Storms 411

3,200 People Still Missing after Katrina

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the state medical examiner wants the search to resume for those missing from the most devastated neighborhoods.

A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.

As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said. [Read more - CNN]

Bosnia lab to test Katrina bodies

A Bosnian laboratory which pioneered new techniques to identify victims of the Balkan wars is to help identify the unknown dead of Hurricane Katrina.

The Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) will seek to extract DNA profiles from 350 samples provided by US authorities.

Katrina killed more than 1,200 people when it hit in August, and four months on, many bodies remain unidentified. [Read more - BBCnews]

Survivors of Katrina turning to suicide

NEW ORLEANS Mental health professionals say this city appears to be experiencing a sharp increase in suicides in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and interviews and statistics suggest that the rate is now double or more the national and local averages.

At least seven people have killed themselves in the four months since the storm, officials say, here in a city whose population is now no more than 75,000 to 100,000. That compares with a national rate of 11 suicides per 100,000 for all of 2002, and a rate in New Orleans of about 9 per 100,000 for all of 2004. There is broad agreement that the problem is likely to get worse.

Stevenson Palfi, 53, a well-known local filmmaker, was apparently the latest to take his own life. Palfi's house in the Mid-City section had taken 8 feet of water, and he was in despair over losing years of files and photographs, a computer - in fact, all the contents of his office. [Read more - Herald Tribune]

Mysterious deaths during Katrina puzzle police

More than 20 victims were killed by gunshot wounds, stabbings

NEW ORLEANS - While hundreds drowned in Hurricane Katrina’s filthy floodwaters, at least 21 people died more mysteriously. From unexplained gunshot wounds to stabbings and fatal blows to the head, these unidentified victims are now the main characters in a real-life version of “CSI.”

Coroners are using science, creative thinking — and even a Crock-Pot — to try to answer the question many are asking: Who or what killed these 21 people?

With evidence that’s washed away, witnesses who fled the state and an overworked police department, at least one official says the mysteries may never be solved. [Read more - MSNBC]

Race Played Role In Katrina Deaths

Katrina Death Stats Contradict Racial Complaints

The popular perception that African-Americans living in New Orleans were disproportionately victimized by the government's botched Hurricane Katrina rescue effort turns out not to be true - at least according to preliminary death statistics released by the state of Louisiana.

On Wednesday, Congress heard dramatic testimony from black Katrina survivors, who complained that racism drove the federal rescue efforts and resulted in an unnecessarily high number of African-American deaths.

"People were allowed to die," storm survivor Leah Hodges testified, telling a House panel that black residents of New Orleans had been victims of "genocide and ethnic cleansing."

But preliminary figures compiled by the morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, which is the primary facility handling the bodies of Katrina deceased, show that a majority of the dead in New Orleans and surrounding parishes were actually not black.

Of the 883 bodies processed so far by medical examiners at St. Gabriel, 562 have been identified by race. Slightly less than half that number - 48 percent - are African-American. Forty-one percent are white, 8 percent unknown and 2 percent Hispanic.

The remarkable numbers, which undermine claims that Katrina rescue efforts were somehow infused by racism, have been completely ignored by the national media, with only the Lousiana-based news web site, The Bayou Buzz, devoting any coverage at all to the story.

The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit. White residents made up less than a third [28 percent] of the city's population, according to U.S. Census bureau numbers.

The two hardest hit areas were Orleans parish, which is the city itself - with 720 people killed by Katrina - and St. Bernard parish, with 123 dead.

St. Bernard parish is 88 percent white, but the total population before the storm was just 65,554 people. The city of New Orleans, on the other hand, had 484,674 people before the storm, 67 percent of whom were black.

The two populations combined were still over 60 percent black - twelve points higher than the percentage of black residents killed by Katrina.

So more whites died per capita than blacks.  So you had elderly white people who chose to ride out the storm at home vs the hell that awaited them in the dome. Many of them died. The black population that could not evacuate went to the dome.. And while they were uncomfortable, they lived.

Day 73 – 11/2/05, Katrina's death toll is anybody's guess

Hurricane Katrina stopped killing people Oct. 1.

That's the date state health officials have assigned as the cutoff for an official Katrina-related death for people who evacuated the New Orleans area because of the Aug. 29 hurricane and died in another city.

It is just one of many guesstimates in the state's hurricane death count, a number characterized by unknown and under-researched data, a high level of secrecy and a lack of communication between parish coroners, state health authorities and the public.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals as of Monday had "recovered" or received reports on 1,067 bodies. But because of gaps in the data, no one, not even at the agency, considers that an official death count. [Read more - NOLA]

Death Toll as of October 14, 2005

The confirmed death toll as of October 14 stands at 1,277, mainly from Louisiana (1,035) and Mississippi (224).

Direct deaths indicate those caused by the direct effects of the winds, flooding, storm surge or oceanic effects of Katrina. Indirect deaths indicate those caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents), fires or other incidents, as well as clean-up incidents and health issues.

State	Official State total	County/ Parish	Confirmed deaths		Direct deaths	Reported missing
Alabama	2 [link]	Washington	2	[link]	0
		.
Florida	14 [link]	Broward	6	[link]	3
		Miami-Dade	5	[link][link]	1
		.
Georgia	2 [link]	Carroll	2	[link]	2
		.
Kentucky	0 [link]	Christian	1	[link]	1
		.
Louisiana	1,035 [link]	Ascension	9	[link]	?
		Assumption	3	[link]	?
		Caddo	11	[link]	0
		East Baton Rouge	72	[link]	2 (?)
		Iberia	6	[link]	?
		Jefferson	30	[link]	20
		Lafourche	2	[link]
		Livingston	5	[link]	1 (?)
		Orleans	154	[link]	154
		Plaquemines	3	[link]	3
		St. Bernard	110	[link]	125
		St. Charles	8	[link]	?
		St. Landry	1	[link]	0
		St. Tammany	7	[link]	6
		Tangipahoa	26	[link]	0 (?)
		Terrebonne	19	[link]	0 (?)
		West Baton Rouge	3	[link]	0 (?)
		.
Mississippi	224 [link]	Adams	2	[link]	2
		Forrest	7	[link]	?
		Harrison	90	[link]	?	50	[link]
		Hancock	48	[link]	?
		Hinds	1	[link]	1
		Jackson	12	[link][link]	?
		Jones	12	[link]	?
		Lauderdale	2	[link]	2
		Leake	1	[link]	1
		Pearl River	17	[link]	17
		Simpson	1	[link]	1
		Stone	1	[link]	1
		Warren	1	[link]	1
		.
Ohio	0 [link]	Jefferson	2	[link]	0
		.
Other	0 [link]	Evacuees	57	[link]	0
Totals	1,277+		733+		286+	2,576+	[link]
Note: Because of differences in the timing of reports from different sources, states' State sub-totals may not match their individual county State sub-totals.

Day 45 – 10/5/05, 6-Weeks Later, Most Storm Victims Lie Unnamed

BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 4 - In a country that cherishes the names of the dead, reads them aloud, engraves them in stone and stitches them into quilts, it is odd that Hurricane Katrina's victims remain, more than a month later, largely anonymous.

With 972 deaths confirmed and the search for bodies declared complete, the state has released only 61 bodies and made the names of only 32 victims public.

In contrast, of the 221 dead in Mississippi, 196 have been identified, a state official said.

State officials, still in crisis mode, say compiling and releasing data about the dead is simply not a priority. On the edges of the disaster zone, a much clearer picture of Hurricane Katrina's victims has emerged. In Houston, the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office lists the names of 53 evacuees who have died, most of natural causes and two by suicide. Six were under 21; the oldest victim was 95.

Families of the victims have expressed frustration that the process is not moving more quickly. One woman, Marion K. Babin, said it took weeks to get the body of her husband, Justin Babin, though he wore a hospital bracelet and medical dog tags listing his name and condition. Just as in Louisiana, Mississippi's bodies were too decomposed to be viewed by families - but many could be identified by physical characteristics. In Jackson County, 9 of 12 identities were confirmed, mostly by scars, tattoos, prosthetics or implants, said Vicki Broadus, the coroner.

The health department has collected 246 DNA samples from relatives. One morgue worker has been traveling to New Orleans to salvage dental records.

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Day 38 – 9/28/05, Morgue Boss: 'These are Horrible Times'

Louisiana officials believe they can identify about half of the 783 bodies brought so far to the St. Gabriel morgue.

A corpse lies inside a home in New Orleans Tuesday.
The markings indicate it was found two weeks ago.

But four weeks after Hurricane Katrina, they have released the remains of just 32 people to family members, the state's chief medical examiner said Wednesday.

Dr. Louis Cataldie, Louisiana's emergency response medical director, told reporters in Baton Rouge the process is delayed because autopsies must be conducted on people found in nursing homes and hospitals.

The autopsies were ordered under the state attorney general's investigation into whether patients were abandoned as the hurricane came ashore and the water rose on August 29 and 30.

Making positive identifications also is slow because flood water carried some of New Orleans' dead away from their neighborhoods. The corpses are in poor condition after being exposed to the elements for weeks. [Read more - CNN]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Death toll (Summary - Updated 9/26/05)

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The confirmed death toll as of September 23 stands at 1079, led by Louisiana with 841 and Mississippi with 220.[link]

Direct deaths indicate those caused by the direct effects of the winds, flooding, storm surge or oceanic effects of Katrina. Indirect deaths indicate those caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents), fires or other incidents, as well as clean-up incidents and health issues.

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State	Official State total	Location1	Confirmed deaths		Direct deaths	Reported missing
Alabama	2 [link]	Washington	2	[link]	0
		.
Florida	14 [link]	Broward	6	[link]	3
		Miami-Dade	5	[link ][link]	1
		.
Georgia	2 [link]	Carroll	2	[link]	2
		.
Kentucky	0 [link]	Christian	1	[link]	1
		.
Louisiana	841 [link]	Assumption	2	[link]	?
		Caddo	11	[link]	0
		East Baton Rouge	68	[link]	2 (?)
		Iberia	6	[link]	?
		Jefferson	30	[link]	20
		Livingston	4	[link]	1 (?)
		Orleans	154	[link]	154
		Plaquemines	3	[link]	3
		St. Bernard	68	[link]	67
		St. Charles	5	[link]	?
		St. Landry	1	[link]	0
		St. Tammany	7	[link]	6
		Tangipahoa	20	[link]	0 (?)
		Terrebonne	14	[link]	0 (?)
		West Baton Rouge	2	[link]	0 (?)
		.
Mississippi	220 [link]	Adams	2	[link]	2
		Forrest	7	[link]	?
		Harrison	86	[link]	?	1132	[link]
		Hancock	48	[link]	?
		Hinds	1	[link]	1
		Jackson	12	[link][link]	?
		Jones	12	[link]	?
		Lauderdale	2	[link]	2
		Leake	1	[link]	1
		Pearl River	17	[link]	17
		Simpson	1	[link]	1
		Stone	1	[link]	1
		Warren	1	[link]	1
		.
Ohio	0 [link]	Jefferson	2	[link]	0
		.
Other	0 [link]	Evacuees	57	[link]	0
Totals	1,079+		661+		286+	2,576+	[link]
Note: Because of differences in the timing of reports from different sources, states' State sub-totals may not match their individual county State sub-totals. Note 1: Includes county and parish.