Hurricane Katrina

[Anonymous]

September 01, 2005 05:47 PM US Eastern Timezone

Kansas City Southern Reopens Main Line Between Meridian and Jackson, Miss.; Works Bilaterally with Other Rail Carriers to Mitigate Traffic Disruptions Caused by Hurricane

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2005--Kansas City Southern (KCS) (NYSE:KSU) today announced that as of 10:00 p.m. CDT last night, August 31, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company's (KCSR) Meridian Speedway line between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La., is open and operating. The reopening was made possible by the clearing of hundreds of downed trees and other obstructions to the main line between Meridian and Brandon, Miss., caused by Hurricane Katrina.


Reopening of the Meridian Speedway has made possible the restoration of rail service to existing KCSR customers and traffic. Currently, KCSR has an agreement with Norfolk Southern (NS) to use the line as a bridge for NS intermodal traffic between Meridian and Alliance, Texas. All of this service has now been re-established, but as a result of the closure of the line in the aftermath of the hurricane, additional traffic is anticipated as backlogged traffic is cleared out.

In addition, KCSR has engaged in numerous bilateral discussions with other area rail carriers whose service was affected by Hurricane Katrina. KCSR is working voluntarily with these carriers to find the best alternative ways to route rail traffic in the Gulf Coast region to compensate for the loss of their important rail facilities. KCSR is working with CSX and the Meridian & Bigbee Railway to divert non-intermodal traffic from New Orleans and Birmingham, Ala., to Meridian. Voluntary bilateral cooperation among Class I and other carriers to address service outages caused by Hurricane Katrina will result in the quickest restoration of service for shippers.

Since the beginning of 2004, KCSR has made substantial capital investments to expand the capacity of the Meridian Speedway. More capital has been invested in KCSR's infrastructure in Mississippi in recent years than any other state on the system.

While these capital investments have expanded capacity along the line, traffic volumes are very high and it may be several weeks before traffic volumes return to normal. In the meantime, KCSR will continue to work with other railroads on a bilateral basis to identify the best alternative route solutions around hurricane-damaged rail facilities so as to restore the greatest degree of rail service possible in Mississippi and Louisiana as quickly as possible.

On August 29, KCSR embargoed the stations of Gramercy, Reserve, Norco and New Orleans, La., on the line between Shreveport and New Orleans. The line has been cleared as far south as Frellsen, but the embargo remains until electric utilities are restored to customers on the line.

On August 29, KCSR also embargoed the Delisle and Gulfport, Miss., stations. While KCSR's line from Palmer to Delisle and Gulfport could be reopened, the Canadian National (CN) line connecting KCSR from Jackson to Palmer is out of service. Additionally, because Gulfport was the hardest hit, there may not be customers operating there to serve.

On August 31, KCSR added the Mobile, Ala., Waynesboro, Quitman and Enterprise, Miss., stations to the embargo.

KCSR has been posting service status updates at www.kcsi.com daily since August 29. These updates can be found on a link from the home page labeled "Service Status Updates Regarding Hurricane Katrina."

KCS is a transportation holding company that has railroad investments in the United States, Mexico and Panama. Its primary domestic holdings include KCSR and The Texas Mexican Railway Company. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., KCS serves customers in the central and south central regions of the United States. KCS' rail holdings and investments, including TFM, S.A. de C.V., are primary components of a NAFTA Railway system that links the commercial and industrial centers of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Contacts


Kansas City Southern
C. Doniele Kane, 816-983-1372
[e-mail]

[edblysard]

To add to Larry’s observations, while the TV media has focused on New Orleans, we have forgotten that the rest of that section of the Gulf Coast was slammed just as bad...
There is no place near to land a C130...the New Orleans airports are gone, and the IH 10 idea, well, if you ever drove IH10 through there...

None of the cities near there have a place to land a big plane, and no place to house the people if they could get them out.

And there is no way into the city, except by boat down the Mississippi, and even that is dangerous, the port there is pretty much gone.
Even if they could get there, the problem is getting the people from where they are, the Superdome, to the boats or the buses...

And there are pockets of not so good folks all over the city, looting what they can, and burning what they want to, just because they can....this morning a paint factory on the Mississippi near the Dome was set on fire, currently drums of paint base and oils are burning, right next to a small rail yard, with tank cars full of unknown product.

The Astrodome is full, we are filling up Reliant Stadium next door, as I write, two dozen buses are circling the Astrodome complex, because there is no place to put the people on board, and letting them run in a circle constantly moving keeps the AC on the buses running better.

We have already had several incidents outside the Dome, a convience store was rushed by a mob, cleaned it out of, in order, beer, cigarettes, snack food and water, and gasoline, then they tried to take over a motel next door.

At least they now have a place to sleep, and know what they will be eating for breakfast; Harris County jail serves the same thing every day...

Mayor White has already expressed how a lot of us feel...
"The people from New Orleans are our guest, and as such, we expect them to behave as guest, those that think they are free to do whatever they want, and use the fact that they are refugees as an excuse, will find out we do not tolerate our guest robbing us."

HPD has ramped up patrols around the Astrodome, and the Harris County Sheriffs department has established a store front center inside the Dome, with regular armed patrols inside the complex.

All incoming refugees are now searched, and the number of weapons found is frightening, hundreds of knives, several rifles, handguns too many to count, a photo this morning showed a HPD cruiser with its trunk literally full of pistols taken off of people already inside the dome.

Inside the dome, we have had rapes, a few natural deaths, and a knife fight, over the location of a cot of all things!

Amazing, instead of being thankful that we found a way to give them a cot and a hot meal, a shower and a place to sleep, they are fighting, and stabbing each other over who gets to sleep nearest the kitchen...

Ellington Field has been set up as a triage center, hospital patients from New Orleans and the surrounding area are air lifted there, assessed, and then sent to the appropriate hospital in the Houston Medical Center.

One of the things that has disturbed us most, is the attitude of those we have offered help to...so far, only a few people, a young man with several children, and a older lady, have managed to say thank you on the new reports...

The young man said thanks, and the asked if anyone needed a "trim man" (construction worker) to let the news station know, he wanted a job so he could start taking care of his kids...he then began to cry softly....

The older lady, when asked how she felt about losing everything she owned, lookd at the reporter, and said "Honey, those are just things...I came into this world with nothing, and I cant take a thing with me when I leave, all I am worried about is where my husband is"
She then showed the reporter the few things she had managed to bring with her, a family photos, her medicines, and her bible, which was well worn and well read, and never out of her hands...lucky lady, her niece appeared out of the crowd during the report, so this lady at least has a family member to go live with.
As they were leaving, the niece expressed how grateful she was that we had managed to at least get her aunt a place to sleep and a meal to eat...she said thanks over and over...

But most of the people shown on the news are angry that no one has "helped them more", or gone and gotten their niece, mom, dad or cousin...and are steadily complaining about how bad the conditions inside the dome are, or griping about how long it is taking us to get them what they feel they need...

So far, they seem to be a very ungrateful bunch...after all, if I had lost everything, and had a neighboring city come and get me, transport me to a place where I can take a shower, use a working toilet, eat three hot meals a day, sleep out of the weather in an air conditioned building, and have a school set up inside with me, just for my kids, so they don’t miss any school, all at no cost to me, the last thing I would do is complain about how I expected it to be better and start making demands to my host!

This is getting crazy...

Ed

[Anonymous]

Ed -

Having been a few places I find that the entitlement mentality is particularly bad in some places. Sadly, it seems that in these desperate times, the combination of the survival instinct and that mentality is leading to some very bad consequences. One of our local trucking concerns is filling 7 truckloads of relief supplies for immediate shipment. All the drivers have volunteered to drive the trucks without pay. Local fire departments are seeking two volunteers each to travel south for search, rescue and to spell the exhausted firefighters in LA and MS.

Pitch in all.

LC

[Junctionfan]

I think they should try to get some water bombers to put out that wearhouse fire. I was at the police station this morning so I haven't been watching the news since 9am my time but last I saw, it was pretty bad.

I think if possible, they should try to salvage as much assets as possible when the opportunity arrives to be used for whatever need; but it can't be used if the fire spreads to other facilities.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Flights have been going in and out of the New Orleans airport, and some people have already been evacuated that way.

The question is still where to take the people, but the idea of busing them to the airport and flying them out does make sense. Each flight should have incoming supplies, an out going victims. The airport may be the best place to set up relief efforts.

[SALfan]

Ed:

The ungrateful attitudes and sense of entitlement shown by those rescued and taken to the Astrodome says a lot about their caliber as people. Very interesting to note that I haven't heard of a single knife fight, shooting, rape, or shot fired at a rescuer anywhere else in Louisiana or over in Mississippi. Even though the devastation is different in those places, the misery is just as great.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JOdom

Ed:

The ungrateful attitudes and sense of entitlement shown by those rescued and taken to the Astrodome says a lot about their caliber as people. Very interesting to note that I haven't heard of a single knife fight, shooting, rape, or shot fired at a rescuer anywhere else in Louisiana or over in Mississippi. Even though the devastation is different in those places, the misery is just as great.

Neither have I. From what edblysard posted, I am wondering if other communities are going to be so quick to help house some of these people. It is almost as if these people are expecting maid service and coddled. I realize they are in shock and having that phase of depression called anger, but all I can think is Ecscape from New York. Odd how life can start to imitate art.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nanaimo73

There is a Canadian rescue team in Mississippi (Biloxi ?) which has to stay in a hotel due to the violence outside. Lots of shots being fired there.

If that's the case, then I am losing a lot of faith in the human animal. Wow...

[edblysard]

Great, if they got the New Orleans airport open, then they can get the C-130s in there....now they have to get the people to the airport...if it was me stuck there, I'd start a walking, or wading....

I think the group like the one Larry’s writes of is what’s going to make the difference, private concerns and the average Joe citizen pitching in...Although the owner of the Texans put out a challenge to the local Red Cross, if they can raise one million, he will match it...that’s how you get things done...

About the only other news on the tube concerns Biloxi, Mississippi...they are in almost as bad shape as New Orleans...and no reports of rape or gunfire there.

Ed

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nanaimo73

There is a Canadian rescue team in Mississippi (Biloxi ?) which has to stay in a hotel due to the violence outside. Lots of shots being fired there.

I doubt it. Heavy military presence there already with Keesler AFB in town. Also, Pres. Bush is there today with his own security detail that is large...

LC

[nanaimo73]

Limitedclear is right.
I was wrong.
The Canadian team is in New Orleans
www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a7775ba0-ca5b-40e8-af4d-1f9c2662a169

[Anonymous]

Andrew, andrew andrew.....

No one is verbaly chastizing you, or beating on you.

What dan meant to say, was overephisized by all the wrong words. I'm french still learning english, and I can telll yoiu, what he intended to say and what was actually written was somehting very similar, but he completelyyused the worng words. Even myself noticed that.

And Ed... he's not trying to condemn what you think or anyhting along those lines..

I have read what you did say, and to be perfectlyhonest,some ofthose things yousaid can and never will happen. I'd love to see them happen as well, but in a realistic and short term sense, it just won't.

Now i'm not going to tell you to grow up or anyhting.. your helping out how you so deeem appropriate. It is not up to me to condemn or disbelieve or smack down what you said. I can see vey much potential in what you are saying, I jsut can't see it happening.

But I, and unfortunately,speaking only for myslef, do appreciate your input- because i'm notlookign at the words you wrote down- I'm looking at the general ideas and using it as a way to see how youtr feeling.I can see your angry that there isn't much you can do, and when we get like that, we tend to yell out a lot ofideas

Done it a million times beforein my life, i'll do it 4 million more times before I die as well.

your reaction is perfectlynormal, take that from my perspective. Everyone is upset they can'tdo more. You know that Ilie awake at night jsut wanting to pack my things up, drive down their, throw on my RR vest and see howmuch I can help out? I lie awake thinking this at night-

I'd love to do it- ButI fear being a nuisance more then being a help.

Andrew I completely understand that you feel to the maximum for these people, the death toll is so bad and you have a city24 feet below sea level... I can hardly imagine it.

As for your advice, I read alot- I read many books a month-I believe self education is a great thing.I came across an author called Thomas mann, he once said that regardless how useless other people think your advice is, dispense it nonetheless. There will be always be one person out of 50 who will take what you have to say to heart, and they will take what you have to say home.

When we get upset, most of what we say lacks rational thought. I'mnot saying anyhting you've said needs to be rethought, but just rememebr, think twice speak once as George Orwell said.

In this case,Think three times, write once.

Your a good guy Andrew, I can tell your a musicalperson, based on what you say, your right side of the brain gets used alot. People who only use their left will be quick to dismiss what you have to say...

...how true is that?

True story...

Soi'm hear,and i'm lsitening...

Not to you solely, but everyone.

AS for this disaster... I can't even...I don't know what to say about it. I hope help arrives quickly, and I hope the Vancouver team is very successful in what their mission was.

If you don't pray, please, think nice thoughts about the people down their..nicet thoughts goa hell of a long way/.

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nanaimo73

Limitedclear is right.
I was wrong.
The Canadian team is in New Orleans
www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a7775ba0-ca5b-40e8-af4d-1f9c2662a169

Excellent. I hope the govenors feel free to ask more of Canada. That's what neighbours are for.

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kevinstheRRman

Andrew, andrew andrew.....

No one is verbaly chastizing you, or beating on you.

What dan meant to say, was overephisized by all the wrong words. I'm french still learning english, and I can telll yoiu, what he intended to say and what was actually written was somehting very similar, but he completelyyused the worng words. Even myself noticed that.

And Ed... he's not trying to condemn what you think or anyhting along those lines..

I have read what you did say, and to be perfectlyhonest,some ofthose things yousaid can and never will happen. I'd love to see them happen as well, but in a realistic and short term sense, it just won't.

Now i'm not going to tell you to grow up or anyhting.. your helping out how you so deeem appropriate. It is not up to me to condemn or disbelieve or smack down what you said. I can see vey much potential in what you are saying, I jsut can't see it happening.

But I, and unfortunately,speaking only for myslef, do appreciate your input- because i'm notlookign at the words you wrote down- I'm looking at the general ideas and using it as a way to see how youtr feeling.I can see your angry that there isn't much you can do, and when we get like that, we tend to yell out a lot ofideas

Done it a million times beforein my life, i'll do it 4 million more times before I die as well.

your reaction is perfectlynormal, take that from my perspective. Everyone is upset they can'tdo more. You know that Ilie awake at night jsut wanting to pack my things up, drive down their, throw on my RR vest and see howmuch I can help out? I lie awake thinking this at night-

I'd love to do it- ButI fear being a nuisance more then being a help.

Andrew I completely understand that you feel to the maximum for these people, the death toll is so bad and you have a city24 feet below sea level... I can hardly imagine it.

As for your advice, I read alot- I read many books a month-I believe self education is a great thing.I came across an author called Thomas mann, he once said that regardless how useless other people think your advice is, dispense it nonetheless. There will be always be one person out of 50 who will take what you have to say to heart, and they will take what you have to say home.

When we get upset, most of what we say lacks rational thought. I'mnot saying anyhting you've said needs to be rethought, but just rememebr, think twice speak once as George Orwell said.

In this case,Think three times, write once.

Your a good guy Andrew, I can tell your a musicalperson, based on what you say, your right side of the brain gets used alot. People who only use their left will be quick to dismiss what you have to say...

...how true is that?

True story...

Soi'm hear,and i'm lsitening...

Not to you solely, but everyone.

AS for this disaster... I can't even...I don't know what to say about it. I hope help arrives quickly, and I hope the Vancouver team is very successful in what their mission was.

If you don't pray, please, think nice thoughts about the people down their..nicet thoughts goa hell of a long way/.

Thankyou for your kind words. I'm glad someone at least understands.

[Anonymous]

The latest word is that two Amtrak trainsets are being used for evacuation one is a 13 car set and another enroute from CA is seven additional cars. I'm guessing that these are Sunset Limited and CNO cars.

LC

[jeaton]

More on Amtrak

Amtrak to help evacuate hurricane victims

By Sylvain Metz
[e-mail]

Amtrak will begin evacuating stranded New Orleans residents tonight.

The company will dispatch a passenger train out of Baton Rouge, La., about 7 p.m to New Orleans. From there, the service will pick up residents to Lafayette, La., where they will then be picked up by buses and ferried to varied destinations, said Marcus Mason, senior director for government affairs for Amtrak, Washington, D.C.

If all goes accordingly, the first train should pull out of New Orleans about midnight, he said.

The train will run around the clock, with a second train to join the operation in the next couple of days. It's coming from the West Coast, Mason said.

Amtrak will use freight lines owned and operated by Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern SantaFe Railway and Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad.

Armed security will be on hand to provide for an orderly evacuation, he said.

"I've heard some people (compare this) to the last helicopter out of Saigon and the last train out of Bangladesh," Mason said. "They are really hurting and need some assistance," he said.

Amtrak President David Gunn came up with the idea two days ago, according to Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, former chairman of Amtrak.

[Junctionfan]

WOW. How much progress has the railroads made fixing the lines? By the sounds of it, they will be ready for the most part to restore that particular line. Is there any staging area not underwater that Amtrak and other railroads can use for the time being?

[Anonymous]

Photos of CSX in New Orleans

http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=14433

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

Flights have been going in and out of the New Orleans airport, and some people have already been evacuated that way.

The question is still where to take the people, but the idea of busing them to the airport and flying them out does make sense. Each flight should have incoming supplies, an out going victims. The airport may be the best place to set up relief efforts.

Fortunately that has now started to happen and the commercial airlines have stepped up and are starting to send planes down there to help get people out. The airport is clear and was able to handle AirForce One and I heard a segment on CNBC that UPS was flying down supplies in 747's.

A C130 is a big plane but it doesn't need a commercial airport, air traffic control, etc. in order to land and take off. A flat unimproved dirt airstrip will do. They are also capable of short takeoffs with rocket assist as well as dropping pallet loads of supplies at ground level without landing using parachute extraction. They've been used all over the world for exactly this type of mission. Maybe they're unavailable and assigned elsewhere, but I can't think of a better tool for Homeland Security to keep arvailable for rapid response.

[Junctionfan]

I really like the take charge attitude and leadership of Lieutenent General Honeres (hope I spelled his name right). Watching the news, he doesn't hesitate to get on the phone and call up FEMA and the govenor when he sees something he doesn't like. He barked at FEMA because they were being a little slow with helicopters-changed soon after. He barked orders not only to the troops to lower their "god d### weapons" but also to the police there. Mean while smoking a cigar and walking up and down the areas surveying not seeming to give a rats behind if one of the thugs shoots at him.

Kind of reminded me of George C Scott in Patton. This is the kind of leadership they needed. I am quite relieved to see that man in charge there.

[nanaimo73]

Google maps has added a satellite image of New Orleans from Wednesday.
This link will take you to the Superdome and the Amtrak station (NOUPT).
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.949450,-90.081775&spn=0.005599,0.009887

The January 1987 Trains has an article on CSX from New Orleans to Mobile and covers how L&N rebuilt after previous hurricanes.

[mudchicken]

You have been all talking about the passenger fleet being sent as aid. In the same veign, every operable air dump car in the nations railcar fleet (not that many unfortunately and about half of what was available 10 years ago), out to be down there. When sent to New Orleans, they ought to be full of large rip-rap (something you wont find in delta country)...When empty they should be hauling debris out to newly established disposal sites/ old quarries, etc.

The out-of-service air dumps should be in the RIP's right now and repaired. Then add tthese to the fleet as soon as possible. (Logistics is going to be a huge problem that has yet to be even mildly addressed)

In addition, don't truck the heavy equipment in. Build a set of temporary circus ramps and unload the badly needed CATs and backhoes at a set of sites close-in. Then, lowboy the equipment locally and better utilize the lowboys.

The civil engineer in me is boiling mad about how clueless the media, the politicians and the general public are about the hit that infrastructure took in this. The roads, bridges and pipelines wiped out by Katrina is staggering and will take a decade to even repair even partways. Anyone with a reasonable amount of construction experience knows that rebuilding efforts in daunting conditions is going to be an extreme test of men, machines, equipment and available materials. Recovery isn't going to be a short term / quick fix thing.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Gee MC, where's Jimmy Carter when we need him? Your comments about the air dumps are way more practical than all of the passenger service suggestions.

As I type this Michael Chertoff is speaking live and said that Amtrak just made it's first trip, bringing out 650 people. As soon as the evacuations are complete, civilians will not be returning to the city for quite some time. Homeowners can't simply be allowed back in, even if their homes weren't destroyed in the storm or flood.

The city will most likely be secured and cordoned off. Only those actively participating in the restoration of services will be allowed back in, but arrangements have to be made for their care and safety. This means food, water and housing for any workers must be established first. Transportation has to be restored, then business have to come on line. Once the infrastructure is restored, some sections of the city can be reinhabited.

People have likened the situation in New Orleans to that of a third world country. That is a very accurate assessment if you think about it. No transportation, no communication, no drinking water, no electricity, no sanitation. Every modern convenience Americans are accustomed to was destroyed, mostly by the flood waters.

This is going to be a very long, painful and EXPENSIVE process. There is going to be a lot of unhappiness and complaining. New Orleans is well beyond the scope and capacity of FEMA. FEMA will work better in Alabama, Mississippi and now with the refugees arriving in Texas.

[espeefoamer]

Why wasn't Amtrak pulling people out in the week BEFORE Katrina hit?[:(!]

[selector]

That's a legitimate question, especially from those of us who are mere observers. Yet, the exasperated explanations coming from FEMA and from the Mayor, and from reports by newscasters in the area, are that far too many didn't have the resources to leave. No money, no vehicles, no place to go to, etc. The poor, especially, have been devastated because they could not respond to the warnings the way those with means were able to do. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Reports indicate that police and troops are now engaging looters/gangs in running gun battles in N.O. Latest report is on a bridge over the Industrial Canal that a gang of 8 armed thugs battled with police and lost 6 dead, 2 wounded and in custody. No word on police casualties. Perhaps this will discourage those preying on others and their property.

Apparently, there were only 6 thugs and four were shot by police. Two are dead and the others hospitalized. Updated as of Labor Day

LC

[dmcclendon]

I have been watching all this mess for several days. I have been reading the comments GOOD and BAD. God bless the people of Houston, Dallas and every other city great or small for taking it upon themselves to help in any way they can. Let's not forget this a is DISASTER. It took out everything you and me took for granted. God bless us for having a great country. But my forum readers this is OVERWHELMING to everyone in the Government (all levels). The government designed these plans for short term not long term. Folks we have a long term problem here. This is OVERWHELMING for families, business and people in general. This is time NOW for everyone to look at your community, business and friends to plan for a disaster. Let's learn from this. Let's Stop The BASHING. My Minister this morning suggested to quit looking at the bad and lets show the world what a great nation this truly is. New Orleans and the other areas will be rebuilt but with greater standards. We learn lessons from this.

I am a Vol. Firefighter in my area. I have taken many disater courses pre and post 9/11. The one thing that I have learned is BE PREPARED at your LOCAL level. It will take at least 3 to 5 DAYS to get relief. FEMA, Red Cross and other emergency agencies say preparedness starts at HOME. I am not surprised that it has taken 3 to 5 days to get the massive help to area. It takes time to coordinate help. Plus you have know what to bring. So don't fuss at the Government or any one else. Help is on the way. Let's do what we can at our local levels.

I know this forum is about trains. It will take a few more days or weeks to get rail back to normal. But the railroads will step up and assist is restoring things.

Sorry I had to get this off my mind

[daveklepper]

News: Of course we are far more concerned about people and Greyhound and Amtrak and the commuter authorities should have been organized by Minetta before the flood, but some will be glad to hear that:

The 35 Pearly Thomas 1926 streetcars are save and dry at Carollton Shops above water.

The Replica cars for the Riverfront and Canal Street lines did not fare so well. They are partly submerged at the new carbarn, but most are probably repairable.

[Anonymous]

Repairs on New Orleans Levee Completed

By DOUG SIMPSON, AP

NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 5) - A week after Hurricane Katrina, engineers plugged the levee break that swamped much of the city and floodwaters began to recede, but along with the good news came the mayor's direst prediction yet: As many as 10,000 dead.

Sheets of metal and repeated helicopter drops of 3,000-pound sandbags along the 17th Street canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain succeeded Monday in plugging a 200-foot-wide gap, and water was being pumped from the canal back into the lake. State officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city.

Some parts of the city already showed slipping floodwaters as the repair neared completion, with the low-lying Ninth Ward dropping more than a foot. In downtown New Orleans, some streets were merely wet rather than swamped.

"We're starting to make the kind of progress that I kind of expected earlier,'' New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said of the work on the break, which opened at the height of the hurricane and flooded 80 percent of the city up to 20 feet deep.

The news came as many of the 460,000 residents of suburban Jefferson Parish waited in a line of cars that stretched for miles to briefly see their flooded homes, and to scoop up soaked wedding pictures, baby shoes and other cherished mementoes.

"A lot of these people built these houses anticipating some flood water but nobody imagined this,'' sobbed Diane Dempsey, a 59-year-old retired Army lieutenant colonel who could get no closer than the water line a mile from her Metairie home. "I'm going to pay someone to get me back there, anything I have to do.''

"I won't be getting inside today unless I get some scuba gear,'' added Jack Rabito, a 61-year-old bar owner who waited for a ride to visit his one-story home that had water lapping to the gutters.

Katharine Dastugue was overjoyed to find that floodwaters had gone across her lawn but stopped just inches from her doorstep. As she stood waiting for a boat to take her in, she made a list of thing she hoped to salvage before being forced to leave again Wednesday.
"I just get my kids' baby photos,'' she said. "You can't replace those.''

In New Orleans, Nagin upticked his estimate of the probable death toll in his city from merely thousands, telling NBC's "Today'' show, "It wouldn't be unreasonable to have 10,000.''

As law enforcement officers and even bands of private individuals - including actor Sean Penn - launched a door-to-door boat and air search of the city for survivors, they were running up against a familiar obstacle: People who had been trapped more than a week in damaged homes yet refused to leave.

"We have advised people that this city has been destroyed,'' said Deputy Police Superintendent W.J. Riley. "There is nothing here for them and no reason for them to stay, no food, no jobs, nothing.''

Riley, who estimated fewer than 10,000 people were left in the city, said some simply did not want to leave their homes - while others were hanging back to engage in criminal activities, such as looting.

Nagin said the city had the authority to force residents to evacuate but didn't say if it was taking that step. He did, however, detail one heavy-handed tactic: Water will no longer be handed out to people who refuse to leave.

In another effort of "encouragement,'' a Louisiana State Police SWAT team armed with rifles confronted two brothers at their home in the Uptown section of New Orleans, leaving one sobbing.

"I thought they were going to shoot me,'' said 23-year-old Leonard Thomas, weeping on his front porch. "That dude came and stuck the gun dead at my head.''

One officer, who did not give his name, said his team tried to make sure that the two men understood that food and water is becoming scarce and that disease could begin spreading.

With almost a third of New Orleans' police force missing in action, a caravan of law enforcement vehicles, emblazoned with emblems from across the nation and blue lights flashing, poured into the city to help establish order on the city's anarchic streets.

Four hundred to 500 officers on New Orleans' 1600-member force were unaccounted for. Some lost their homes. Some were looking for families. "Some simply left because they said they could not deal with the catastrophe,'' Riley said. Officers were being cycled off duty and given five-day vacations in Las Vegas and Atlanta, where they would also receive counseling.

At a news conference in Baton Rouge, police Superintendent Eddie Compass denied officers deserted in droves, acknowledging some officers abandoned their jobs but saying he didn't know how many.

Two police officers killed themselves. Another was shot in the head. Compass said 150 had to be rescued from eight feet of water and others had gotten infections from walking through the murky soup of chemicals and pollutants in flooded areas.

"No police department in the history of the world was asked to do what we were asked,'' Compass said with a mix of anger and pride.

The leader of National Guard troops patrolling New Orleans declared the city largely free of the lawlessness that plagued it in the days following the hurricane. And he angrily lashed out at a reporter who suggested search-and-rescue operations were being stymied by random gunfire and lawlessness.

"Go on the streets of New Orleans - it's secure,'' said Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. "Have you been to New Orleans? Did anybody accost you?''

Hopeful signs of recovery were accompanied by President Bush's second visit to Louisiana that exposed a continued rift between state and federal officials over the slowness of a relief effort. The first significant convoy of food, water and medicine didn't arrive in New Orleans until four full days after the hurricane, and the mayor and others said some survivors died awaiting relief.

The Times-Picayune, Louisiana's largest newspaper, published an open letter to Bush, called for the firing of every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At a stop in Baton Rouge, Bush said all levels of the government were doing their best, and he pledged again: "So long as any life is in danger, we've got work to do. Where it's not going right, we're going to make it right.''

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has refused to sign over National Guard control to the federal government and has turned to a Clinton administration official, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt, to help run relief efforts.

Blanco, a Democrat, was not informed of the timing of Bush's visit, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. In fact, Blanco's office didn't know when Bush was coming until told by reporters.

Late Monday, Blanco denied there tension with Bush.

"We'd like to stop the voices out there trying to create a divide. There is no divide. We're all in this together,'' she said. "Every leader in this nation wants to see this problem solved.''

While the New Orleans refugees were mostly poor and black, Jefferson Parish brought the storm's destruction to a much wider economic cross-section. The sprawling parish stretches from Grand Isle on the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Pontchartrain in the north, and includes some of the metropolitan area's most exclusive neighborhoods.

In the enclave of Old Metairie, the rows of palatial, six-bedroom homes sustained little structural damage but had some of the worst flooding. Only a few windows were broken and the live oaks survived but the water rippled up the knobs at front doors and completely covered Mercedes-Benzes, pickup trucks and BMWs in garages.

Many residents were happy that the storm spared their homes, but angry that the failure of the levee system left them swamped. Some were considering a lawsuit against the federal government for having a levee that could survive no more than a Category 3 hurricane.

"That's what so devastating, that god***ed levee breaking,'' said Bobby Patrick, a resident of neighborhood now living in Houston. "My home didn't lose a shingle but it's got six feet of water in it.''

Since the storm, rumors had swirled that looters had crossed over the parish line and begun breaking into evacuated homes in Jefferson. Many were relieved to return home Monday to find their belongings untouched.

Across the neighborhood, residents took what items they could fit in a boat. One woman loaded up her boat with her collection of cashmere sweaters, her cat and the 1957 Leica camera that belonged to her grandfather. A man packed his pickup truck with his silverware, his wife's clothes and a cherished animal figurine.

Unlike the poor in New Orleans, these refugees had other places to go. And few here planned to stay through what could be a long recovery. With police checkpoints on ever major street corner and ID checks for parish residents, even looting was not a major concern.

Said personal trainer Rod McClave: "I'm more concerned about them damaging my stuff just for the hell of it.''

[Anonymous]

Exhausted evacuees arrive by Amtrak

While his new friend Felicia Hendricks sat in a chair by the railroad tracks and breathed through an inhaler, Philip Harvey bit into sandwich he’d just been given by a Salvation Army.

Hendricks and Harvey had just arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana by train from New Orleans with about 100 other people, all evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who were being transferred by bus to points west, possibly Dallas or San Antonio, said an Amtrak official.

Harvey and Hendricks met each other in the Superdome, where thousands of refugees languished before being brought out of the city.

“We’ve been taking care of each other,” he said. “She has bronchitis.”

The train later headed back to New Orleans to pick up more of the 600 people at the New Orleans Amtrak station on Poydras Street, said Maj. Dan Hudson of the Louisiana State Police.

The evacuees were met by city police, firemen and medics from Acadian Ambulance and two California companies, Care Ambulance from Orange County and WestMed from Los Angeles, who drove several ambulances across the country in only 29 hours.

Although some of the evacuees had bandages on their heads, arms and legs, none required transport, although several hospitals had been alerted, said Acadian Ambulance spokesman Orlando Roland.

“This is the first time in American history that ambulance companies have crossed this country to help another company,” said Bill Weston of Care Ambulance. “And there were a few times we went over 55.”

The trip from New Orleans went smoothly, said Amtrak engineer Gilbert Isaacs, and said his heart went out to the gentle people who had gone through so much.

“The rumors about people from New Orleans bringing violence is just a very small minority,” he said. “These people are simply suffering. They are the most decent people I’ve ever had on board. They picked up the trash and kept the cars clean.”

Salvation Army volunteer Lester Wright, who passed out water, snacks and sandwiches to the evacuees as they walked from the train to the bus, said he was moved by their presence.

“These are the most humble, beat down people I’ve every seen,” he said.

Weston said as the caravan went across the country, people greeted them everywhere.

“All we did was get thumbs up and waves from people the whole way here,” he said. “We stopped in a little town in Texas and said we were a group on our way to Louisiana,” Weston said. “So they went into the stores and took packs of water off the selves and just gave it to us.”