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September 09, 2005
Fewer Katrina Dead than Feared?
FYI, I just got this off the Reuters feed:
In New Orleans, hopes rose that the number of dead might not be as high as initially predicted. Rescuers were only now beginning a methodical house-by-house search of the city for victims' bodies.
Thousands had been feared trapped in the poor, mainly black blue-collar neighborhoods, where many did not have the means to evacuate ahead of the August 29 storm, when most better-off residents fled.
"There's some encouragement in the initial sweeps. ... The numbers (of dead) so far are relatively minor as compared with the dire predictions of 10,000," Col. Terry Ebbert, director of Homeland Security for the city of New Orleans said at a news conference with other city officials.
They're not giving a number for this lower estimate, but I still think this qualifies as good news. In some corners, I'd been hearing estimates as high as 35,000.
Blog by Dan at September 9, 2005 05:08 PM
Comments
The total missing now (according to the Red Cross) is around 95,000, at least that's what a post by zarq cited today. I believe that would be the total from all 3 states hit, so something definitely less than 10,000 dead in NO would be in line with that.
(I'm hoping that some thousands of the missing turn up in the next week or so.)
Posted by: Julia at September 10, 2005 12:02 AM