Flood-ravaged New Orleans descends into anarchy
“This is a desperate SOS,” Mayor Ray Nagin said.
As New Orleans was gripped by anarchy, US President George W Bush said the shutdowns of refineries in the Gulf Coast region because of Hurricane Katrina would bring a “temporary” disruption to the energy industry.
He also called on Americans to conserve energy, saying they should avoid buying gasoline if they don’t need it. Oil firmed over $69 a barrel last night as the US scrambled to replace lost fuel supplies. Petrol prices could further soar in the hurricane’s aftermath with experts predicting the $100 (€80) oil barrel may be on the horizon.
In New Orleans, anger mounted across the ruined city, with thousands of storm victims hungry, desperate and tired of waiting for buses to take them out.
“We are out here like pure animals. We don’t have help,” the Rev Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Centre, where corpses lay in the open and he and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing - no food, no water, no medicine.
National Guardsmen poured into the city to help restore order and put a stop to the looting, carjackings and gunfire that have gripped New Orleans in the days since Hurricane Katrina plunged much of the city under water. The US Congress was expected to cut short its summer break to pass emergency aid for victims, according to congressional aides who said the first aid package could be €8 billion.
