Death toll rises to 513

2005-09-13 08:04

Baton Rouge - The toll of Hurricane Katrina deaths in four United States states has risen to 513, after Mississippi announced a further four deaths on Monday.

Mississippi's death toll rose to 218 from 214, the office of Governor Haley Barbour announced.

The official toll from Hurricane Katrina in and around the ravaged city of New Orleans, Louisiana also jumped on Monday to 279 from 197 a day earlier, state officials said.

The spike in New Orleans' confirmed deaths came as the authorities continue to drain the city of floodwaters sparked by the vast August 29 storm which laid waste to large parts of the US Gulf Coast and many coastal communities.

The city's revised toll included the discovery of 45 bodies at the Memorial Medical Centre hospital.

The total number of deaths attributed to Katrina now stands at 279 in Louisiana, 218 in Mississippi, two in Alabama and 14 in Florida, according to official tolls.

Despite the rising toll, the hundreds confirmed killed so far fall well short of initial predictions that up to 10 000 may have been claimed by the storm's winds and floods.

- AFP