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Anger as Forgotten Elderly Left to Die

Herald Sun - Australia

September 6, 2005


Picture Credit: The Guardian, UK

With a gravely wounded New Orleans emptied of tens of thousands of the most desperate storm victims, the hidden tragedies of Hurricane Katrina began surfacing.

Officials prepared the public for a ghastly body count as the stories of some elderly victims who died forgotten in nursing homes began to be told.

"We are going to uncover people who died, maybe hiding in houses, got caught by the flood," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

"It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine."

Officials prepared temporary morgue space to accommodate the thousands of bodies that searchers expect to find once they complete the task of rescuing victims still stranded across the city.

Nursing homes across New Orleans , some among the last centres evacuated, began counting their dead.

At St Rita's Nursing Home, in nearby St Bernard, 31 of 80 frail residents died before rescuers could get to them.

An official at Jefferson, 80km south of New Orleans , broke down as he recounted the ordeal of the elderly mother of one city employee who was trapped in the St Bernard home awaiting rescue.

"Every day she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' " Aaron Broussard said.

"And he said, 'Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday.' And she drowned Friday night.

"It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here," Mr Broussard said. "Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area."

Despite the problems, rescues of stranded victims continued across the city as small boats and helicopters fanned out into remote, flooded neighbourhoods that had yet to be reached.

Gloria Keigler, 62, and her son Ryan, 29, had been waiting for six days for rescue at their home in Treme, near the French Quarter.

Rescuers could not see them frantically waving because of a massive fallen oak tree in front of their home.

When two flat-bottom boats pulled up a few houses away, Mrs Keigler again signalled for help. "Thank God you came for us," she said.