25 000 body bags for city
2005-09-08 14:45
New Orleans - A horrific glimpse of Hurricane Katrina's wrath emerged on Thursday, as more than 30 patients were reportedly found dead in a suburban New Orleans nursing home overcome by floods.
At least 32 of the roughly 60 people living in the nursing home died in St Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans, on August 29, when Katrina slammed into the US Gulf Coast, according to The New York Times.
St Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens said the bodies were found Wednesday at St Rita's Nursing Home, while 40 to 50 other people were alive and had been rescued, according to CNN.
Stevens did not provide an exact body count and the number was not added to the official death toll of 83 announced by New Orleans officials on Tuesday.
The grim discovery is likely the first of many awaiting rescuers scouring ravaged areas for bodies as officials warn that as many as 10 000 people may have died in Louisiana alone.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said as many as 10 000 people may have died in the state, and a Louisiana health official revealed on Wednesday that about 25 000 body bags had been brought into the area.
Deadly diseases
Louisiana police and soldiers, meanwhile, faced some difficult choices in enforcing a mandate to empty flooded New Orleans of its remaining 10 000 to 15 000 residents.
The mayor authorised the use of force on Tuesday but, with a number of residents still awaiting voluntary evacuation, rescue teams have so far postponed physical confrontations with those determined to stay.
Eventually, however, only the diehards will be left.
"Once all the volunteer evacuations have taken place, then we'll concentrate our efforts and our forces to mandatorily evacuate individuals," New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass said, promising that his officers would use "the minimal amount of force necessary."
Federal troops have joined in the house-to-house search for survivors, but senior military officers made it clear they would stand back if it came to manhandling people out of their homes.
Health authorities said five people evacuated from the Katrina disaster zone had died as a result of having been exposed to contaminated water.
The five had been killed by vibrio vulnificus, "a bacteria that can enter somebody through a cut, a scratch or a wound," according to the government Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- AFP