More Than 3,200 Still Missing From Katrina

[jasons2k]

More Than 3,200 Still Missing From Katrina
Jan 18 1:35 PM US/Easter

BATON ROUGE, La.

More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.

As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said.

Some of those still listed as missing likely have already been found by their relatives but the center hasn't been notified of their status, it said.

More than 1,300 Katrina-related deaths have been reported across five states, with 1,101 of those from Louisiana.

[Audrey2Katrina]

My guess is that around another 1,000 are deaths we may well never hear about. From what I'd read a LARGE number of the missing are elderly and those living in the severely flooded nether regions of lower St. Bernard, and the Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. With the cleanup of earthquake-like debris fields; many of them will never be found, and the "official" tally, will likely be severely understated.

A2K

[vbhoutex]

One thing that shocks me about the possible/probable understating of deaths with this and other storms(not making an accusation, just an observation) is the fact that apparently there are literally thousands out there that have no other family or friends that would miss them. That in and of itself is tragic.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Tell me about it!

And wouldn't it be a shocker if it were to found out that this storm quite possibly has claimed 2500-3000 lives? That's still below the number of missing by nearly 2,000. I read a report today that speculates that many of the dead may well have been carried into Lake Pontchartrain and will never be found. Sad indeed.

A2K

[Lindaloo]

I agree A2K. They were finding garbage cans here on the islands. It is quite possible that people were swept out to sea too and will never be found.