First Fear, Then Loathing at Superdome
The stench inside the Louisiana Superdome was the worst of it.
It was the smell of refugees who hadn’t bathed in days in a facility where the bathrooms were filthy, bins were stuffed with trash and 20,000 people were cooped up with no place to go.
The roof had holes in it, and dozens of people spent the night on the concourse outside the stadium for the coolness – such as it was – and more important, a breath of fresh air. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the air conditioning had been off since Monday. Three displaced hospital patients died in the dome.
Still, the Superdome offered shelter from the water that rose even higher Tuesday because of breached levees and the inability to pump it out of the city, which is below sea level. The breach sent water lapping at the steps of the dome, raising at least the specter that conditions could worsen for those inside the landmark stadium.
Another Person Dies At Superdome, Possibly From Suicide
Conditions are far from ideal at the Louisiana Superdome, but for the new arrivals, it’s better than what they left behind.
Rescuers are continuing to bring survivors from Hurricane Katrina to the huge sports arena, where the air conditioning is out and the bathrooms are filthy. And there are two holes in the roof, caused by the storm.
There are more than 10,000 people in the arena.
Officials had earlier reported two deaths at the Superdome, and now, they report that someone died Tuesday after plunging from an upper level of the stadium. They say the person probably jumped.
Up to 23,000 Superdome refugees boarding buses for Astrodome
Up to 23,000 refugees from New Orleans’ Superdome will board buses and head to Houston’s Astrodome, leaving behind a city that’s deteriorating by the hour.
Hurricane refugees trapped in the Superdome will come to the 40-year-old Astrodome in over 500 buses under plans being put together by state and local officials.
“It will be a noble calling for the grand lady at this time in her career,’’ said Harris County Judge Robert Eckels. “We’ll have a group of people who are tired, who are frustrated, who are scared and who have been through a tremendous tragedy.’’
Eckels said officials are not expecting to keep refugees from Hurricane Katrina in the stadium very long.
“I’m thinking in terms of days, maybe weeks,’’ he said.
Mayor: Katrina May Have Killed Thousands
The mayor said Wednesday that Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm by far the nation’s deadliest hurricane in more than a century.
“We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: “Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.”
The frightening estimate came as Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans’ breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, while authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in the Big Easy and all but abandon the flooded-out city.
A Grim New Orleans Is Being Abandoned for Now
NEW ORLEANS —Weary officials wrestled unsuccessfully with emergency repairs to the leaking levee system today as heat, storm-related floodwaters and the shortage of even the most basic supplies for human survival turned this grim city into a nightmare.
Conditions were so poor that officials have ordered everyone out, effectively abandoned New Orleans for the present. Refugees who fled Hurrican Katrina last week were told to stay away and those in city shelters were expected to be taken by bus convoy to the Houston Astrodome since there was no way to care for them here. . .
In 1718, French colonist Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville ignored his engineers’ warnings about the hazards of flooding and mapped a settlement in a pinch of swampland between the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico and a massive lake to the north.
Ever since, the water has sustained New Orleans and perpetually threatened it. Somehow, until this week, the mystique of the water had always washed away the foreboding of disaster, as if carrying the city’s worries downstream. That was true even early Tuesday morning, when Hurricane Katrina’s last-minute veer to the east convinced many residents they had once again eluded the Fates. . .
After nearly two months of investigation, prosecutors are expected to ask a federal grand jury in Los Angeles today to charge at least three men with conspiracy to commit terrorism in connection with an alleged plot to attack National Guard recruitment centers, synagogues and other sites in Southern California.
Prosecutors may also seek to bring charges against one or two inmates at a state prison in Folsom, said federal, state and local law enforcement sources. . .
“Minuteman” Jim Gilchrist Contests Ballot Black-Out
Candidate to seek Stay in the Printing of Ballots
Lawyers representing Independent Congressional Candidate Jim Gilchrist (CA-48) filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate in a Sacramento Superior Court seeking a stay of any action by the Orange County Registrar of Voters that would allow for the production of ballots prior to a court ruling regarding the permissible use of the term “minuteman” as a “ballot designation” by Mr. Gilchrist during the special election on October 4, 2005. These actions have prompted the Orange County Registrar of Voters to halt all production of the sample ballots until the matter is resolved.
The suit holds California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and The Orange County Registrar of Voters Steve Rodermund responsible for rejecting two separate submissions by Mr. Gilchrist for the terms “Modern Minuteman” or the suggested alternative, “Director, Minuteman Project” which were filed by the campaign before the legal deadline of 5p.m. on Friday, August 26, 2005. Read more here(.pdf).
