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 News from Around the Americas | September 2005 
The Latest On Katrina's Aftermath
 CNN
| | Receding flood waters leave houses surrounded by mud in Chalmette, Louisiana. |
Check here for the latest information from the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast region and other affected areas. Items are time-stamped when entered. Friday, September 9
Louisiana National Guard members return from Iraq
ALEXANDRIA, La. (CNN) -- To loud cheers from friends and family members, the first 100 Louisiana National Guards members arrived back home from Iraq Friday to help in the relief efforts and to help their families cope with the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Children waved American flags, and a giant banner read, "Welcome Home American Heroes." One child clutched a sign, "I love you daddy." "We're back home now. It's time to take care of business," one soldier said, holding his wife's hand and surrounded by his three children. (posted 4:19 p.m.)
Two military officers heading Task Force Katrina promise 'unified effort'
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNN) -- Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who replaced the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency director as on-site leader of hurricane relief operations, promised a unified effort with the U.S. military just hours after he was appointed to the position.
"There is no gap between us," Allen said, as he stood beside Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of Task Force Katrina. "We are a unified effort."
Allen, the chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard, takes over from FEMA director Michael Brown as the top FEMA official in the hurricane-battered regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Brown returns to Washington, D.C., to focus on other emergency issues, including Tropical Storm Ophelia.
During the news conference, Honore said soldiers will start evacuating some of the pets left behind in New Orleans, as well as those belonging to the holdouts who refuse to leave the city because they don't want to leave their animals behind. The soldiers will take the animals to a collection point. (Posted: 4:03 p.m.)
Mayors of Dallas, New Orleans rip FEMA
DALLAS (CNN) -- The mayor of Dallas lambasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday, saying her city -- new home to thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees -- has received no resources from the federal government to help deal with the influx. She also criticized the state government for failing to provide assistance.
"Where is FEMA -- national -- and where is the state of Texas? We keep being told the help is coming, and so far we haven't gotten the help," Mayor Laura Miller said at a news conference.
She stood alongside New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who has previously excoriated federal officials for their response to the catastrophe.
"I would like to say, write e-mails, send faxes, send letters to your congressmen, to your senators, and tell them 'Let's not delay help anymore,'" Nagin said. "Let's do what it takes to bust through the bureaucracy of the federal government and the state government."
About 17,000 evacuees had been staying in the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena. Miller said most have been moved into apartments or other stable living conditions, but about 1,500 remain at the two sites. (Posted 3:25 p.m.)
Brown issues statement on FEMA changes
(CNN) -- FEMA director Michael Brown issued a statement Friday after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced he would return to Washington, leaving his assistant in charge of on-site Katrina relief operations.
He said he is needed in Washington to monitor Tropical Storm Ophelia, which forecasters say could strike Georgia or the Carolinas as a hurricane next week.
"FEMA is fully capable of handling multi-storm operations." his statement said. "We have pushed operational control of Hurricane Katrina out of our D.C. headquarters into our field structure now assembled and operational."
"We are monitoring Tropical Storm Ophelia's approach and are in close contact with the National Hurricane Center and the states that could be impacted." (Posted 3:20 p.m.)
FEMA director replaced as on-site head of Katrina relief operations
(CNN) -- Amid mounting criticism, FEMA director Michael Brown will be replaced as the on-site head of relief operations in the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Friday.
He will be replaced by Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard, who has been acting as Brown's assistant in the Gulf region.
Chertoff said the change comes as authorities move from immediate response to the next phase of operations. He said it is important that Brown return to Washington, D.C., to oversee FEMA national headquarters. "FEMA has responsibility not only to participate in this recovery, it's got a lot of other responsibilities," Chertoff said. "We cannot afford to let our guard down."
Brown has been roundly criticized for not responding fast enough to ensure aid got to the region after Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29.(Posted 2:16 p.m.)
New Orleans seeks to consolidate agencies working on Katrina aftermath
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- City officials were attempting Friday to put all the law enforcement agencies working on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina under the control of the New Orleans Police Department, the city's homeland security chief said.
"Today we are attempting with the federal government's assistance to gain control of all law enforcement agencies that have been provided," Terry Ebbert said at a news conference.
"We are working to, one, categorize, identify, the number of people, the organizations, and assign them directly to the New Orleans Police Department for law enforcement actions, and thereby not allowing individual departments to act on their own." (Posted 1:45 p.m.)
Current Death Toll
Total Confirmed fatalities -- 337
-- Mississippi - 204
-- Louisiana - 118
-- Florida - 11
-- Alabama - 2
-- Georgia - 2
Note: In anticipation of a staggering death toll, FEMA has brought in 25,000 body bags for the New Orleans area, and FEMA's warehouse morgue for the area is set up to handle 5,000 bodies. (Posted: 1:33 p.m.)
New Orleans pleads with final holdouts to leave; no forced evacuations yet
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Armed troops and city officials tried to "persuasively negotiate" with the last holdouts in New Orleans to get them to leave the ruined city voluntarily Friday, and threatened forced evacuations could follow, the city attorney said.
"At this time, force is not being used to evacuate those persons who are already in the city," said Sherry Landry at a news conference outside City Hall. Forces and troops were working to "strongly encourage" people to leave for their own safety -- and the safety of everyone involved, she said. (Posted: 1:30 p.m.)
Initial sweeps offer hope for death toll below 'dire predictions'
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Although the search for bodies amid the Hurricane Katrina wreckage is only at an initial stage, a top official overseeing the efforts said Friday the results offer hope for a death toll lower than some of the most dire suggestions.
"I think there's some encouragement in what we found in the initial sweeps that some of the catastrophic death that some people predicted may not in fact have occurred," said Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief, at a news conference. "The numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire predictions of 10,000," he said. (Posted 1:10 p.m.)
Police reject 'vicious rumors' of dead children; no confirmed sexual assaults
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass rejected what he called "vicious rumors" Friday that bodies of dead children had been found inside the convention center, where Hurricane Katrina evacuees stayed for days.
"We have swept the entire convention center," he said, and no children were found dead. Also, he said, there were "no confirmed reports of any type of sexual assault."
For days, the convention center and the Superdome were scenes of chaos, as lawlessness gripped much of the city. Evacuees described instances of violence including sexual assault. (Posted 1:02 p.m.)
The Air Force to launch aerial spray missions to attack disease spreading insects.
(CNN) -- The Air Force will conduct aerial spray missions targeting disease-spreading insects in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this weekend. Two Air Force Reserve C-130s from the 910th Airlift Wing in Youngstown, Ohio and nearly 50 Air Force Reservists are scheduled to takeoff Friday at 2:30 p.m.. Each C-130H is capable of spraying about 60,000 acres a day.
The mission will be a joint effort of the Air Force, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The crews are planning to spray the New Orleans area first, then work other affected areas as required. Mosquitos capable of transmitting such diseases as Malaria, West Nile Virus and Encephalitis, will be the primary target.Aquarium survivors to be airlifted out of New Orleans. (Posted 12:15 p.m.)
Aquarium survivors to be airlifted out of New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Penguins, sea otters, rare Australian sea dragons and a 250-pound sea turtle named Midas will be airlifted out of the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas Friday after surviving Hurricane Katrina.
The animals will be taken to habitats in Monterey, Calif., and Dallas, Texas, aquarium spokeswoman Melissa Lee told CNN.
Most of the aquarium's 10,000 fish did not survive after the storm knocked out power essential for making the water habitable, and the facility's emergency generator later failed.
Electricity has since been restored at the Aquarium of the Americas, located at the foot of Canal Street along the Mississippi River.
The aquarium's entire colony of 19 penguins and a couple of California sea otters will be taken to Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they originally came from, Lee said. (Posted: 11:32 a.m.)
Bush to return to Miss., La. on Sunday
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will return to Mississippi and Louisiana on Sunday, the White House said Friday. Bush will stay overnight in Louisiana before returning to Washington on Monday, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The president is facing blistering criticism for his administration's handling of the deadly disaster. Bush first traveled to the region last Friday, four days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall and spread destruction along a huge swath of the Gulf Coast. He returned to the region on Monday for another one-day trip. (Posted: 10:22 a.m.)
Red Cross twice rebuffed in sending relief into New Orleans
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNN) -- American Red Cross officials twice asked to be allowed to enter New Orleans with relief supplies late last week after the city was savaged by Hurricane Katrina, but they were asked not to do so by state officials concerned about the logistical difficulties of such an operation, Red Cross and state officials said Thursday.
Vic Howell, chief executive officer of the Red Cross' Louisiana Capital Area Chapter, said the request was first made on Thursday during a visit to the state by the national president of the American Red Cross, Marsha Evans.
He said he then renewed that request on Friday to Col. Jay Mayeaux, the deputy director of the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
"We made the offer as a humanitarian organization to go in and provide support to the people that were in need," Howell said at a news conference in Baton Rouge. "We had adequate supplies, the people and the vehicles ... to do that. It was the middle of a military rescue operation trying to save lives. We were asked not to go in, and we abided by that recommendation."
Mayeaux, who appeared at the news conference with Howell, said during their conversation on Friday, he asked the Red Cross to wait 24 hours so that conditions could be "set" for the operation.
"To set up a feeding station to feed a large number of people, you need space, you need to escort the personnel into position, set up the appropriate matter in which you want to feed those personnel. And we asked Mr. Howell, and he concurred, to wait 24 hours to go to set that in," Mayeaux said.
By Saturday, however, with large-scale evacuations of the city well under way, the point was moot, and the Red Cross never launched its relief effort in the city, according to both Howell and Mayeaux. (Posted: 1:00 a.m.)
First lady: Accusations that Katrina aid slowed by racism are 'disgusting'
(CNN) -- First lady Laura Bush on Thursday denounced critics who say race played a role in the federal government's slow response to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"I think all of those remarks were disgusting to be perfectly frank," the first lady told the American Urban Radio Networks.
However, she noted that poor people were most vulnerable to the devastation, and said that is a "wake-up call" for the nation to address the issue.
On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Americans have to face the "ugly truth" that race and class played a significant role in who lived and who died when Katrina swept across the Gulf Coast.
Several black leaders and groups have expressed outrage over rescue efforts, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said Saturday that race played a role, and called Bush's response to the crisis "inexcusable." |
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