25,000 body bags ready as New Orleans recovers dead

RESCUE teams hunted door to door in New Orleans yesterday searching for survivors, either trapped or hiding out, in the ruined city as 25,000 body bags were readied for a gruesome clean-up operation.

About 10,000 people are believed to be inside the flooded city, surrounded by a toxic soup of oil, chemicals, garbage, human waste and floating corpses since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the city 10 days ago.

Government tests confirmed that the floodwaters are thick with sewage-related bacteria in amounts at least 10 times higher than acceptable safety limits. The muck is believed to contain E. coli, certain viruses and a cholera-like bacteria.

“If you haven’t left the city yet, you must do so,” said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. She urged anyone coming into contact with the water to scrub up with soap and water.

Officials believe thousands were killed and they have 25,000 body bags on hand, but fewer than 100 corpses have been recovered so far in all of Louisiana and no one knows for sure how many people died.

Rescue teams tied floating corpses to trees or fences for future recovery, and a morgue set up outside the city stood ready to receive more than 5,000 bodies.

At least 30 bodies were found at the St Rita’s nursing home in St Bernard Parish east of New Orleans, Louisiana state Senator Walter Boasso said. He said as many as three dozen other residents were rescued from the facility.

Mayor Ray Nagin has issued a mandatory evacuation order, saying people face risk of death from the toxic flood waters and the city must be emptied until it is cleaned up.

Helicopters clattered overhead and National Guard troops peered into windows of homes in search of the sick or dying, the dead, and those resisting efforts to evacuate them.

“Certain people are hiding out and are not going to leave. They’ve got pets, and they ain’t leaving them behind,” said Adrian Tate, a carpenter with a pit bull dog, although he conceded he would now obey the orders to leave.

“I have no choice.”

Vice-Admiral Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard chief of staff named this week to take over the federal response in New Orleans, said authorities would comb the city, knocking on doors to find stragglers.

“We need everybody out so we can continue with the work of restoring this city,” said Adm Allen.

Meanwhile, US Congress rushed to approve $51.8 billion (€41.8bn) in emergency aid for hurricane victims yesterday.