NEW ORLEANS — Using the unmistakable threat of force, police and
soldiers went house to house Wednesday to try to coax the last 10,000 or
so stubborn holdouts to leave storm-shattered New Orleans because of the
risk of disease from the putrid, sewage-laden floodwaters.
IRWIN THOMPSON / DMN
A
New York FDNY firefighter helps New Orleans firefighters battle a
house fire on S. Wright St. near Magazine St. Tuesday. Several
houses burned to the ground. They also used helicopters to drop
water on the fire.
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"A large group of young men armed with M-16s just arrived at my door and
told me that I have to leave," said Patrick McCarty, who owns several
buildings and lives in one of them in the city's Lower Garden District.
"While not saying they would arrest you, the inference is clear."
A frail-looking 86-year-old Anthony Charbonnet grumbled as he locked his
front door and walked slowly backward down the steps of the house where
he had lived since 1955.
"I haven't left my house in my life," he said as soldiers took him to a
helicopter. "I don't want to leave."
Mayor C. Ray Nagin ordered law officers and the military late Tuesday to
evacuate all holdouts – by force if necessary. He warned that the
combination of fetid water, fires and natural gas leaks after Hurricane
Katrina made it too dangerous to stay.
In fact, the first government tests confirmed Wednesday that the amount
of sewage-related bacteria in the floodwaters is at least 10 times
higher than acceptable safety levels. Dr. Julie Gerberding, chief of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned stragglers not to
even touch the water and pleaded: "If you haven't left the city yet, you
must do so."
As of midday, there were no reports of anyone being removed by force.
And it was not clear how the order would be carried out.
Active-military troops said they had no plans to use force. National
Guard officers said they do not take orders from the mayor. And even the
police said they were not ready to use force just yet. It appeared that
the mere threat of force would be the first option.
"We have thousands of people who want to voluntarily evacuate at this
time," Police Chief Eddie Compass said. "Once they are all out, then
we'll concentrate our forces on mandatory evacuation."
Mindful of the bad publicity that could result from images of weary
residents dragged out of their homes at gunpoint, Compass said that when
his officers start using force, it will be the minimum amount necessary.
"If you are somebody who is 350 pounds, it will obviously take more
force to move you than if you are 150 pounds," the chief said.
The stepped-up evacuation came as workers trying to get into the city to
restart essential services came under sniper fire. More than 100
officers and seven armored personnel carriers captured a suspect in a
housing project who had been firing on workers trying to restore cell
phone towers, authorities said.
"These cell teams are getting fire on almost a daily basis, so we needed
to get in here and clean this thing up," said Capt. Jeff Winn, commander
of the police SWAT team. "We're putting a lot of people on the street
right now and I think that we are bringing it under control. Eight days
ago this was a mess. Every day is getting a little bit better."
The police chief boasted that 7,000 more military, police and other law
officers on the streets had made New Orleans "probably the safest city
in America right now."
Across miles of ravaged neighborhoods of clapboard houses, grand estates
and housing projects, workers struggled to find and count corpses
sniffed out by cadaver dogs in the 90-degree heat. The mayor has said
New Orleans' death toll could reach 10,000. Already, a temporary
warehouse morgue in rural St. Gabriel that had been prepared to take
1,000 bodies was being readied to handle 5,000.
The enormity of the disaster came ever-clearer in neighboring St.
Bernard Parish, which was hit by a levee break that brought a wall of
water up to 20 feet high. State Rep. Nita Hutter said 30 people died at
a flooded nursing home in Chalmette when the staff left the elderly
residents behind in their beds. And Rep. Charlie Melancon said more than
100 people died at a dockside warehouse while they waited for rescuers
to ferry them to safety.
The floodwaters continued to recede, though slowly, with only 23 of the
city's normal contingent of 148 pumps in operation, along with three
portable pumps. The water in St. Bernard Parish had fallen 5 feet.
Because of the standing water, doctors were being urged to watch for
diarrheal illnesses caused by such things as E. coli bacteria, certain
viruses, and a type of cholera-like bacteria common along the warm Gulf
Coast.
Given the extent of the misery, Louisiana's two U.S. senators – Democrat
Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter – wrote a letter to Senate
leaders Wednesday urging them to put aside partisan bickering in
assigning blame over the federal response and focus on providing for
victims.
"Please do not make the citizens of Louisiana a victim once again by
allowing our immediate needs to be delayed by partisanship," they wrote.
Patricia Kelly was driven out of her home by flooding in the low-lying
Ninth Ward and took up residence under a tattered, dirty
green-and-white-striped patio umbrella in front of an abandoned barber
shop. Despite the warnings, she refused to leave.
"We're surviving every day, trying to tolerate the situation by the
grace of God. He's keeping us holding on just one day at a time," she
said. "I'm going to stay as long as the Lord says so. If they come with
a court order, then we'll leave."
Sgt. Joseph Boarman of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, whose soldiers
helped coax people from their homes, said he could almost understand the
reluctance to leave: "It's their home. You know how hard it is to leave
home, no matter what condition it's in."
Dolores Devron lashed out in anger as soldiers led her and her husband,
Forcell, out of their flooded home.
"There are dead babies tied to poles and they're dragging us out and
leaving the dead babies. That ain't right!" she screamed, waving her
arms as she was directed onto a troop carrier truck.
In the high and dry French Quarter, 48-year-old Jack Jones said he would
resist if authorities tried to force him out of the home where he has
lived since the 1970s.
While the streets were strewn with garbage, rotting food and downed
power lines, Jones kept his block pristine, sweeping daily, spraying for
mosquitoes and even pouring bleach down drains to kill germs.
Jones said the sick, the elderly and people who lack supplies should be
evacuated – but not folks like him. He has 15 cases of drinking water, a
generator, canned ravioli, wine, coffee and three cartons of Marlboros.
"I've got everything I need," he said. "I just want to be left alone."
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Associated Press writers Cain Burdeau, Jerry Bodlander and Lauran
Neergaard contributed to this report.
AP-WS-09-07-05 1912EDT
