Katrina Afternoon Roundup

Disaster mortuary teams are setting up in St. Gabriel, Louisiana for the expected influx of victims who need identification.

All day long on Monday, trucks bearing equipment and supplies and sometimes victims clattered down the narrow street just over the railroad tracks to what is called the Disaster Portable Mortuary Unit. There a staff of 100 workers - morticians, forensic pathologists, anthropologists, medical examiners, coroners, fingerprint technicians, radiologists, dental technicians and others - will identify bodies and prepare them for burial.

No one knows how long it will take or how many bodies to expect.

The final tally will be more than we can bear. Many people either refused to leave or were unable to leave their homes. And paid for those decisions with their lives.

The Army Corps of Engineers is busy repairing the levees and flood walls. They've closed up the big gap in one levee and are working on dewatering the city. This includes opening up breaches in other areas of the levees to let water leave the city.

The NYT says we should look overseas to how foreign countries have dealt with flood control. However, regardless of the foreign efforts, the political will to spend billions on flood control has been missing for more than 40 years. Politicians have used money that could have gone to flood control for other things - like building convention centers, transportation links, and other ribboncutting structures. Flood control is unglamourous and doesn't come to the forefront unless and until the existing flood control efforts fail. And that doesn't begin to consider how the environmental groups will respond to efforts to build flood control systems capable of handling a Cat 5 storm. Will they complain that wetlands will be destroyed or that the river systems will be affected by building seawalls? Local groups slowed the construction efforts in Venice and there's no reason to think that local groups wouldn't find reasons to slow the construction in the US either.

From Slidell to Savannah; a tale of a hurricane victim escaping the town on foot and with the assistance of truckers who brought him to Savannah, Georgia where the local American Red Cross found him a place to stay and set him up at a local job. Another story of survival as the storm came ashore.

Still more reports that suggest that Slidell was the worst hit area in all of Louisiana.

All of Slidell remained without power Sunday, except for the major hospitals, and Dearing said it could still be weeks before it returns. One of the city's two power grids "is gone," he said, and the other is damaged.

The city and police services were being conducted out of a command center on high ground just outside downtown.

Pet owners in Slidell are requested to come to Heritage Park to claim their animals that were rescued from the storm ravaged town. The pets were rescued and are currently being cared for by Noah's Wish.

Noah's Wish, a not-for-profit organization that works exclusively to rescue and shelter animals in disasters, is rescuing animals from evacuated homes in Slidell, Louisiana. The pets are being housed at a temporary animal shelter and Noah's Wish is working with Slidell Animal Control to coordinate the rescue of hundreds of abandoned and stranded pets in the city of Slidell. The Animal Control building sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Katrina. Noah's Wish staff and volunteers on the ground do not have phone, cell phone or web access at this time and are unable to communicate outside the Slidell area. Noah's Wish is asking that pet owners from Slidell not call or send email, as communication is limited. Pet owners who live in Slidell need to come to Heritage Park to report a lost or stranded pet. Noah's Wish staff will be at Heritage Park from 8am to 7pm every day for at least the next 3 weeks. Pet owners must come in person to determine if their pet is at the shelter, as the number of pets being rescued is expected to reach the hundreds.

Slidell is also experiencing an uptick in looting as a result of being the first major community to the north of New Orleans, which was heavily damaged by flooding and looters had free reign of the city until state and federal officials put thousands of national guardsmen and troops into the city. Marion, IL law enforcement officials are headed to Slidell to assist in the recovery. The article states that about 50% of the town is badly damaged.

Slidell has had a really rough time, Gilbert said, adding that the Marion officers will be a breath of fresh air for Slidell officers.

About every five weeks, Slidell will get new help when the Marion police in Slidell are replaced by a new group of officers. The department has planned four groups of officers to rotate until they are no longer needed.

The first group of men, currently in Slidell as the "guinea pig" group, includes Gilbert, Capt. Jay Kay, Francis, Loftin, Fortner, Butche and officers Ben Caudell and Kyle Young.

Every officer on the Marion Police Department is playing a role in the relief effort.

Half of the officers volunteered to go to Slidell, Gilbert said. While the other half, who could not go, volunteered to pick up extra shifts to ensure Marion is well patrolled.

The eight officers loaded a trailer with supplies, such as diapers, toilet paper, gasoline, socks, T-shirts and food to take with them.

One of the big problems for law enforcement and reconstruction is the fact that there are many people who simply don't want to leave their homes. These may be people worried about being dislocated for weeks or months at a time, or the fact that their homes are all that they've ever known. One of my colleagues relayed a story about how his brother in law, who first flew from New York to Florida and then drove to Louisiana, is trying to convince his grandfather to leave his badly damaged home because it wasn't safe for him to stay.

As for the economic fallout, consider the following:

Nearly 50 percent of the people who lived in Slidell worked in New Orleans, about a 45-minute drive to the south, Dearing said.

Now, those people have no place to work, and even if they did they would have great difficulty getting there. The main bridge to the city, along Interstate 10, is severely damaged, with roadway missing in several places along one span.

On Sunday, a large sign along I-10 in Slidell flashed the message: "Closed to all traffic New Orleans metro area."

"No way to get to work; no work to go to," said Sweeney who, along with his wife, was among those who drove across the I-10 bridge every day to work in New Orleans.

Restoring those roads and bridges will be a key to restarting the local economy.