Katrina Coverage

Thirty-percent of Plaquemines Parish is still under water, and according to Parish President Benny Rousselle, 16,000 out of their 28,000 residents are still displaced. However, note the very low death toll in this report:
...[Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore says] "To these people, the crisis is still going on... They haven't gotten to the recovery part yet... This is critical terrain... It's critical to the nation."
Army and Coast Guard helicopters dropped sandbags as large as 3 tons to patch eight levee breaks in the southern half of the 80-mile-long parish. Honore said another six heavy-lift helicopters were on the way from Texas, after completing Rita-related missions there. Barges and airboats are also being used in the effort.
The Corps of Engineers has said it hopes to have the floodwaters out next week.
Col. Duane Gapinski of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said most floodwater had been pumped out before Rita, but now, "We're playing catchup."
Three residents are confirmed dead, two more deaths have been reported and two residents have been missing for more than a month, Rousselle said.
Honore shook his head as he saw miles of communities with houses and businesses crumpled or torn from foundations, overturned boats, ruined citrus trees and flooded cattle pastures. A Shell Oil pipeline was ruptured by Katrina, adding to the mess.