"Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said it was "impossible to even begin to estimate" how long it will take to restore power and drinking water in New Orleans.
"This is a tragedy of great proportions, greater than any we've seen in our lifetimes," Blanco said. We know many lives have been lost."
The death toll from the storm so far is estimated at 70 -- mostly in Mississippi. Officials stressed that the number is uncertain and likely to be much higher. (See aerial video of the aftermath -- 3:02)
In New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, authorities used boats and helicopters to reach stranded residents and search for survivors...
Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday night blasted what he called a lack of coordination in relief efforts for setting behind the city's recovery. "There is way too many fricking ... cooks in the kitchen," Nagin said in a phone interview with WAPT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi. (Full story)
Nagin was fuming over what he said were scuttled plans to plug a 200-yard breach near the 17th Street Canal, allowing Lake Pontchartrain to spill into the central business district. (Map)
An earlier breach occurred along the Industrial Canal in the city's Lower 9th Ward.
The rising flood waters overwhelmed pumping stations that would normally keep the city dry. About 80 percent of the city was flooded with water up to 20 feet deep after the two levees collapsed. (See video of knee-deep and rising water in the French Quarter -- 1:19)...
Nagin said that as of late Tuesday "a significant amount of water" is flowing into the bowl-shaped city and sections of the city now dry could be under 9 or 10 feet of water within hours.
"The bowl is filling up," he said."
Awful to think that Jackson Square, where I spent many an hour listening to the jazz band playing on the corner, is now under water, along with Bourbon Street, the Garden District and Decatur Street.
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