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Nagin admits he really has no clue how many are dead but the press writes a story saying 10k may be dead. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050906/ts_nm/katrina_dc

Katrina death toll may be 10,000 as Bush vows help


By Mark Egan and Paul Simao 42 minutes ago


NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Victims of Hurricane Katrina returned to pick through their battered homes on Monday and President George W. Bush promised to fix bungled rescue efforts after a disaster in which the mayor of New Orleans said as many as 10,000 may have died.

Rescuers in boats, helicopters and military vehicles went house to house looking for stranded survivors of one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States.

A full week after Katrina crashed into the U.S. Gulf coast and ravaged one of America's most popular cities, the home of jazz and Mardi Gras, no one knows how many people perished.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said "it wouldn't be unreasonable" for the death toll to rise to 10,000, although he admitted he had no idea of the exact number.

While authorities allowed people to temporarily return to their homes in areas outside New Orleans, police pleaded with people who have not yet abandoned the city itself to get out.

"There are no jobs. There are no homes to go to, no hotels to go to, there is absolutely nothing here," Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley said. "We advise people that this city has been destroyed, it has completely been destroyed."

Forensic experts prepared a warehouse for the grim task of identifying victims when they are finally recovered.

Some are not hard to find as swollen bodies float in the streets but officials fear thousands more are hidden in homes across New Orleans, the home of jazz and Mardi Gras and one of America's most popular cities before Katrina tore it apart,

In suburban Jefferson Parish, stunned residents got a first look at Katrina's damage to their homes when it struck with 140 mph (225 kmh) winds and a massive storm surge.

They were greeted by a panorama of toppled trees and street signs, and spacious middle-class homes that had been flooded with several feet of water.

"I try to be upbeat but it's devastating. I may lose my house because I may not be able to make my payments, and I don't know when I'm going to work again," said Mark Becker, 48, at his Metairie home.

Storm winds had ripped two holes in his roof and caused the ceiling to collapse in a bedroom and kitchen.

Others said the damage could have been worse. They said their homes were mostly intact and salvageable.

Many of those going back brought guns or friends or both for protection in case they encountered looters.

The Jefferson Parish government told its residents not to stay in their homes, but to gather items they needed and leave again by nightfall because there was no power or clean water.

BUSH UNDER FIRE

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began pumping water from the flooded city after closing a major gap in the levees which burst during Hurricane Katrina and allowed the waters of Lake Pontchartrain to rush through.

Draining the entire city could take 80 days or more, but the Corps was working to plug another major breach in the levees, spokesman John Hall said.

Bush, who has faced fierce criticism for the slow relief response, visited dozens of Katrina victims being cared for at a prayer center in Baton Rouge and promised the country would "do what it takes" to help people get back on their feet.

It was the second trip to the ravaged region in less than a week for Bush, already suffering from the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, largely because of the Iraq war.

He has admitted the early relief effort was "unacceptable" and promised on Monday to make changes as needed.

"If it's not right, we're going to fix it, and if it is right, we're going to keep doing it. And this is just the beginning of a huge effort," Bush said.

Former President Bill Clinton joined the growing criticism of the government response. "Our government failed those people in the beginning. There is no dispute about it," he told CNN.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune called on Bush to fire every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "We're angry, Mr. President," the newspaper said in an open letter.

Former President George H.W. Bush, said he didn't like to see his son under fire but that it was part of the job.

"The president can take it," he said. "It goes with the territory."

The official death toll in Louisiana stood at 59 but officials said it would climb dramatically in coming days.

A warehouse in a Louisiana town is being set up to handle thousands of corpses. Rows of stainless steel gurneys await the first bodies and the concrete floors are covered with plastic sheets to contain fluids that could pose a biohazard threat.

Temporary morgues were being set up around the region and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children posted photographs of more than two dozen children who had lost touch with their families during the disaster on its Web site ( http://www.missingkids.com/ ).

REGAINING CONTROL

Police and troops were regaining control of the city after days of murder, rape and looting that horrified America and the world.

But New Orleans Police Department Deputy Chief Warren Riley said only about 1,000 of the force's 1,641 officers were accounted for and that many had had gone looking for missing relatives but others had apparently deserted.

At least 240,000 evacuees had flooded into neighboring Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry said the state could handle no more and asked that any more be airlifted to other states.

Two cruise ships based in Galveston, Texas, were expected to start boarding evacuees later on Monday. They both have a capacity for 2,600 people.

Not all New Orleans residents wanted out. "They'll have to drag me out by my feet," said Mike Reed, 49, as he swept debris from the streets of the city's historic French Quarter, which experienced light flooding compared with other neighborhoods.

At least two French Quarter bars -- Molly's and Johnny White's -- have been serving customers in the week since the storm. "That's our job. That's just what we do," said Molly's owner, Jim Monaghan.