A new reign of chaos and fear

Desperate masses stranded in the city plead for assistance as relief efforts falter in face of a huge task

This story was reported by KATIE THOMAS in New Orleans, CYNTHIA DANIELS in Biloxi, Miss., DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY in Washington and TINA SUSMAN in New York | It was written by Susman and supplemented with wire reports.

September 2, 2005

Desperation boiled over into rage yesterday as efforts to evacuate Hurricane Katrina survivors from increasingly squalid conditions in New Orleans faltered in the face of the sheer enormity of the task. The chief of the city's homeland security called the federal response "a national disgrace."

"We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans," the official, Terry Ebbert, said as tens of thousands of people faced a fourth sweltering day in the Superdome, the convention center or simply wandering in search of help. Survivors said gun-toting thugs were running rampant, raping, looting and firing at those who got in their way.

Corpses, including some of people who survived Katrina on Monday only to succumb to illness or other ailments as they sought help, lay in the streets amid massive crowds awaiting food, water or evacuation buses that didn't arrive.

Officials at hospitals pleaded for helicopters to evacuate seriously ill patients as food, water and medication dwindled, and thousands more people still were waiting to be picked up from rooftops or balconies in areas that remained flooded.

Yesterday, 300 National Guard troops landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq.

"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

Federal officials were on the defensive, insisting things were not as bad as people claimed. At a news briefing, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said sufficient food and water was being delivered to the convention center and Superdome. "Any reports to the contrary are just incorrect," he said.

Brown and Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the deployment of military troops in the region, said that given the wrecked infrastructure and the size of the rescue operation, things were going well and would improve as more troops arrived.

"It's a challenge and we're trying to meet that as best we can, but the weather has a vote," said Honore, referring to winds and thunderstorms that have made helicopter travel dangerous.

In addition, helicopters with food and water have been swarmed, forcing pilots to hover and drop some food into the crowd. There were reports of shots fired at some helicopters, which suspended some humanitarian flights.

Honore said he hoped to have 12,000 National Guard troops on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi by the weekend, and federal officials said they expected to complete the busing of the 25,000 people in the Superdome to Houston's Astrodome in the next 24 hours.

Their optimistic forecasts, though, clashed with those of local and state officials, whose assessment was more in line with the ragged, sleep-deprived masses washed out of their homes. Mayor Ray Nagin issued "a desperate SOS" for more help, and Blanco said she needed "no less than 40,000" troops. "I've actually asked for uniformed troops of any kind," she said.

"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Police Chief Eddie Compass said of the situation at the convention center, where since Tuesday survivors have been told to go and await evacuation. About 15,000 had converged there by yesterday, but no buses had arrived to take them elsewhere, prompting the mayor to simply advise them to head for dry land nearby and look for help. When Compass sent 88 police officers to the convention center, they were beaten back by angry mobs.

A frustrated deputy guarding a flooded road leading into New Orleans said even law enforcement officers weren't getting any help. "We've been living off beef jerky and corn dogs," said the deputy, who gave his name only as Jared.

Jared said he, like his colleagues trying to curb looters in the city, had slept about three hours since Monday.

On a highway overpass in New Orleans, Scott Snyder of the Guardian Angel Ambulance Service was waiting for evacuees to be dropped off by rescue boats. He said rescue workers had told him 30,000 to 40,000 people still awaited evacuation.

The Army Corps of Engineers said yesterday that it had taken the first steps toward plugging three breaches in the levee system that allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. The corps dropped huge sandbags from helicopters into a breach in the wall at the 17th Street Canal and had a contractor drive steel plates into the mouth of the canal to prevent flooding if lake levels rise.

In neighboring Mississippi, the situation was perhaps not as dangerous, but it was desperate. Residents of Gulfport and Biloxi, which took a direct hit from Katrina, waited five or six hours to enter the few stores open or to buy gas at one station that was permitting each customer just $20 worth.

Drivers raced across four lanes of traffic when they spotted an ice- and water-distribution point.

"We haven't had ice since late Sunday night," said Mike Kommersmith, of Biloxi, who lost his house under five feet of water. Kommersmith, his wife and two children have been staying with his mother, Laura Mirenda, since the storm.

"We're running out of food," Mirenda said. "We don't need shelter. We just need to stay alive through this."