Bus Carrying Evacuees Overturns In Louisiana
The Denver Channel ^
Louisiana State Police say one person is dead after a charter bus carrying evacuees overturned Friday afternoon in Opelousas, La.
The accident happened on Interstate 49 at Creswell Lane. The bus was transporting evacuees from the New Orleans Superdome to Dallas, CNN reported.
The newspaper Daily World of Opelousas reports on its Web site that at least 10 people have been taken to hospitals. Several suffered critical injuries.
A state police trooper said the driver lost control of the vehicle, but details are not known yet.
Meanwhile, after days without regular meals, thousands of hurricane evacuees are finally getting food, courtesy of the National Guard.
A convoy of more than a dozen military trucks loaded with water and Meals Ready to Eat began filing down Convention Center Boulevard in New Orleans under heavy Humvee escort.
Despite going without regular food and water for up to five days, the sometimes-unruly crowd marched in an orderly fashion into the parking lot and broke into six single-file lines.
Most people seemed grateful for the water and military meals. But not everyone was happy with the way the National Guard was running things. At least two people complained that the soldiers would give them rations only for themselves, even though they said they were caring for senior citizens.
Both the Superdome and convention center have been powderkegs of angry, desperate humanity -- with fights, filth and feelings of abandonment. But New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass received a hero's welcome Friday as he rode past the crowd with a bullhorn, offering reassurances.
"We got 30,000 people out of the Superdome, and we're going to take care of you," he said.
He also warned that if anyone disrupted the relief effort, troops would be forced to stop distributing food and water and leave.
But an incident Friday at the Superdome has caused some hurricane evacuees to wonder if others are getting special treatment.
The evacuation of Katrina victims onto buses for Texas was interrupted briefly, allowing 700 guests and employees from the adjacent Hyatt Hotel to move to the head of the evacuation line and board school buses.
"How does this work? They are clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" asked Howard Blue, an evacuee.
Blue attempted to join the Hyatt group but was denied a place. As he rejoined the thousands of others enduring subhuman conditions, National Guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.
One hotel guest said the group was heading to the airport, but that could not be confirmed. The guest said the Hyatt told its patrons they would have water and phones by nightfall.
Trying to survive in the Superdome has been tough for the healthiest hurricane survivor. But those who are sick, injured or in need of medicine have really been hurting.
"Everybody's in pretty dire straits," said Kenneth Avery. He saw many small children who are sick, and a pregnant woman who was ready to deliver.
One woman said her newborn is running a fever, and small children in her area inside the dome all had rashes.
Becky Larue, of Des Moines, Iowa, and her husband were vacationing in New Orleans when the storm hit, and have been at the dome since Saturday. She's down to her last blood pressure pill.
Larue said she was waiting for evacuees "to start injuring themselves just to get out of here."
The Rev. Isaac Clark, a 68-year-old minister who's stranded with thousands of other evacuees at the New Orleans Convention Center said, "We are out here living like pure animals."
"We don't have water. We don't have food. We don't have help," Clark said.
Alan Gould, a man who is an evacuee inside the convention center, told CNN that women and small children are being raped and killed. He called it genocide.
He said officials keep giving them the runaround, saying "Help is coming. Help is coming. Help is coming." But he said people just keep dying.
The New Orleans police chief said 15,000 people are trapped in the city's convention center. And he said some are being raped and beaten.
A 23-year-old woman tending to her 4-year-old daughter said, "God is punishing New Orleans" for its corruption and crime.
At least seven bodies were scattered outside the convention center. People desperately called for help, chasing after reporters, sometimes pleading and sometimes threatening.
The man heading the military operation in New Orleans said if the emergency work were easy, it would have been done already.
Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore told CNN the high water near the convention center and Superdome is making it tough for troops to get in. But he said they have been unloading trucks full of food and water -- and will go restock when they're empty.
Honore said they'll also clear areas for helicopters to conduct medical evacuations.
The commander said he knows people in the area are frustrated at the pace, and he is, too. But he downplayed talk of mass criminal activity in New Orleans, saying most of the people massed on the streets are families just waiting to get out of a bad spot. |
