For all the horror of what went on at the Superdome and the convention center in New Orleans, we know so much about those cases because they were central points. There were lots of journalists there and thus lots of coverage. But before too much more time goes by, I want to call your attention to a post Ed Kilgore did a few days ago at his site, in which he excerpted this passage from the blog currently being run by the New Orleans Times-Picayune …
About 100 people have died at the Chalmette Slip after being pulled off their rooftops, waiting to be ferried up the river to the West Bank and bused out of the flood ravaged area, U.S. Rep. Charles Melancon, D-Napoleonville, said Thursday.
About 1,500 people were at the slip on Thursday afternoon, where critical supplies like food and water are scarce, he said. Melancon expressed serious frustration with the slow pace of getting these items to the people waiting to finish their journey to safety. Many of those at the slip were evacuated from a shelter set up at Chalmette High School that suffered massive flooding as the waters rose during Hurricane Katrina. Melancon said people are being plucked out of their water-surrounded houses, but the effort to get them out of Chalmette and provide them with sufficient sustenance is the problem.
A hundred people. Precise numbers <$NoAd$> are very difficult to nail down in the short-term under such circumstances. And the very round number suggests an estimate. But unless this story is wholly false, dozens of people died not of drowning or even before being rescued, but simply because they couldn’t be moved from one way station to the next.
Why do people drop dead like this? Presumably a disproportionate number were old and at risk, or people with chronic illnesses without access to their medication. Depending on the circumstances, dehydration and/or dysentery probably played an important role. Whatever the details, how many stories like this will there be?
