the affected area come to mind many times a day. With the highly developed technology available today, the media enables us to follow the tragic events as they unfold, and it feels as if it has happened closer to home, than the reality of thousands of miles away.

The Hurricane Katrina disaster, for me, and I’m sure many others, has evoked many questions and emotions. Although days have past since Hurricane Katrina took its toll, I still have strong feelings of shock and disbelief that this has actually happened! Feelings of empathy and sorrow for the millions of people who have lost so much overwhelm my heart, and then come flashes of anger at the looters and criminal element that are taking advantage the misfortunes of others. I understand how desperate people might resort to stealing to meet their urgent need for survival....
To read more Hurricane Katrina

Fats Rescued From Flood
September 2, 2005
Legendary singer-pianist and rock'n'roll precursor Fats Domino was rescued by boat from his flooded home, his daughter told CNN after identifying her father in a photograph.
The picture, taken late on Monday after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, showed the author of the 1950s hits Ain't That a Shame and Blueberry Hill being helped off a boat near his home, in one of the worst flooded sections of the city.
His daughter Karen Domino White, who lives in the state of New Jersey, said she recognised her father in a picture taken by a photographer with the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.
"I didn't have any information. I was just praying," she said, adding that she had not heard from her father since August 23, four days before the hurricane struck.
Fats Domino's agent Al Embry had also expressed concern on Monday in New York City over the 77-year-old musician's whereabouts, saying he and his wife, Rosemary, had refused to leave their home in the centre of New Orleans.
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Friends of Fats Domino said they did not know where he went after his rescue, nor did they have any information about his wife, CNN said.
Domino was born Antoine Dominique Domino in New Orleans in 1928.
He earned the nickname "Fats" in part from a song he wrote, The Fat Man, and from one of his main musical influences, 1930s stride pianist Fats Waller.
He rocketed to rock-and-roll fame in 1955 with the hit Ain't That A Shame, underpinned by his characteristic New Orleans-style piano.
Together with Blue Monday and Blueberry Hill, Domino put out more than 30 hit records in a row, becoming one of the 1950s' top selling musicians, according to biographers.
He later became one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Aussies 'loot to survive'
September 2, 2005 - 8:08PM

Trapped Australian tourists describe hurricane-raved New Orleans as a war zone, with them and everyone else driven to looting just to survive.

Rockhampton couple Tim and Joanne Miller have linked up with another Australian couple, Gary and Cynthia Jones.

All four are living in an abandoned mall with hundreds of other people.

They told Channel Seven News the streets were lawless with dead bodies everywhere.

Mr Jones said survivors were terrified of the violence.

"It's a battle zone. There's shooting, dead bodies in the street," he said, adding that he and his wife were forced to steal to survive.

"We're looters like everyone else," he said.

Mrs Miller told Channel Seven News: "There's no power, there's no water, we've still got a portable loo we've got three dead bodies, five dead bodies down there ... disease.

"I'm not blaming the police because they are under so much pressure.

"I had an altercation with a police officer and he ended up just crying to me because he was so frustrated and he couldn't do any more. He wanted to help us but he didn't have any resources."

Mr Miller described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "horrific".

He said police had broken into shops to feed survivors.

"When we first arrived here the door at the mall was actually smashed by a police officer and he said, 'help yourself ... food and drink, take it, don't take anything else'," he said.

Links

Disaster recovery
American Red Cross: Official donation site
Coast Guard: Submit a report of Missing/Stranded Person
Craigslist: Missing Persons, Aid, Volunteers, Temp Housing
Gulf Coast News: Survivor Connector Database
Hurricane Refugee Connect Site: Organized by Last Name
Government
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
NASA Hurricane Resource Page
NOAA Katrina Archive

Recovery Help

The disaster recovery response to Katrina began before the storm, with Federal Emergency Management Agency preparations that ranged from logistical supply deployments to a mortuary team with refrigerated trucks. More than 11,000 Army and Air National Guardsmen and 7,200 active-duty troops are currently stationed in the Gulf Coast region to assist with hurricane relief operations. An additional 10,000 USNG troops are currently in the process of being called up and are expected to join the relief efforts shortly.
The military relief effort, known as Joint Task Force Katrina, is being commanded by Lieutenant General Russel Honoré of the US First Army.
At President Bush's urging, the U.S. Senate quickly approved a bill authorizing $10.5 billion in aid for victims on September 1, 2005. The U.S. House of Representatives voted and approved on the measure Friday, September 2, 2005 without any debate; Bush signed it into law an hour later. This is said to be only the initial aid package.
Over 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to recovery from the hurricane including inter alia Cuba and Venezuela despite differences with Washington; Sri Lanka which is still recovering from the Tsunami; Russia whose initial offer to send a relief plane and helicopter was declined by the U.S. State Department; and Dominica one of the smallest countries in the world by any measure [39] [40].
In addition to asking for federal funds, President Bush has enlisted the help of former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush to raise additional voluntary contributions, much as they did after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Canada is sending three warships and one coast guard vessel to the US Gulf Coast to assist in the relief and reconstruction effort.
On September 3, Governor Blanco hired James Lee Witt, the well-regarded FEMA director during the Clinton Administration, to oversee recovery efforts in Louisiana [41].

Breakdown of Law and Order in New Orleans
The breaching of two levees protecting New Orleans caused water to flow unabated into the city. Many homes are underwater in New Orleans and it is expected to take months to pump all the water out of the city. There remains a humanitarian disaster, with many people stranded due to flooding. Lawlessness persisted until September 3, 2005.The federal disaster area was been placed under the control of FEMA (under Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff) and the National Guard on September 2, 2005.
A breakdown in command and communications among the local and state government first responders after Hurricane Katrina and subsequent levee failure and flooding in New Orleans on August 29, 2005 led to local civil problems and a desperate situation in await of secondary and tertiary national responders and NGO's. New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin called for federal response in a "desperate SOS" put out in the media August 31, 2005 following his city's inability to control or put down looting, rape and murder[2] jumping the gun on the state's governor Kathleen Blanco and acting beyond his power in the Posse Comitatus Act which prevents presidential direction of the National Guard without state level (Governor's) request for assistance. As mayor, Nagin was not in a position to request the federal assistance officially. The lawlessness had kept Red Cross and Salvation Army at bay unable to provide charitable relief during the crisis. Louisiana Governor Blanco eventually declared a state of emergency authorizing local law enforcement and state assigned National Guard special powers in putting down looters on September 1, 2005 four days after Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour had declared martial law in his state and well after lawlessness had set into the city of New Orleans. Blanco requested help from President Bush September 2, 2005 in a meeting along with Mayor Nagin aboard Air Force 1 at the New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana[3]. The lawlessness was essentially ended the next day, September 3, 2005, by the federal responders under the control of President George W. Bush who had temporarily federalized state National Guard troops as requested by Blanco, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and Joint Task Force Katrina Commander

Looting or Finding?

A forwarded e-mail and blogger topic circulating around the Internet juxtaposes two photos from Yahoo News, in which a white person is described as "finding" items, while a black person is described as "looting". The photos were provided for two different news services (the Associated Press and AFP/Getty Images) and the captions for each photo were written by two different photographers. Critics claimed that the wording used to describe two seemingly identical scenarios was racially demeaning, when viewed in comparison. But according to the photographers, the person described as "looting" was seen taking the items from a store, and those described as "finding" found items in the water.
See the explanation

Faith survives the storm

Churches plan services, survey damage BY KAT BERGERONSUN HERALD
The historic 1891 bell tower of Biloxi’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer is silent. This Mississippi Coast symbol of survival rang defiantly as the winds of Hurricane Camille claimed its sanctuary.
In Katrina 36 years later, the red wooden tower fell.
The beachfront site was chosen as the appropriate sacred ground for the Hurricane Camille Memorial Wall, with its beautiful mosaic pool and granite etched list of 172 names of the dead and missing in the 1969 hurricane. That memorial is at least badly damaged.
Informs a sign on the Redeemer grounds: ''Mass 9 a.m. Sunday. Bring Lawn Chairs.''
Churches of all denominations are gone or dangerously damaged along the Coast, but such signs indicate faith can prevail.
In Gulfport, St. Mark’s and St. Peter’s by-the-Sea, among the six destroyed Coast Episcopal churches, will hold Sunday services on their slabs. (St. Marks is 9:30 a.m., and St. Peter’s’ is 8 a.m.)
And so the story of faith goes in the aftermath of Katrina.
''We’re alive. God has been good to us,'' Dr. Johnny Geotes said as he gassed up a generator at one of his veterinary clinics. He lost his home in Bay St. Louis, but knowing there are hurt animals as well as people, he opened his clinics in Gulfport and Biloxi for two hours.
''This hasn’t affected my faith. It’s always the same,'' Geotes said. ''I don’t go to church regularly, but I was raised Methodist and my faith continues to sustain me.''
Similar thoughts are scrawled in words across the Coast. In the Petit Bois subdivision, one family has propped a storm board on the front lawn with the barely legible words: ''God Bless. Trespassers will be shot.''
A handmade fan sticks out of a bus stop bench on Biloxi’s Pass Road. Transportation isn’t running, so only the weary on a trek to get ice or water will see the words on the fan.
''What the world need now is love. God’s love,'' reads the crude sign written with colored marker on a plastic plate stuck in the seat with a wooden stick.
Robert Stan Good, sweating from the heat in his search for a working bank, took a double-take at the crude sign.
''I’m not really a Christian, but you have to talk about God and that means love in your heart at a time like this,'' said Goodman, who described himself as a utility man.
For those who need the comfort of congregation — the Coast had more than 400 churches plus one Jewish, one Buddhist and one Islamic center — a number of services will go on, not as many and maybe in different places than usual. Congregations that can are scrambling to hold services somewhere and are inviting one and all, dropping otherwise strong denominational lines in this coastal edge of the Bible Belt.
Others in the mass of storm-ravaged people will attend in their hearts. Many are unwilling to let go of the one bit of light that can hold and sustain them as the scaffolding of their lives teeters.
''This experience has rattled all of us to the core,'' said the Rev. Ken Nuss, music minister at First Baptist of Gulfport, which has steel girders, no walls, and part of the steeple still rises on the roof.
''I’m sure that some are asking why, so their faith is shaken. But just as that cross is still standing in our gutted church, just as the steeple is still standing above the rubble of downtown Gulfport, God is still on his throne.
''People feel isolated and alone. We’re inviting the entire community to come to Sunday services for a word of encouragement.''
Those 9 a.m. services will be about six miles away on U.S. 49 at the small Cross Point Community Church. First Baptist has 700 members.
The Catholic Church, which ministers to about 70,000 in the Biloxi Diocese, was physically trounced, with at least 14 of 57 churches gone or devastated, likely beyond rebuilding. Several churches constructed after Camille to be ''hurricane proof,'' including a pyramid type design in Pass Christian and Long Beach, are gone or shells.
St. Michael’s, considered the fishermen’s church because it dates to the seafood beginnings of Biloxi’s Point Cadet, still stands, but about 10 feet of the lower stained glass is missing. One lasting story from Camille is of two priests clinging to statues as the water rose. This time, no priests stayed in the church, and this time, most of the statues are gone.
The bishop will be at Nativity BVM Cathedral 5 p.m. today for Mass; on Sunday the times are 7 a.m. at St. Rose De Lima in Bay St. Louis and 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes in Pineville in north Pass Christian.
The Biloxi Islamic Center near Point Cadet was inundated with water. Damage to Beth Israel Congregation, several blocks from the beach, is unknown. Chua Van Duc, the Buddhist temple within a stone’s throw of the now badly damaged Catholic Vietnamese church on Biloxi’s Point Cadet, had planned a giant celebration on Sunday to dedicate its attractive new temple and to welcome the first permanent monk.
One of the first stories out of hard-hit Point Cadet was of Huong Tran, who clung to a Live oak during the storm and prayed to a Buddhist goddess for help. After the water receded, she found a small statue of that goddess under the tree.
It will take weeks to compile the extent of damage to the Coast’s houses of worship.
Bishop Duncan Gray III of Mississippi Episcopal Diocese surveyed the damage Thursday and said in a statement: ''Thousands have lost their homes and the holy places of worship to which they have instinctively gone in times of crisis . . . It is a time of deep shock and grief and tears. And it is a time of hope.''
The last reference is to the hope that state and national centers from mainline denominations are kicking into gear with food and supply wagons. The newly formed Lutheran Episcopal Services of Mississippi is already in action, as are others.
The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination, has set up food canteens, which come from other Southeast communities, and is setting up shelter, according to Tree Davidson at the Army’s state headquarters in Jackson. She said the three Coast units in Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula are badly damaged.
Local churches of all denominations too, are doing what they can from Waveland to Pascagoula and the inland communities also affected by Katrina.
Anita McGee sought out such church in Biloxi with her three children and four friends in tow. She’s 32, disabled and on Thursday, she said her group had no food or water and that the hot meal was a godsend.
''This is what happens so we can keep the faith,'' said McGee. ''We have survive for our kids, and this is really teaching them to pray and be closer God.'' As she said that her 11-year-old daughter shook her head.
When asked about faith in the aftermath of Katrina, no one seems to pub licly deny it in these first days. As the Mississippi heat sears and lines lengthen for water and stomachs grum ble, that will be the test of faith and spirituality.
Bay Vista Baptist Church, about a half-mile north of the beach in Biloxi, advertised throughout the summer that ''Bay Vista loves our neighbors.''
''Now it’s time to put our words into action,'' said Natalie Atkins, 40, director of the church’s children’s programs.
Not long after the storm, people — strangers and congregants — started showing up with food from their freezers and the church people started cooking.
''This tests our faith, I know,'' Atkins said, ''but right now, it is all I have to hold on to.''

The Economic Losses Caused By Hurricane Katrina Will Be Felt In Many Areas

The US could expect major economic disruption which will ripple worldwide after Hurricane Katrina's furious winds and rain shut ports and hammered oil production, analysts said.
With towns flattened, ports on the Mississippi blocked, coastal refineries starved of crude and oil production in the Gulf of Mexico virtually at a standstill, Katrina has had a devastating effect.
Economic losses from one of the most powerful hurricanes in US history could go as high as $US35 billion ($46.6 billion), said Peter Zeihan, senior analyst at Stratfor, a global economic and political consultancy in Austin, Texas.
"The big question is how much the rivers and ports have been silted up. It could be fixed in two days, it could be two months," he said. "If it's the longer end, we're going right into the grain harvest.
"The US is the biggest grain exporter in the world, and most of those exports go down the Mississippi. So food and feed prices could soar worldwide," he said. "And imports of oil and all sorts of other goods will be blocked going upstream. Domestic prices will jump as a result."

The US Coast Guard Have Worked Tirelessly To Rescue People Stranded By The Flood Water

Waiting for help, officers keep a lonely vigil
Loyalty binds them to victims
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | September 3, 2005

NEW ORLEANS -- Across from the mass human suffering at the fetid convention center yesterday, before a convoy of Humvees finally delivered hundreds of National Guard troops to this crime-ridden intersection of dashed hopes and mounting anger, a city police officer touched his finger to his eye and began to cry.
''I'm going to stay here till everything's done," the officer said. ''I love this city."

Until the troops arrived at midday, the police officer and five colleagues had been the only round-the-clock security for the convention center, where a few thousand displaced residents had languished for five days without food, water, medical attention, and the transportation that federal and state officials had promised them.

In the morning, when the police officer cried, he spoke caustically about the supplies that had yet to arrive for the storm victims, and the lack of food and equipment for the officers. Whatever they needed to eat, the officer said, they had taken from the looted stores around them. The officers asked not to be identified for fear of retribution from the department.

Since the unit was assigned to the post on Sunday, the police said, they had not heard from their superiors, on their working radios or in person. The officers were exhausted and bitter, unwilling to patrol the danger-filled Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where they would be hopelessly outnumbered, where dead bodies lay in cafeteria galleyways, and where children played on urine-soaked carpet.

''These guys have not only been victims of the city and Katrina," said the officer who had cried, referring to the storm-displaced residents, ''but also the thugs who keep going in there."

The officers had been shot at every night, he and his colleagues said, by criminals who entered the teeming convention center to rob, assault, and rape some of the hurricane victims. Given their own vulnerable circumstances, the officers said, they took over an empty Hampton Inn to serve as a command post, positioned a backhoe as a barricade, erected a bogus ''Raw Sewage Danger" sign to keep away meddlers, and bulked up their firepower, supplementing the department-issue .40mm Glock pistols with their own shotguns.

''We had to arm ourselves," said another officer, a nine-year veteran who had been on duty for 29 straight hours. ''It's against regulations, but they're shooting at us constantly."

In one foray for supplies, the officers said, they broke open a store's safe containing a cache of weapons and added the firearms to their own stash at the Hampton Inn.

The scene described by these police officers contrasted drastically with the picture of steadily increasing security and streaming relief efforts that had been painted before yesterday by state and federal officials in daily briefings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital. On Thursday, Governor Kathleen Blanco said she had no confirmation of corpses in the open at the convention center. But at the site, nearly everyone interviewed there yesterday knew where to find them.Continued...

In the morning, no security was present in the area outside the center other than the small police unit, some of whose members had outfitted themselves in jean shorts, running shoes, and even a motorcycle-club cap to establish a rapport with the crowd. But they also wore bulletproof vests, their unauthorized shotguns dangling from their arms or slung backward over their shoulders.

''We think of these people as our people," one officer said, referring to the displaced people in the convention center.

Whatever other police presence had been seen in the area, many storm victims said, consisted of quick passes by gun- brandishing officers in pickups and cruisers. ''Go home!" Gregory Bentley, 57, yelled at a speeding cruiser yesterday. ''They don't help nobody here. They just come through here with their guns drawn."

The half-dozen police stationed across from the convention center said they understood the frustration of the displaced. The officers said they had been bombarded with questions seeking any information about food and transportation. ''We have nothing to give them," one officer said with a sigh.

The group said many of their colleagues on the 1,800-member force had resigned after the hurricane.

In Baton Rouge, Lieutenant Lawrence J. McLeary of the State Police said there were widespread reports of resignations by New Orleans police, but it was impossible to determine how many. ''I think what's probably taking place is they're still in a state of disrepair," McLeary said. ''We know there are [officers] who have said, 'That's it. I've had enough.' But some [missing officers] may be still trapped in their houses."

About a half-mile away, in the downtown business district near the Riverwalk along the Mississippi River, about a dozen police armed with automatic rifles guarded intersections where few people ventured.

At one crossing, a middle-age man in a T-shirt approached an officer who had come to help from the central Louisiana town of Hessmer and said politely that he wanted to ask a question.

''Keep on going! Keep on going," barked the officer, Boyd Blankenship.

Outside the convention center, as edgy National Guard troops began taking up position shortly after noon, the New Orleans police who had been there since Sunday posed for photographs with some of the storm victims.

''Y'all did a wonderful job," said Yolanda Camese, 49, as she hugged one of the officers. ''You made us feel safer. I watched you every night."

''I made a commitment to the city," said the officer, who paused for nearly a minute as he looked at the pavement. ''I made a commitment to my [police] district, and I made a commitment to these people out here and to my fellow officers. That's why I'm here."

Superdome Finally Cleared

NEW ORLEANS - The last bedraggled refugees were rescued from the Superdome on Saturday and the convention center was all but cleared, leaving the heart of New Orleans to the dead and dying, the elderly and frail stranded too many days without food, water or medical care.



No one knows how many were killed by Hurricane Katrina's floods and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating among the ruined city, crumpled on wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.

The last refugees at the Superdome and the convention center climbed aboard buses Saturday bound for shelters, but the dying goes on.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday that she expected the death toll to reach the thousands. And Craig Vanderwagen, rear admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service, said one morgue alone, at a St. Gabriel prison, expected 1,000 to 2,000 bodies.

Touring the airport triage center, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a physician, said "a lot more than eight to 10 people are dying a day."

Most were those too sick or weak to survive. But not all.

Charles Womack, a 30-year-old roofer, said he saw one man beaten to death and another commit suicide at the Superdome. Womack was beaten with a pipe and being treated at an airport triage center, where bodies were kept in a refrigerated truck.

"One guy jumped off a balcony. I saw him do it. He was talking to a lady about it. He said it reminded him of the war and he couldn't leave," he said.

Three babies died at the convention center from heat exhaustion, said Mark Kyle, a medical relief provider.

But some progress was evident. The last 300 refugees at the Superdome were evacuated Saturday evening, eliciting cheers from members of the Texas National Guard who had been standing watch over the facility for nearly a week as some 20,000 hurricane survivors waited for rescue.

The convention center was "almost empty" after 4,200 people were removed, according to Marty Bahamonde, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At the convention center, where earlier estimates of the crowd climbed as high as 25,000, thousands of refugees dragged their meager belongings to buses, the mood more numb than jubilant. Yolando Sanders, who had been stuck at the convention center for five days, was among those who filed past corpses to reach the buses.

"Anyplace is better than here," she said.

"People are dying over there."

Nearby, a woman lay dead in a wheelchair on the front steps. A man was covered in a black drape with a dry line of blood running to the gutter, where it had pooled. Another had lain on a chaise lounge for four days, his stocking feet peeking out from under a quilt.

By mid-afternoon, only pockets of stragglers remained in the streets around the convention center, and New Orleans paramedics began carting away the dead.

A once-vibrant city of 480,000 people, overtaken just days ago by floods, looting, rape and arson, was now an empty, sodden tomb.

The exact number of dead won't be known for some time. Survivors were still being plucked from roofs and shattered highways across the city. President Bush ordered more than 7,000 active duty forces to the Gulf Coast on Saturday.

"There are people in apartments and hotels that you didn't know were there," Army Brig. Gen. Mark Graham said.

The overwhelming majority of those stranded in the post-Katrina chaos were those without the resources to escape — and, overwhelmingly, they were black.

"The first few days were a natural disaster. The last four days were a man-made disaster," said Phillip Holt, 51, who was rescued from his home Saturday with his partner and three of their aging Chihuahuas. They left a fourth behind they couldn't grab in time.

Tens of thousands of people had been evacuated from the city, seeking safety in Texas, Tennessee, Indiana and Arkansas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry warned Saturday that his enormous state was running out of room, with more than 220,000 hurricane refugees camped out there and more coming.

Emergency workers at the Astrodome were told to expect 10,000 new arrivals daily for the next three days.

In Washington, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced that more than 10,000 people had been flown out of New Orleans in what he called the largest airlift in history on U.S. soil. He said the flights would continue as long as needed.

Thousands of people remained at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where officials turned a Delta Blue terminal into a triage unit. Officials said 3,000 to 5,000 people had been treated at the triage unit, but fewer than 200 remain. Others throughout the airport awaited transport out of the city.

"In the beginning it was like trying to lasso an octopus. When we got here it was overwhelming," said Jake Jacoby, a physician helping run the center.

Airport director Roy Williams said about 30 people had died, some of them elderly and ill. The bodies were being kept in refrigerated trucks as a temporary morgue.

At the convention center, people stumbled toward the helicopters, dehydrated and nearly passing out from exhaustion. Many had to be carried by National Guard troops and police on stretchers. And some were being pushed up the street on office chairs and on dollies.

Nita LaGarde, 105, was pushed down the street in her wheelchair as her nurse's 5-year-old granddaughter, Tanisha Blevin, held her hand. The pair spent two days in an attic, two days on an interstate island and the last four days on the pavement in front of the convention center.

"They're good to see," LaGarde said, with remarkable gusto as she waited to be loaded onto a gray Marine helicopter. She said they were sent by God. "Whatever He has for you, He'll take care of you. He'll sure take care of you."

LaGarde's nurse, Ernestine Dangerfield, 60, said LaGarde had not had a clean adult diaper in more than two days. "I just want to get somewhere where I can get her nice and clean," she said.

Around the corner, a motley fleet of luxury tour buses and yellow school buses lined up two deep to pick up some of the healthier refugees. National Guardsmen confiscated a gun, knives and letter openers from people before they got on the buses.

"It's been a long time coming," Derek Dabon, 29, said as he waited to pass through a guard checkpoint. "There's no way I'm coming back. To what? That don't make sense. I'm going to start a new life."

Hillary Snowton, 40, sat on the sidewalk outside with a piece of white sheet tied around his face like a bandanna as he stared at a body that had been lying on a chaise lounge for four days, its stocking feet peeking out from under a quilt.

"It's for the smell of the dead body," he said of the sheet. His brother-in-law, Octave Carter, 42, said it has been "every day, every morning, breakfast lunch and dinner looking at it."

When asked why he didn't move further away from the corpse, Carter replied, "it stinks everywhere, Blood."

Dan Craig, director of recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said it could take up to six months to get the water out of New Orleans, and the city would then need to dry out, which could take up to three more months.

A Saks Fifth Avenue store billowed smoke Saturday, as did rows of warehouses on the east bank of the Mississippi River, where corrugated roofs buckled and tiny explosions erupted. Gunfire — almost two dozen shots — broke out in the French Quarter overnight.

In the French Quarter, some residents refused or did not know how to get out. Some holed up with guns.

As the warehouse district burned, Ron Seitzer, 61, washed his dirty laundry in the even dirtier waters of the Mississippi River and said he didn't know how much longer he could stay without water or power, surrounded by looters.

"I've never even had a nightmare or a beautiful dream about this," he said as he watched the warehouses burn. "People are just not themselves."


Associated Press reporters Kevin McGill, Robert Tanner, Melinda Deslatte, Brett Martel and Mary Foster contributed to this report.

New Orleans mayor orders looting crackdown
Thousands feared dead from Katrina's wrath; stadium evacuation begins


Updated: 7:25 a.m. ET Sept. 1, 2005
NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 police officers to leave their search-and-rescue mission Wednesday night and return to the streets of the beleaguered city to stop looting that has turned increasingly hostile.

“They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas — hotels, hospitals and we’re going to stop it right now,” Nagin said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Looters used garbage cans and inflatable mattresses to float away with food, blue jeans, tennis shoes, TV sets — even guns. Outside one pharmacy, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break through the glass. The driver of a nursing-home bus surrendered the vehicle to thugs after being threatened.

Police were asking residents to give up any firearms before they evacuated neighborhoods because officers desperately needed the firepower: Some officers who had been stranded on the roof of a hotel said they were shot at.

Police said their first priority remained saving lives, and mostly just stood by and watched the looting. But Nagin later said the looting had gotten so bad that stopping the thieves became the top priority for the police department.

With thousands feared drowned in what could be America’s deadliest natural disaster in a century, New Orleans’ leaders all but surrendered the streets to floodwaters and began turning out the lights on the ruined city — perhaps for months.

Nagin called for an all-out evacuation of the city’s remaining residents. Asked how many people died, he said: “Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.”

Struggle to plug the breached levees
With most of the city under water, Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans’ breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, and authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of remaining people and practically abandon the below-sea-level city.

Nagin said there will be a “total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months.” And he said people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least a month or two.

If the mayor’s death-toll estimate holds true, it would make Katrina the worst natural disaster in the United States since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which have blamed for anywhere from about 500 to 6,000 deaths. Katrina would also be the nation’s deadliest hurricane since 1900, when a storm in Galveston, Texas, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people.

A slow exodus from the Superdome began Wednesday as the first of nearly 25,000 refugees left the miserable surroundings of the football stadium and were transported in buses to the Astrodome in Houston, 350 miles away. Conditions in the Superdome had become horrendous: There was no air conditioning, the toilets were backed up, and the stench was so bad that medical workers wore masks as they walked around.

In Mississippi, bodies are starting to pile up at the morgue in hard-hit Harrison County. Forty corpses have been brought to the morgue already, and officials expect the death toll in the county to climb well above 100.

Tempers were beginning to flare in the aftermath of the storm. Police said a man fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg, Miss.