![]() ![]() The President also appealed for Americans to conserve car fuel for the next few weeks. He also tapped his father, former president George Bush Snr, and former president Bill Clinton to lead fundraising efforts for the victims of the hurricane. Mr Bush, criticised for his tardy response to the disaster, cranked up the Government's relief machinery and was to tour hurricane-damaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Friday. President George W Bush vowed "zero tolerance" for armed gangs and profiteers. "Let me emphasise, from the very beginning, and as we speak, rescue operations have continued and are continuing in full force," said Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. Officials said the floodwaters were to blame for slow progress. "It is disgusting, we feel we have been forgotten." "This is America, I don't understand the lack of communications between the authorities and the people," he said. People are going to kill you for water," Mr Jessie said. "We got dead bodies sitting next to us for days. Thomas Jessie, a 31-year-old roofer, vented his fear and anger after spending a night in the squalor of the convention centre with no National Guard nor Red Cross workers in sight. ![]() "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans," he said. Mr Ebert said the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been in the city for three days "yet there is no command and control". 'National disgrace'Īs US Congress was in the process of passing a $14 billion plan for emergency disaster relief, the head of New Orleans's emergency operations, Terry Ebbert, called the response effort "a national disgrace". Ms Blanco said up to 300,000 survivors might still be stuck in disaster areas in the state and at least 40,000 uniformed troops were needed for New Orleans alone.Īlthough no precise death toll was available, Ms Blanco and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu said several thousand people were believed to have been killed by Katrina. "This is a desperate SOS," Mr Nagin said in a statement released through CNN television. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued an urgent plea for help for up to 20,000 refugees stuck in the convention centre, which he said was "unsanitary and unsafe" and running out of supplies. Two children were reportedly raped at the stadium. "This is a war zone," said Melissa Murray, 32, a Louisiana state corrections officer helping in the relief effort.Ī National Guardsman was shot outside the Superdome and a shot was also fired at a Chinook helicopter taking part in the operation to move refugees out of the stadium, officials said. Hospitals were evacuated after power ran out. Residents reported survivors dropping dead in shelters. Many people have spent four days without proper food, water and sanitation and endured nights of lawless blackout. 'War zone'įour days after the hurricane hit, New Orleans was still plagued by gun battles and rapes, with gangs of looters and carjackers roving the streets as bodies were left lying by the roadside. He admitted that a number of police officers who had lost everything in flooding after Hurricane Katrina had handed in their badges, unwilling to take the fight to looters. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will."Ĭolonel Henry Whitehorn of the Louisiana State Police said the law and order situation in the city was "bad".īut he said anarchic conditions around the Superdome stadium and central business district where up to 20,000 refugees had been sheltering were "stabilising". "They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. "These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle-tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets. "Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans," Ms Blanco said. ![]() Top officials have confirmed that the storm killed thousands of people and have made a desperate plea for help to restore order to New Orleans and the surrounding region. Thousands of troops have struggled to counter armed looters and help tens of thousands of refugees flee New Orleans, where chaos reigns three days after Hurricane Katrina. A detachment of 300 National Guard troops have landed in anarchic New Orleans with the authorisation to shoot and kill "hoodlums", Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says. ![]()
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