ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
The death toll and destruction from Hurricane Katrina continue to mount. At least 100 people are now presumed dead in Mississippi. In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin says Katrina took the lives of hundreds at a minimum, but most likely thousands.
The federal government has mobilized one of the largest relief and response efforts in US history. Hours after flying over the disaster zone in Air Force One, President Bush spoke in the Rose Garden.
President GEORGE W. BUSH: We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history, and that's why I've called the Cabinet together. The people in the affected regions expect the federal government to work with the state government and local government with an effective response.
SIEGEL: The president added that recovery from Katrina would take years.
For now the Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing medical assistance and distributing supplies. Active-duty and National Guard units have been mobilized; Navy ships are moving to the Gulf Coast. Federal health officials have declared a public health emergency for the entire region, citing cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases as concerns. Other agencies are trying to get food, water and medical supplies in.
We'll have more on those health concerns in a few minutes. First, we go to New Orleans, where officials have called for a total evacuation of the city. Efforts to repair the breaches of the levees and flood walls were still unsuccessful. In stifling heat and humidity, refugees continued to arrive at the Superdome, even as buses began evacuating those inside to Houston. Rescue efforts continue with boats, helicopters and emergency vehicles trying to reach stranded residents. Looting that began yesterday spread throughout the city. NPR's Greg Allen has been covering the situation from downtown New Orleans.
GREG ALLEN reporting:
It's about as bad as you'd expect when there's no power, no water, just--roads are impassable, very hard to get around. It's just turned--it's gone from bad to worse here and conditions are just totally uninhabitable.
SIEGEL: Now you made it over to the Superdome, which was the shelter of last resort for the city. What's it like there?
ALLEN: Well, I think you can only--it's safe to say that it's hellish there. People are there and they're very unhappy they're there. What many don't realize is that it's really much worse outside of the Superdome. But you go inside, and it's--people make their little encampments wherever they can on the concourse or on the stadium seats or down on the floor. But they do have water, they do have food, but there's no water-pressure running water in New Orleans now, so the toilets aren't working. Phone service has gone down through almost the entire part of the city, so it's really become uninhabitable. And I think that's one reason why authorities say it's time to go.
SIEGEL: Have you heard a reliable estimate of how many people there actually are in the Superdome? We've heard numbers all over the lot.
ALLEN: Oh, yeah, I believe there's 16,000 people there, according to Ed Bush, who's public affairs coordinator for the National Guard. He seemed pretty confident in that number. There was 10,000 there, they believe, on Sunday--or on Monday when the hurricane hit, and they've brought in more than 5,000 since then from the search-and-rescue missions and people who've come by themselves.
SIEGEL: And now comes the evacuation of those who are there and others in New Orleans. How is that supposed to happen?
ALLEN: Well, it's a daunting task, especially because the whole Superdome is surrounded by waist-high water. And many of the people inside--you walk through and there's babies there. There's two babies that were born there since the hurricane hit a couple days ago. There's a lot of elderly people, people with oxygen tanks. A lot of the people there are not in the best of shape. They're not going to get out of there without a lot of help. So it's going to be a daunting task.
The National Guard says they're ready to do it. They've got lots of five-ton pickup trucks that they'll use to ferry people out to the buses. They're ready. I think they're as anxious as anyone to get this operation under way and to start moving people out of the Superdome.
SIEGEL: And as you say, as bad as things may be in the Superdome, it's better than it is outside the Superdome. What's it like in the rest of the city for people there?
ALLEN: Well, as I say, conditions are deteriorating not just at the Superdome but throughout the city. Parts of the city that did not see water previously, like uptown, which is where we are, now have many streets that are flooded. We believe the water's coming from the levee that--over on the east that broke, but it's hard to tell. Authorities don't--the communication's so bad you can't--have a hard time even finding out what's going on. But...
SIEGEL: Mm-hmm. And at the heart of all this is levees that broke. Is there any progress actually in repairing the breaches in those levees?
ALLEN: Well, so far there's not been any success. But the good news, if you can call it good news, which we just heard, is that the water in Lake Pontchartrain is the same as the water inside the city, where it's leaking into, so it's equalized. So we're not going to see more water from the lake coming in. The bad news there is that means that the water in the city is as high as the water in the lake, so you can look at that either way, I suppose.
SIEGEL: Well, Greg Allen, thanks for all of your reporting from New Orleans.
ALLEN: You're welcome, Robert.
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