New Orleans evictions falter

International Herald Tribune
Sep. 08, 2005

WASHINGTON - Local and state officials wrangled Wednesday over whether to forcibly evict the thousands of people who were refusing to leave the crippled and contaminated city of New Orleans. Military leaders said that despite a mayoral order, they had no intention to force people out.

The White House, struggling to help the devastated region while fending off mounting public and political criticism, asked Congress on Wednesday to provide $52 billion for relief and reconstruction, on top of $10.5 billion already approved, and said more would be sought.

The government also planned to issue debit cards worth $2,000 each to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina purchase food and other essentials.

As congressional analysts issued a somber forecast, saying the powerful storm could cost the area 400,000 jobs and depress national growth by a full percentage point, Democratic leaders launched an unusually vigorous and concerted attack on President George W. Bush.

They said his administration's handling of the crisis exposed a worrying lack of readiness for a terrorist attack and an indifference to grave social divisions in the country.

Political rancor flared late Tuesday, when Michael Chertoff, secretary of homeland security, reportedly told some lawmakers that conditions in the New Orleans Superdome had not been as deplorable as the hellish pictures evoked in news reports, which described a darkened arena plagued by overflowing toilets and predatory thugs. CNN said Chertoff's comments sparked a Democratic walkout.

Ten days after the hurricane, officials in New Orleans struck a careful but optimistic tone. Lawlessness "has subsided tremendously," Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass 3rd told reporters. "Right now, New Orleans may be one of the safest cities in the United States, in relation to crime."

But a day after Mayor C. Ray Nagin authorized the forcible evacuation of perhaps 10,000 people who have refused to leave a city made perilous by gas leaks, fires and contaminated flood waters, no one in authority was acting on his call. The confusion mirrored the broader muddle that has emerged between local, state and federal officials working side-by-side but often with little coordination.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore, an army commander, said that he was not prepared to force anyone from their houses. Nor, the Louisiana native said, would he starve them out.

Art Jones, a disaster recovery official for Louisiana, acknowledged that Nagin had the authority to require evacuation, but added, "We, personally, will not force anyone out of their home."

At the Pentagon, Lieutenant General Joseph Inge, deputy commander of the U.S. Northern Command, said that "regular troops would not be used" in any evacuation. For now, he added, "it's not clear to us what the exact state of the mission is."

Compass later made clear that no one would be forced out just yet. "We have thousands of people who want to voluntarily evacuate," he said. "Once all the voluntary evacuations have taken place, then we'll concentrate our efforts and forces to mandatorily evacuate them."

He added, "We will use the minimal amount of force necessary."

Nagin had said Tuesday that evacuations needed to be handled solicitously. Many residents were severely dehydrated, even delirious, he added.

Still, thousands of people continued to resist the warnings to leave. One was Dennis Rizzuto, 38, who said he had food and water to last a month. He and his family refused an offer of a boat ride to safety. "They're going to have to drag me," Rizzuto told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers, soldiers, volunteers and emergency technicians were continuing to try to coax people from their sodden homes, warning them of the rising health risks from contaminated waters that, while slowly declining, still cover more than half the city.

As many as five people, most of them elderly evacuees in Texas and Mississippi, have died from bacterial infections from the fouled waters, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, Reuters reported.

Petrochemical facilities in the area have leaked thousands of barrels of oil, the authorities said. One National Guardsman reportedly received severe burns from coming into contact with spilled chemicals.

"It is a contaminated soup," said Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, the U.S. surgeon general.

Anthony Charbonnet, a frail 86-year-old, left his house only after a neighbor assured him that "it'll be like a vacation," The AP reported. "I haven't left my house in my life; I don't want to leave," he said as he locked his door before being escorted away by soldiers.

While the brackish waters of New Orleans are being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, officials said that some areas might not be drained for 80 days. Still, Nagin said, areas like the University of New Orleans campus had drained substantially.

The authorities said that it could take weeks to restore safe drinking water. Power was expected to return in New Orleans's central business district within days, and hotels prepared to house emergency workers. Outlying areas might have to wait two months for power.

The New Orleans Fire Department reported 57 major fires since the storm. Three of the 15 reported Tuesday could be fought only by helicopters dumping Mississippi River water.

Local firefighters, exhausted and stretched thin, have seen help arrive in force, including 300 of their colleagues from New York and 500 from Illinois.

Inge of the army's northern command said that soldiers - part of a 60,000-strong military presence - were expanding house-to-house searches.

But while the Gulf Coast region is beginning to see a more permanent relief presence, tempers remain high.

Bush and members of Congress on Tuesday promised at least three investigations into the sluggish response to the storm. The president said he would lead an inquiry into "what went right and what went wrong." But Senator Hillary Clinton, Democrat of New York, dismissed the idea of Bush leading an investigation, saying, "I don't think the government should be investigating itself."

The program to provide cards worth $2,000 will initially benefit stranded people in rescue centers like the Houston Astrodome, The AP reported.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said that 315,568 Louisiana households had registered for temporary housing and other relief. More than 100,000 mobile homes have been requested for Mississippi, said the agency's director, Michael Brown.

Brown has been a focus of the bitter criticism of the government's response. Asked Wednesday by a reporter whether he would resign, as demanded by the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, he replied, "I serve totally at the will of the president."

The authorities now are expected to begin collecting the bodies that have been ignored for days on New Orleans's steamy sidewalks and streets, or floating in floodwaters, while emergency workers focused on saving the living.

Brown said an agency contracted to handle the work had "a capacity to process 500 to 1,000 bodies a day," but made clear he was making no projections.

Foreign aid offers continued to come in, although some assistance was delayed as officials struggled to organize, direct and absorb the mountains of supplies. Harry Thomas, a State Department official coordinating such aid, said that 95 countries had offered assistance that totaled nearly $1 billion.