Updates as they come in on Katrina
06:18 AM CDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005
Tom Planchet
6:17 A.M. - (AP) - Responding to reports of widespread looting, the president says there should be "zero-tolerance" for lawbreakers during the disaster. Bush says he's told law officials to move against anyone who engages in looting, price-gouging, insurance fraud or any other crime to take advantage of the situation.
6:15 A.M. - (AP) Managers at the Covenant Home nursing center were prepared to cope with power outages and supply shortages following Hurricane Katrina. They weren't ready for looters. The nursing home lost its bus after the driver surrendered it to carjackers. Groups of people then drove by the center, shouting to residents, "Get out!"
On Wednesday, 80 residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.
"We had excellent plans. We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."
6:12 A.M. (AP) - WASHINGTON -- President Bush says he understands the frustration of people wanting help along the Gulf Coast and promises "the most massive federal relief effort ever."
6:03 A.M. (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of Americans are now refugees. Some say they'll return to the homes they abandoned because of Hurricane Katrina, but others are calling it a day.
One New Orleans man sheltering in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, says "We got nothing."
A poker dealer from Biloxi says it's "just awful" and that she wants to get out of Southern Mississippi, where she's stranded.
Shonna Riggs says her forced exodus to Texas from a small town in Louisiana has been "very expensive" and she's not "used to the hustle and bustle" of Houston.
Another Louisiana woman staying in Houston says, "We're all a mess." Hoanne Hobson says she doesn't know what to do next.
5:55 A.M. - State of Louisiana Military Department: The Governor's office has requested the use of school busses from Louisiana schools to help with the evacuation of New Orleans, please advise your viewers to check with their local school systems in regards to closures today. |
