Katrina: Pentagon pitches in
2005-08-31 19:50
Washington - The US military has joined the massive effort to help the devastated New Orleans region in the wake of ferocious Hurricane Katrina, dispatching ships, helicopters, engineers and other specialists to help survivors, the northern command (NorthCom) said on Wednesday.
The first of six ships deployed by the Pentagon is the USS Bataan, currently en route from Texas to Louisiana, which has a hospital and six helicopters on board to conduct emergency medical evacuations.
Four other ships - the USS Iwo Jima, the USS Shreveport, the USS Tortuga and the USNS Arctic are also "preparing to sail from Norfolk, Virginia" with equipment for emergency teams, according to a NorthCom statement.
The ships "will be off the Louisiana coast in five days", it added.
The hospital ship USNS Comfort "is departing Baltimore (in the eastern state of Maryland) to bring its invaluable medical assistance to the Gulf region" and should arrive in seven days, the statement noted.
The Pentagon said it also plans to send the USS Grapple to help with "maritime and underwater survey and salvage operations."
Ten helicopters have also been dispatched to Louisiana and Mississippi.
Five are "capable of nighttime search-and-rescue (operations) and will also transport FEMA's Rapid Needs Assessment teams to gather critical information for state and federal emergency managers", the Pentagon said.
The military has also sent eight rescue teams with special flood expertise from California to Louisiana.
Much of the low-lying city of New Orleans, Louisiana is now underwater, after levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain broke and waters inundated more than 80% of the city.
Most of the city's half a million residents have been evacuated.
The Pentagon also said that the governors of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi had called up about 10 000 members of their national guards and were expected to mobilise more.