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September 01, 2005
New Orleans Shows Its Character In Wake Of Katrina
New Orleans evacuation delayed by shooting, chaos
By Jason Reed
Authorities suspended an evacuation of New Orleans on Thursday after a reported shooting at a U.S. military helicopter and President George W. Bush urged "zero tolerance" for lawlessness in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Thousands of people died after the storm devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record) said.
In New Orleans, shell-shocked officials tried to regain control of the historic jazz city reduced to ruin by Monday's storm.
The helicopter incident was just part of the chaos that prompted New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to order police to drop rescue operations to fight looting and other crime that gripped the city. A National Guard soldier was shot and wounded on Wednesday in the Superdome arena housing thousands of refugees in increasingly squalid conditions.
An angry Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco told reporters: "We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area."
"I'm just furious. It's intolerable," she said.
A National Guard official said on Thursday as many as 60,000 people had gathered at the Superdome for evacuation.
Bush condemned the rampant looting after the storm and warned against charging artificially high prices for gasoline.
"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Bush said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."
As more National Guard and Army troops headed into the region to help with relief efforts, thousands of people waited hours or waded through floodwaters to catch rides out of New Orleans, one of the world's most famous tourist destinations and the birthplace of jazz.
Storm survivors in the Superdome scrambled to get out of the city, clambering onto 300 buses that shipped them 350 miles
west to another stadium, the Astrodome in Houston.
The first refugees began arriving early on Thursday at the Houston stadium, where Red Cross workers set out thousands of cots and "comfort kits" that included toiletries and a meal.
HELICOPTER SHOOTING
But the operation was put on hold when shots were fired at Chinook military helicopters being used to transport the evacuees, a local official said in Texas.
"We were told they are shooting at Chinook helicopters and the operation has been put on hold until daylight," said Gloria Roemer, spokeswoman for Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, who has been involved in the evacuation.
Trash fires near the Superdome and other logistical problems were also delaying the evacuation, Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Pete Schneider told CNN.
Elsewhere in New Orleans, gunshots repeatedly rang out and fires flared as looters broke into stores, houses, hospitals and office buildings -- some in search of food, others looking for anything of value.
Similar scenes played out in Mississippi where looters freely ransacked stores in Biloxi and Gulfport, both shattered by the storm that slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday with 140 mile per hour (225 kph) winds and a 30-foot (9-meter) storm surge.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told NBC's "Today" show that part of the looting problem has been an inability to get enforcement personnel into critical areas. "We will have several thousand National Guard by the weekend and will put a stop to it," he said.
Posted by Mark at September 1, 2005 06:12 AM
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