N.O. Times Picayune: "They won't quit counting bodies for a while.'

[MnFats]

this roundup story is devastating to read....bad news all across the board...


http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/national-50/1125405843191800.xml&storylist=njkatrina


Nevertheless, it was clear the death toll would rise sharply, with one survivor after another telling of friends and loved ones who floated off or disappeared as the floodwaters rose around them.
"I talked with paramedics that are on the scene and the devastation is so great that they won't quit counting (bodies) for a while," said Mark Williams, operations supervisor for an ambulance service along the Mississippi coast.
Along the coast, tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets prevented rescuers from reaching victims. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road.
Tens of thousands of people will need shelter for weeks if not months, said Mike Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And once the floodwaters go down, "it's going to be incredibly dangerous" because of structural damage to homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in homes, he said.
An estimated 40,000 people were in American Red Cross shelters along the Gulf Coast.

[tocqueville]

1. "We're not even dealing with dead bodies,"

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs roofs and in attics, and so rescue boats were bypassing the dead.

"We're not even dealing with dead bodies," Nagin said. "They're just pushing them on the side."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050830/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_16

[fishnfla]

2. they haven't even started counting yet eom

[jackster]

3. somewhere there's a thread

noting that a doc in NO says that the situation is unbelieveable - that some hospital rooms are being used as makeshift morgues.