In the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, citizens from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida are trying to restore some sense of order to their disrupted lives.
Broken levees, floating corpses and looting make their attempts a difficult and painful task.
Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in the early hours of Monday, bringing 140 mph winds and devastating storm surges.
Bussing to Houston Astrodome
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that the some 23,000 refugees, including those housed in the Louisiana Superdome earlier this week, will be bussed to the Houston Astrodome in an attempt to clear out New Orleans.
Five hundred buses provided by federal emergency officials will take refugees the 328 miles to Houston after Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for help.
It could be weeks before they are allowed to return to the New Orleans area.
While some New Orleans residents rode out the storm at the Superdome, storm surges reached 30 feet in Mississippi where 90 percent of the buildings on the coastline of Biloxi and Gulfport were demolished.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Katrina’s death toll reportedly reached at least 110 in Mississippi. With the fear that many more bodies will be found, Biloxi mayor A. J. Holloway said Tuesday: “This is our Tsunami.”
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told CNN Wednesday that the hurricane had killed hundreds – maybe thousands – in his city.
Looting
Because national, state and local efforts are still focused on saving lives, law officers and National Guardsmen haven’t had much time to deal with looters.
According to FoxNews.com, looters around the city of New Orleans were ransacking stores in search of food, clothing and appliances, as well as firearms.
“We’re multitasking right now,” New Orleans Police Capt. Marlon Defillo told Fox News, explaining that everyone’s efforts center on “rescue, recovery, stabilization of looting. We’re trying to feed the hungry.”
Although New Orleans’ French Quarter did not receive the worst impact of the flooding, its stores are now taking the brunt of the looting, forcing authorities to declare a state of martial law for the first time since World War II.
New Orleans Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson talked with Fox News about the looting problem.
“The looting is out of control,” she said. “We’re using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue while we still have people on rooftops.”
Levee breaks
Believing that the worst of the flood damage was history Tuesday, citizens of New Orleans were later dismayed when two levees in Lake Pontchartrain collapsed filling the city with water.
CNN.com reported Wednesday that rising flood waters overwhelmed the pumping stations that would normally keep the city dry and that roughly 80 percent of the city became flooded once the levees broke – up to 20 feet or more in some areas.
While the Army Corps of Engineers continues its work to repair the broken levees, no one is sure when they will be able to repair the damage so the holes can be blocked.
The group has used rock, sandbags, barges, helicopters and cranes to assist with patching the holes in the levees.
Another major problem officials are facing at all levels is that some of the Black Hawk helicopters that were scheduled to help patch the levees had to be diverted to rescue more people from rooftops and attics.
Reuters reported that should Lake Pontchartrain’s water level return to normal within 36 hours the water in New Orleans would slowly drain away.
Compiled from wire reports