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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mary Cluney who wrote (135566)	8/31/2005 9:17:47 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793592

There's no food to find in looted jewelry stores ~~A Helicopter View of the Devastation of Hurricane Katrina Two Associated Press Reporters Traveled With State Officials by Helico By Melinda Deslatte Associated Press Writer Published: Aug 31, 2005 NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Families waded through chest deep water in lakes that once were neighborhoods. People baked in the sun on rooftops waiting for rescue boats. A row of desperately needed ambulances lined up on the interstate, water blocking their path. U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, viewing the destruction and human misery Tuesday from a helicopter, traced the sign of the cross across her head and chest as she looked out at St. Bernard Parish east of New Orleans, where only roofs peeked out from the water. "The whole parish is gone," she said in disbelief. In the suburb of Kenner, where the mayor estimated 75 percent of homes were flooded, the airport was dry but surrounded by water. Highway exit ramps led into pools of water and cars laid abandoned. Swimming pools were indistinguishable from streets. Gas stations were blown apart, their facades scattered in the street. Chunks of the interstate leading to Slidell were missing, pushed aside in some places like puzzle pieces. Roller coasters jutted out from the water at the Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans East. And everywhere across the New Orleans metropolitan area, people waded through the water - just to take a look around or to find higher ground to escape it. "The water damage is incredible, and you just started to see the damage. It'll make you cry," said Louisiana National Guard Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau during a trip into some of the devastated areas of Jefferson Parish west of New Orleans on a military transport vehicle. Katrina appeared to hit eastern New Orleans and neighboring St. Bernard Parish the hardest, submerging homes in water that topped 10 feet in some areas. People waited for rescue from their rooftops, waving at the National Guard helicopter that carried Landrieu, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and federal emergency officials. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin estimated hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the area were stuck in attics or on housetops. He said workers put aside the recovery of the dead Tuesday to reach people who were still alive - and trapped. Officials said looting also wasn't their primary concern, acknowledging that some residents simply were searching for food. As the helicopter carrying the state officials lifted off in Metairie, a group of men waded through floodwaters and smashed the glass to a gas station convenience store. "We found people are taking food because people are hungry," said New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass. "We'll deal with the looting afterward. Human life is our top priority." --- ^By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press Writer GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Hurricane Katrina washed away whole neighborhoods in southern Mississippi, leaving only concrete slabs and dumping the innards of swanky beachfront houses a quarter-mile inland. Hundreds of other homes were reduced to splinters, and forests of pine trees had snapped like twigs. "It looks like Hiroshima," Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday after taking a National Guard helicopter tour of more than 50 miles of the Mississippi coastline. The heaviest damage in the state appeared to be along the coast in Harrison County, which includes Gulfport and Biloxi. About 90 percent of homes and businesses were either destroyed or severely damaged. Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr said he drove an eight-mile stretch of U.S. 90 in his city, and almost every upscale beach-side home had disappeared - including homes he and his father owned next door to each other. "It's like a bomb went off," Warr said. Amid all the destruction, a few random landmarks still stood. Three Waffle House signs remained unscathed in Biloxi and Gulfport, but the boxy restaurants themselves had been obliterated. In Bay St. Louis, a white steeple was standing upright, but the church it had been attached to was gone. Most of Mississippi's glittering casinos were also severely damaged. State law requires them to be built on barges over water; some were blown all the way ashore. The Kids Quest arcade of Grand Casino in Gulfport was shoved about 50 yards onto the highway hugging the coast. Less than half a mile away, the Copa casino landed atop roads leading into the Mississippi State Port. In Biloxi, however, the upscale Beau Rivage casino and hotel appeared to have survived with little significant damage. The new Hard Rock casino was to have opened Tuesday night, but the back of the building had collapsed, and part of its metal framing glinted in the sunlight. Only a few people could be seen amid the rubble. In Long Beach, four people held hands and walked gingerly down a road strewn with tree limbs and blocked by a trailer home that had scooted off its base. AP-ES-08-31-05 0413EDT