death toll may already be over 1,000

[Derek Ortt]

<i>what article, no link</i>

read through the thread, you'll find your link

[huricanwatcher]

i have to agree, you are not seeing neighbor helping neighbor, black helping white helping asian helping spanish, etc...... you see the piliage and the opportunist that are taking advantage of a bad situation and making it worse.

Ive seen it first hand how PEOPLE COME TOGETHER AND HELP each other no mater what their background or circumstances are......

[soonertwister]

I am always amazed about the people who live in mobile homes in Oklahoma Kansas and Missouri who don't go to tornado shelters. Sadly I think so many think it won't happen to them. Heck I have been known to spend many nights in my basement.

cancunkid, I'm from Oklahoma, grew up there, and can speak with some authority about Oklahomans and tornadoes since I grew up there and have been fascinated with thunderstorms and tornadic thunderstorms my entire life.

In Oklahoma there are very few public tornado shelters. Sure there are lots of shelters, but they are intended for specific people, such as company employees on site, building occupants, people in stadiums and arenas, and personal safe places on private property, for the most part.

The reason there are few public tornado shelters is that the typical lead time between a warning and a tornado strike tends to be fairly short. Public shelters give people a false sense of security and leads them to believe that they can run for shelter at the very last minute.

Our fatalities from tornadoes are greatly below those of flash floods. We as a state are for the most part pretty educated about the dangers of tornados, and we know the safest things to do in the event of one. The big tornado of 1999 was the strongest verifiable weather event in the history of the planet in terms of intensity, although certainly not in terms of breadth. Regardless, that storm caused more damage in the Oklahoma City area alone than the next two most destructive tornadoes combined, and after sweeping away thousands of houses and scouring huge areas with record winds, only 33 were dead, and fewer died in well-built homes than could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

If those in the area with the greatest loss of life had more warning, it's likely that few of them would have died. They would not have been in their mobile homes, and either would have evaded the winds or sought shelter below ground level. It was not a lack of shelters that killed them, but the fact that they were surprised by violent tornadic winds while still inside their fragile mobile homes.

And for those who died, there may have been other factors, but the biggest one was that people failed to pay attention to the NWS warning of a widespread tornadic event that was issued before things got bad.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[JQ Public]

Same thing w/ my University

Expires: 09-08-2005

To: NC State Faculty, Staff and Students: NC State will open its doors
to students enrolled in universities affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Chancellor Oblinger and I, after consultation with deans and other
university officials, have determined that although we are more than two
weeks into the semester, we must make our university available to those
affected by this disastrous hurricane. We will give priority to North
Carolina residents; students who have other family members enrolled at
NC State; and students whose majors match well with our unique
strengths. Although we are still working out the details, interested
students can call the Office of Credit Programs, 919-515-2265, or toll
free at 866-294-9903, which is our central point of contact and can help
with registration, housing, financial aid, tutoring, fees and other
matters. I ask that each of you give your total support to those who may
join us as guests and fellow students. Thank you, Larry Nielsen, Provost

[AlabamaDave]

My brother-in-law returned yesterday from an overnight trip back to his home in Mandeville, LA to gather essentials for his family. He was told by someone working for a police force there they had delivered 8,000 body bags to New Orleans.

Anyone who still thinks the death toll for this is under 1,000 is not facing the reality of this horror.

[Sean in New Orleans]

Word from officials my Dad spoke to is total deaths will be somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 in SE Louisiana. It'll take around a month to find all of the dead.

[JQ Public]

[tndefender]

This mostly sad account seems to confirm that it will indeed be bad:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/

For example,

"No one knows how many were killed by Hurricane Katrina’s floods and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued, in Louisiana as well as neighboring Mississippi. But in New Orleans, bodies were being found hidden in attics, floating among the ruined city, crumpled on wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco echoed fears that the death toll would reach into the thousands. And Craig Vanderwagen, rear admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service, said one morgue alone, at a St. Gabriel prison, expected 1,000 to 2,000 bodies."

[jpigott]

Word from officials my Dad spoke to is total deaths will be somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 in SE Louisiana. It'll take around a month to find all of the dead.

is that just in the parishes south of NO, where the mississippi river dumps into the gulf, or is that also including NO

[greeng13]

Word from officials my Dad spoke to is total deaths will be somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 in SE Louisiana. It'll take around a month to find all of the dead.

is that just in the parishes south of NO, where the mississippi river dumps into the gulf, or is that also including NO

i was wondering that myself

[scostorms]

Must be, southeast Louisiana is that area of all the parishes from Washington to Plaquemines.

[vbhoutex]

My understanding from what I have read in a few places is that almost all of the residents of the SE LA parishes did evacuate. Again, that is just how I percieve it, so I am presuming that 10-15 thousand is including NO area.

[LSU2001]

My understanding from what I have read in a few places is that almost all of the residents of the SE LA parishes did evacuate. Again, that is just how I percieve it, so I am presuming that 10-15 thousand is including NO area.

I agree with you. South East La. always includes NOLA. But if that is a close toll for SELA what about the numbers from other states. The gulf coast is ungodly right now. I am terribly afraid of what the toll will be along the MS. gulf coast.
TIm

[vbhoutex]

My understanding from what I have read in a few places is that almost all of the residents of the SE LA parishes did evacuate. Again, that is just how I percieve it, so I am presuming that 10-15 thousand is including NO area.

I agree with you. South East La. always includes NOLA. But if that is a close toll for SELA what about the numbers from other states. The gulf coast is ungodly right now. I am terribly afraid of what the toll will be along the MS. gulf coast.
TIm

The possible MS death toll continues to be hard to grasp. We are getting confilicting stories as to what percentage of the population stayed behind. If only 20% of the population of that coast stayed behind, which is what I heard(Derek has heard at least 75% but I am going to use my numbers and a calculator this time)and the total population of that coast was 375,000 which is another figure I have heard, then there were 75,000 minimum in harms way as Katrina hit. We have no way of knowing at this point how many of that total survived, but if it was 90% that means 6,750 perished on the MS coast. Unfortunately, any way we look at it the numbers will be staggering for everyone when they are finally totalled, imo.

[LSU2001]

I heard the 75% number too. My folks are saying the Camille killed a lot of people in this storm. I guess they mean that people thought that because they made it through Camille they would be fine in this one.

BTW has anyone heard from ixolib.

TIm

[NC George]

After Floyd came to our area here in eastern NC, if you were anywheres near a disaster assistance location, you were asked if you were in the water.... they pulled you asside and gave you a tetnus shot... hope this is going on in the GOM areas affected.

it is far more than just tetanus though...staph, hepatitis, malaria (even), botulism, dyssentary (sp?), etc....not to mention just being in close quarters with a crowd of people who may be carriers of other diseases...meningitis, flu, etc...

they need the CDC down there...some reporters (from diff. stations) are saying they need a "public health official" at the shelters outside of NO. I think you need many reps from the CDC.

I think the disease angle is being overplayed. It was with the tsunami. Sure, some people will catch some diseases. I don't think there will be a widespread outbreak. I say this because: There is no nastier water than the stuff that flowed across eastern NC and stayed for weeks. Mainly the waste of hog lagoons (that's an acre of liquid hog manure 10 feet deep,) pesticides and fertilizers , and rivers that have toxic organisims (phisteria.) Yet in spite of all of this, we had no major outbreak of disease here. Sure, people got funny sores on them, and got antibiotics, they healed right up.

[vbhoutex]

We ahve not heard from Ixolib and quite a few others. We are keeping the list at the top of the forum updated.

[Derek Ortt]

http://www.cnn.com

a govt official has said the number of deaths is in the thousands

[gunner1551]

After Floyd came to our area here in eastern NC, if you were anywheres near a disaster assistance location, you were asked if you were in the water.... they pulled you asside and gave you a tetnus shot... hope this is going on in the GOM areas affected.

it is far more than just tetanus though...staph, hepatitis, malaria (even), botulism, dyssentary (sp?), etc....not to mention just being in close quarters with a crowd of people who may be carriers of other diseases...meningitis, flu, etc...

they need the CDC down there...some reporters (from diff. stations) are saying they need a "public health official" at the shelters outside of NO. I think you need many reps from the CDC.

I think the disease angle is being overplayed. It was with the tsunami. Sure, some people will catch some diseases. I don't think there will be a widespread outbreak. I say this because: There is no nastier water than the stuff that flowed across eastern NC and stayed for weeks. Mainly the waste of hog lagoons (that's an acre of liquid hog manure 10 feet deep,) pesticides and fertilizers , and rivers that have toxic organisims (phisteria.) Yet in spite of all of this, we had no major outbreak of disease here. Sure, people got funny sores on them, and got antibiotics, they healed right up.

There are already out breaks of dyssentary in some shelters. 20 I think was the number, it got bad enough that they closed the shelter.

[southerngale]

i'd like to believe there are only 144 dead in MS, but i fear many many more is likely accurate. From the aireials i've seen ALL residences/structures within 1/4 mile of the gulf from Biloxi westward to Slidell/NO are severely damaged from the storm surge, and there are many of those same structures where all that is left is the concrete foundation slab

You would think everyone who lived within 10 miles (at a MINIMUM) would have evacuated. If a cat5 was in the GOM headed in my general direction, I would evacuate even if I lived 30 miles inland! I just don't get it.

there are SO many people who have no means to evacuate. some are elderly or financially strapped people who depend on buses just to go to the grocery store. some have health problems that keep them from going anywhere except to the dr. office. IF they have family in other areas they usually don't show up on the doorstep to take them away from the danger. and IF they did, how many false alarms would they leave for?(we have the identical problem in the Tampa/St. Pete area of FL)
we left 4 times last year - fortunately we have somewhere to go to and the means to go, but we are self-employed and how many times can most people leave?
it is a complex and extremely sad situation. bottom line - we should all be looking out for each other.

BTW - we took along a family of 5 & their 3 dogs & a snake, plus one mother-in-law and we invited at least 8 others (family & friends) who declined.

Yes, I understand that. I just think that everyone who could get out, should have. And if there are others like you, who helped another family, the poorer people could get out too. It doesn't always happen that way though. I know there are exceptions, but out of the hundreds of thousands in the affected areas...many more could have left, should have left. It's just heartbreaking. I'm upset, worried and mad that so many were there.