Dozens found dead at New Orleans hospital (AP) Updated: 2005-09-13 08:45
The bodies of more than 40 mostly elderly patients were found in a
flooded-out hospital in the biggest known cluster of corpses to be discovered so
far in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, AP reported.
The exact circumstances under which they died were unclear, with at least one
hospital official saying Monday that some of the patients had died before the
storm, while the others succumbed to causes unrelated to Katrina.
The announcement, which raises Louisiana's official death toll to nearly 280,
came as President Bush got his first up-close look at the destruction.
A guard keeps watch at Memorial Medical
Center, Monday, Sept. 12, 2005, in New Orleans where more than 40 bodies
were recovered. [AP] | "My impression of New
Orleans is this: That there is a recovery on the way," Bush said in the shadow
of a freeway overpass, destroyed cars littering the landscape behind him.
Despite the devastation and miles of still flooded streets, there were
encouraging signs of recovery: Nearly two-thirds of southeastern Louisiana's
water treatment plants were up and running. Louis Armstrong New Orleans
International Airport planned to resume limited passenger service Tuesday.
Forty-one of 174 permanent pumps were in operation, on pace to help drain the
still half-flooded city by Oct. 8.
That doesn't mean a quick return to normalcy for residents or for business
owners, who were let back in Monday to assess the damage and begin the slow
process of starting over.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency expects to provide temporary housing
for 200,000 hurricane victims for up to five years, most in Louisiana. The
agency is planning to use trailer homes to create "temporary cities," some with
populations up to 25,000, said Brad Fair, head of the FEMA housing effort.
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