A horrific glimpse of Hurricane Katrina’s wrath emerged on Thursday, as more than 30 patients were reportedly found dead in a suburban New Orleans nursing home overcome by floods.
At least 32 of the roughly 60 people living in the nursing home died in St Bernard Parish, south-east of New Orleans, on August 29, when Katrina slammed into the United States Gulf Coast, according to The New York Times.
St Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens said the bodies were found on Wednesday at St Rita’s nursing home, while 40 to 50 other people were alive and had been rescued, according to CNN.
Stevens did not provide an exact body count and the number was not added to the official death toll of 83 announced by New Orleans officials on Tuesday.
The grim discovery is likely the first of many awaiting rescuers scouring ravaged areas for bodies as officials warn that as many as 10 000 people may have died in Louisiana alone.
Evacuation of a flooded city
Louisiana police and soldiers, meanwhile, faced some difficult choices in enforcing a mandate to empty flooded New Orleans of its remaining 10 000 to 15 000 residents.
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin authorised the use of force on Tuesday but, with a number of residents still awaiting voluntary evacuation, rescue teams have so far postponed physical confrontations with those determined to stay.
Eventually, however, only the die-hards will be left.
”Once all the volunteer evacuations have taken place, then we’ll concentrate our efforts and our forces to mandatorily evacuate individuals,” New Orleans police Chief Eddie Compass said, promising that his officers will use ”the minimal amount of force necessary”.
Federal troops have joined in the house-to-house search for survivors, but senior military officers made it clear they will stand back if it comes to manhandling people out of their homes.
”When this turns into a law-enforcement issue, which we perceive forced evacuation is, regular troops would not be used,” said Major General Joseph Inge, deputy commander of the US Northern Command.
By Wednesday, there were 18 000 active-duty soldiers and 45 000 National Guard troops in the area of the US Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The decision to authorise forced evictions was clearly taken reluctantly by officials anxious to avoid traumatic scenes with people who have already suffered extreme deprivation.
In giving the order, Nagin cited the growing threat of disease posed by the putrid waters surrounding the wooden homes of many of the holdouts.
Health authorities said five people evacuated from the Katrina disaster zone have died as a result of having been exposed to contaminated water.
The five had been killed by Vibrio vulnificus, ”bacteria that can enter somebody through a cut, a scratch or a wound”, according to the government Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other medical officials said the deaths should not be seen as presaging an epidemic, as the bacteria prey mostly on the very old or those already suffering from a chronic illness.
‘Awful’ revelations
The floodwaters in low-lying New Orleans have receded as US Army engineers have brought more of the city’s damaged pumps back online.
The drainage process is expected to take close to three months and Nagin warned the country to brace for some ”awful” revelations as the dropping water levels reveal more of Katrina’s human toll.
The mayor said as many as 10 000 people may have died in the state, and a Louisiana health official revealed on Wednesday that about 25 000 body bags had been brought into the area.
Vice-President Dick Cheney on Thursday was set to visit the areas crushed by Katrina to assess recovery efforts and cut any bureaucratic red tape that may be hampering the process.
In announcing Cheney’s trip, President George Bush, who has visited afflicted areas twice, said his second in command would travel to the US South to remove bureaucratic hurdles to the recovery effort.
Bush asked lawmakers for an additional $51,8-billion in emergency funding to cover costs tied to the hurricane relief and recovery effort.
As the extent of the disaster became apparent, the estimated cost of the relief operation doubled from $500-million to $1-billion a day, US Senate budget committee chief Thad Cochrane said.
Bush had signed an initial emergency package totalling about $10,5-billion last week.
Congressional leaders, meanwhile, battled over the question of who should handle the inquiry into how the Katrina crisis was managed.
Democrats are demanding an independent probe like the one, at first resisted by Bush, that looked into the September 11 2001 attacks. They have also started a petition to sack the much-criticised head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown.
Bush’s majority Republicans agreed on Wednesday to a joint Senate-House of Representatives investigation into the actions of ”all levels of government”.
Republican Senator Pete Domenici called on Bush to appoint an official to oversee the recovery effort.
After promising to lead his own inquiry, Bush would not say whether any aides would be fired over the slow response that he has admitted was ”unacceptable”.
A USA Today survey released Wednesday said 42% of Americans polled felt Bush had handled the Katrina disaster ”badly” or ”very badly”. Thirty-five percent backed the president’s efforts. — AFP
