Nagin details latest storm damage

[steve2470]

Nagin details latest storm damage
by Melinda Deslatte, AP

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday that the city might need to set up a temporary morgue to deal with the death toll in a city that's 80 percent flooded, food and water are scarce and an atmosphere of lawlessness has set in as police and other emergency resources are dedicated to rescuing people still stuck in their homes after Hurricane Katrina.

That's not all. Three levees have been broken, flooding areas of the city that appeared to survive the storm. A 50-inch water main under City Park is cut. And power is running out at the Superdome, where some 15,000 to 20,000 people took refuge at the “shelter of last resort.” At Charity Hospital, which hosts the city's top trauma center, the flood levels got too high foor ambulances to get in or out.

“Charity Hospital is in a crisis,” Nagin said. He estimated it would take as long as two weeks to clear out the floodwaters once the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fixes the levees.

Also, Municipal Yacht Harbor burned to the ground. And looting has become so widespread that it's sometimes taking place in full view of police and other emergency workers who are busy searching for any survivors in need of rescue. Drug addicts have been looting pharmacies, Nagin said.

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http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/

[EVDebs]

1. I heard a guy on Keith Olbermann saying the damage went from

New Orleans, where he left driving in his car until around Lafayette...so around 80 miles as the crow flies. I would expect as much damage another 80 miles from New Orleans in the other direction. Does anyone know how far inland the damage goes ?

Maps, and any other way to get a handle on this ?

This IS the worst case scenario afterall, once those levees broke.