Owners of nursing home charged after failing to evacuate elderly patients

THE owners of a nursing home were charged with homicide because they did not evacuate 34 elderly patients who died after Hurricane Katrina struck, the first major criminal case related to the storm’s still rising death toll.

For Louisiana alone, the toll surged by more than half to 423, and officials fear the numbers could climb as floodwaters recede and more of the city becomes accessible to search teams.

Including deaths in four other states, Katrina's overall death toll stood at 659.