Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII

28,000 National Guard troops are deployed to the disaster areas in Mississippi, Alabama, and to Louisiana, where SWAT teams are working to combat the looters and shooters in New Orleans. Additional 1400 National Guard troops are being deployed daily.

Shootings reported at a New Orleans hospital, rescue boats, and a military helicopter, while conditions continue to deteriorate at the SuperDome amid refugee deaths and chaos. Evacuation of New Orleans continues.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has voiced serious doubts about rebuilding New Orleans with federal funds, while assuring the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that the United States Congress stands ready to help them in their time of need. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS."

Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, "We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us," said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the largest of two public hospitals.

The Port of New Orleans is now open to shallow draft vessels. Congress is reconvening in an emergency session. International offers to assist the U.S. have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States.

Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.

www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow, and lines are busy
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/

Updates as they come in on Katrina

, from WWLTV.com

06:09 PM CDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005

Tom Planchet

6:09 P.M. - Email from viewer on people stranded in downtown hotels:

I talked to my neice this morning. She works at the Sheraton right across the street and had beenat the hotel from Sunday night until this morning. She said that while the first floors of all of the downtown hotels were flooded about 5 feet deep, most are in decent shape and the people inside are doing pretty well - the hotels were stocked with quite a bit of food and bottled water/beverages.

5:51 P.M. - CNN Reports that someone in the convention center says dead bodies have been seen inside and outside the facility.

5:33 P.M. - AUSTIN (AP): Texas has agreed to accept another 25,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees -- and they'll be heading for Dallas. Officials earlier announced refugee groups estimated at 25,000 apiece will be housed in Houston and San Antonio.

5:30 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue says it's unlikely the Saints will play in New Orleans this season after the devastation Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath inflicted on the city.

The Saints will move into a hotel in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend and practice in San Antonio in preparation for their regular-season opener at Carolina September 11. They have spent this week in San Jose, California, and played their final exhibition tonight in Oakland.

But it still hasn't been decided where they will play their regular-season opener September 18 against the New York Giants or play the rest of their games.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs Giants Stadium, has offered to host the upcoming Giants-Saints game there. It would likely be played Monday, September 19 because the Jets will play Miami that Sunday at Giants Stadium.

Tagliabue said moving the game to New Jersey is one possibility.

He also said games could be played at another NFL stadium or at a non-NFL stadium. He didn't name any specifically, but the Alamodome in San Antonio seats 65,000 for football.

5:27 P.M. - (AP): House Speaker Dennis Hastert says it makes no sense to spend (b) billions of dollars to rebuild New Orleans, which is seven feet under sea level.

Hastert, in a transcript supplied by the newspaper, said there was no question that the people of New Orleans would rebuild their city, but noted that federal insurance and other federal aid was involved.

Hastert's press secretary, Ron Bonjean, said Hastert was not suggesting New Orleans should be abandoned or relocated.

Hastert announced today that the House, currently at the end of its summer break, would return for an emergency session tomorrow to approve some $10 billion in federal aid for hurricane victims.

5:24 P.M. - (AP): Even when Katrina's floodwaters are pumped out of New Orleans -- a process that could take weeks -- the city will be anything but dry.

Buildings, vehicles and their contents will be waterlogged and covered with mud. Whatever debris is currently sloshing around in the floodwaters will be strewn about the city in enormous piles.

Everything will be waterlogged, most of it ruined. It will be a monumental task just coordinating the collection and disposal of debris and trash.

Virtually everything worth keeping will have to be washed off, decontaminated and dried out. The city's drinking water distribution system will need to be flushed out and disinfected, a process that could take weeks or even months.

Buildings will have to be stripped down to their studs and dried out with dehumidifiers, a process that can't even begin in New Orleans until electricity is restored weeks or months from now.

For many homeowners, the expense and effort may not even be worth it. The median home in New Orleans costs about $87,000 -- by the time you figure in debris removal, demolition, drying and rebuilding, it may be cheaper simply to knock the whole house down and build a new one on its foundation.

5:18 P.M. - WWL-TV: Seven children, ages 7-years to 4-months-old, were rescued this afternoon and are waiting at an evacuee station for their mother, who is missing.

5:14 P.M. - WWL-TV: Hibernia Corporation is requesting that all of its employees who live in areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina call the following toll-free number: 1-800-707-0489. They want to find out where you are and how you are doing. If you need help, they will put you in touch with the right resources.

5:11 P.M. - WWL-TV: Robert M. Gates , President of Texas A&M University, said the Galveston campus will welcome 1,000 displaced students for up to one year. They will be charged the state minimum for tuition.

5:08 P.M. - WWL-TV: The Oakwood Mall is on fire. Emergency crews are on the scene, but water pressure is so low, firefighters are having a tough time keeping the blaze under country.

5:04 P.M. - Cecil Picard, State Superintendent of Education: All Department of Education meetings have been cancelled for the month of September. He urged displaced families to get their children registered in school systems outside Louisiana. Picard said he wants to make sure that every displaced teacher, bus driver, cafeteria worker, counselor and custodian has a job.

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