Katrina dead mounts to 1,231 one month after it swept through the Gulf

1,231The unofficial death count (Robert Lindsay) for Hurricane Katrina 1/10/05 with 9more dead from Louisiana . Latest summary.


Louisiana: Thur., September 29: 923
Mississippi: Wed., September 28: 221
Florida: Wed., September 28: 14
Alabama: Wed., September 28: 2
Georgia: Fri., September 23: 2
Ohio: Fri., September 23: 2
Kentucky: Fri., September 23: 1
Evacuees*:: Fri., September 23: 57

Unofficial total: 1,231

*55 of the 57 evacuees died in Texas after evacuating the storm. Two more died in Tennessee. All of these deaths were considered to be storm-related

Of course finding bodies is only the start, identifyingthem is going to be a different and painstaking task..Seattle Times ..."

The official statewide death toll reached 896 (see above) yesterday, including 10 bodies that arrived Tuesday at a massive morgue operation in St. Gabriel, south of Baton Rouge LA.

Louis Cataldie, who heads the body-recovery effort, said officials had identified 32 of the 783 bodies handled by the primary morgue, and had tentative identifications of 340.

The 32 identified bodies were among those found at nursing homes and hospitals.

Older news story here gives similiar figure of total deaths, only 2 dead recorded for effects of Rita but people still missing on LA coast - plenty of other news stories , Carnival cruises in 6 month no bid contract works out at twice the cost of a caribbean cruise per week, Bechtel , Fluor in juicy no-bid reconstruction contracts with FEMA etc., etc.,

Those who want to know more about handling the nasty images that Katrina journalism produces see here for help, and for dealing with the trauma.

Congress had better start cranking up their ATM machine.

Recent blogs on same topic here