September 15, 2005

Hurricane-hit Louisiana towns rebound, toll at 652

By Kieran Murray

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Residents of towns in Louisiana returned on Wednesday to inspect their damaged and destroyed homes, as the Port of New Orleans so vital to the nation's economy resumed operations for the first time since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region.

As the Gulf Coast struggled to recover from the Aug. 29 hurricane, the death toll rose to 652. Most died in Louisiana and Mississippi and a handful in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Hurricane Katrina holdout Tyler Teal, 12, cleans his home in Lafitte, 40km south of New Orleans September 14, 2005. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

The state of Louisiana released documents showing it would pay almost $119,000 a day for two months for a commercial company, Kenyon International Emergency Services, to recover and document the bodies of victims.

A Reuters reporter saw body recovery teams in white cover-alls going to buildings that had been marked earlier as containing human remains. They removed one body in a black bag then drove four blocks and carried out another.

Federal prosecutors said they would aggressively investigate reports of corruption by public officials seeking to profit in the region's reconstruction.

Paul Zimmermann, director of operations for the Port of New Orleans, said the first ship to leave the port since the hurricane put to sea on Wednesday. The port, ranked among the top five in the country, was in "fairly good shape for the most part" but far from fully operational, he said.

Only two of 27 terminals were open, however, and operations will be 10 to 20 percent of normal this week.

The cities of Gretna, Westwego and Lafitte, all suburbs of New Orleans, told residents they could come back at daybreak.

SERVICES IMPROVING

"Essential services such as electricity, sewerage and water are improving daily but are still not up to standard. Commercial establishments, such as grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies are scarce," said a notice on the Web site of Jefferson Parish, where the towns are located.

In Lafitte, some residents found their homes almost undamaged, while others had to scrabble around looking for whatever was left of their possessions.

Shantell Teal, a mother of four, found her mobile home torn apart, her bedroom open to the sky, air conditioner units flung across the rooms.

In Port Sulphur, a community of about 3,000 south of New Orleans, nearly every building was ripped apart. Jacob Puderer's home had once stood on 12-foot stilts. The building was shattered with nothing even worth salvaging.

In Washington, Senate Republican leaders urged President George W. Bush to establish a "Marshall Plan" for Katrina recovery, and then voted down a proposal by Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York to set up an independent panel to investigate the response to the disaster.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held its first open hearing on the government's response to the disaster.

Committee Chairman Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, promised a thorough investigation into what she called "a sluggish initial response" to the killer storm despite billions of dollars spent on homeland security following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

POWER COMING BACK

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said the key to reopening areas for habitation and business was restoring sewage services.

About 319,000 of the homes and businesses in Louisiana, or 29 percent, remained without power, while Mississippi had about 84,000 customers still with no service.

As the death toll rose, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti filed criminal charges against the operators of a nursing home where 34 patients died after they were trapped by floodwaters.

Foti said on Tuesday that the owners of a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish had been arrested and charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide.

The owners, Mable and Salvador Mangano, turned down an offer from local officials to take the patients out by bus, and did not bother to call in an ambulance service with which they had a contract, he said. They were each released on $50,000 bonds on Wednesday.

Foti vowed to investigate every death at every hospital and nursing home that was not from natural causes.

James Cobb, a lawyer for the owners, said they did all they could and had told family members they could remove the patients if they wanted.

Bush, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, thanked other countries for coming to the aid of victims.

"To every nation, every province and every community across the world that is standing with the American people in this hour of need, I offer the thanks of my nation," he said.

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