Katrina: Thousands beg for help

2005-09-02 14:47

New Orleans - Dirty, fearful and exhausted, they pressed their faces against the metal gates, begging and pleading for the chance to board a bus and get away from a refuge that had become a nightmare.

After five days in the stinking, crowded and sweltering confines of the New Orleans Superdome, the thousands of people who emerged on Thursday formed a slow-moving tide of desperation looking for escape and relief.

Around 40 National Guard, armed with assault rifles, guarded the door to a shopping mall through which the packed crowds were being slowly filtered to buses waiting in ankle-deep flood waters outside.

People held children and dogs over their heads to keep them from getting crushed, as babies were passed forward into the waiting arms of guardsmen who cradled them and fed them water.

Horror stories

Those lucky enough to get out told tales of rapes, child molestations, shootings, a man who jumped off the roof and a fire that broke out in the giant sport arena where up to 20 000 people had taken shelter from Hurricane Katrina.

The floors of the stadium were soaked from the rain that seeped in during the storm after part of the roof collapsed, and a pervading stench testified to the overflowing toilets that had forced people to relieve themselves in hallways and stairwells.

"The odour from that place would knock you off your feet," said Lorraine Banks as she made her way past the dozens of police officers and soldiers trying to keeping order and handing out water in the shopping mall.

"They had bowel movements on the floor this high," the 53-year-old nurse said, as she gestured to her knee.

Lack of information troubling

Medics brought the worst cases out to a cordoned-off hallway for treatment before they were loaded onto the buses.

The evacuation of the Superdome began on Wednesday for those with serious health problems. Officials would not estimate how long it would take to empty the arena completely.

The Superdome was opened on Sunday as a refuge of last resort. After the flooding, thousands more came or were brought there in hopes of making it onto the first buses out of the city.

Maintaining order had been difficult, Elliot said as he surveyed the swarm of angry, shouting people pressing up against the barricades between the shopping mall and the buses.

Much of the frustration voiced by the evacuees concerned the lack of information. People were prevented from leaving the arena because of the flooding and were desperate for news of what had happened to their friends, neighbours, family members and homes.

One woman, Judy Smith, sat sobbing in a chair in the mall with her four grandchildren sitting on the floor next to her.

"I've lost my children," Smith sobbed. "You've got to find my daughter, Ashley Smith. You've got to tell her her babies are alright. One almost drowned but we saved him."

- AFP