Nearly 5,000 plucked from rooftops

08:23 AM CDT on Saturday, September 17, 2005

Associated Press

The Coast Guard has released numbers which partially explain why the death toll in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina has been lower than expected.

The Coast Guard says that during its first week of operations in New Orleans, it saved the lives of nearly 6,500 people. Officials say almost 5,000 of those rescues were by hoist in areas where the water was just too deep or dangerous for the Coast Guard to come in by boat.

All of those lives were saved by the crews of just 17 helicopters, during 1,500 flight hours in the air.

The numbers released today cover Coast Guard operations which ended September 10.

Coast guard rescue crews have been out in force since then in conjunction with National Guard units, searching for additional survivors, but also recovering the bodies of flood victims.