Survivors describe week of horror in New Orleans
By Paul Simao Sat Sep 3, 8:57 PM ET
LAFAYETTE, Louisiana (Reuters) - Thousands of New Orleans residents streamed north on Saturday, escaping the violence that gripped the city in the days after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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Women spoke of the terror they felt as gangs of thieves and rapists roamed the streets and temporary shelters night after night, plucking victims -- some of them children -- at whim and with no fear of police intervention.
"They took what they wanted and nobody stopped them," said Tanika James, 27, who was among a large group of refugees who arrived in Baton Rouge and other parts of Louisiana on Friday. "It was the most scared I (have) been."
Like many of the 6,000 hurricane survivors who have sought shelter at a domed arena in Lafayette in southwestern Louisiana, Michael Davis, 18, said the orgy of violence that erupted in the state's largest city had left him with a numbing sense of loss.
"The New Orleans I knew ain't no more," Davis said.
"There were bodies floating everywhere. Lots of them. Some had bullets in them," Davis said, as he described his escape from a neighborhood that was immersed in more than 10 feet (3 metres) of water earlier this week.
The U.S. government, which has been criticized by state officials, black leaders and others for being caught flat-footed by the lawlessness in New Orleans, sent more troops into the predominantly black city on Saturday.
At the same time, federal authorities were continuing to evacuate tens of thousands who remained trapped in New Orleans with scant supplies of water, food and other necessities.
Those who have been evacuated have found temporary shelters in sports arenas, convention centers and other converted facilities, many in Louisiana and neighboring states but some as far away as Utah in the western United States.
There are even plans to house some on cruise ships.
The luckier ones are finding shelter in private homes.
"I'm here to take in a family," said James Tilghman, who traveled to a Red Cross shelter in Lafayette on Saturday from nearby Broussard, Louisiana. "I can't afford to sit there and feed them for months, but I can do my part."
Tilghman said he had been appalled by the violence in New Orleans and was concerned that some of it might spill over into his community with the arrival of more survivors. "I'm totally against guns, but I bought one this week," he said. |
