Hospital evacuates as New Orleans levee breaks

[steve2470]

Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Posted: 5:09 a.m. EDT (09:09 GMT)


NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As the death toll from Hurricane Katrina reached at least 54, a levee holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain sustained a breach two blocks long in the Lakefront area of New Orleans.

The breach triggered rapidly rising floodwaters in the city's downtown and prompted at least one hospital to evacuate patients by air.

The death toll was expected to climb from one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in half a century. Fifty of the deaths occurred in one county in Mississippi, CNN confirmed.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin confirmed the breach in a local TV interview. City fire officials said the break was about 200 feet long in the levee surrounding the 17th Street Canal.

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/30/katrina/index.html

[ohio_liberal]

1. From CNN--6:20amET

Spokesman for the largest ambulance service in LA says that the federal government will have to provide amphibious vehicles to evacuate all patients from hospitals. :cry: