'This Is a Desperate SOS'

NEW ORLEANS — Violence and chaos disrupted the evacuation efforts in New Orleans Thursday as thousands of National Guard troops poured into the Crescent City to boost security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina .
"This is a desperate SOS," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and he and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing — no food, no water, no medicine.
"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said everyone is concerned for the dead who cannot be picked up until all of the living are found and brought to safety.
"It's a difficult thing for family members who are worried about them. We're worried about them too," she said Thursday. "Frankly, our situation is so difficult we actually believe there will be thousands [dead] but we don't have an official count."
Fights and trash fires broke out at the hot and stinking Superdome and anger and unrest mounted across New Orleans as the first of nearly 25,000 refugees being sheltered at the Superdome began to arrive in Houston, Texas. Thousands of people rushed from nearby hotels and other buildings, hoping to climb onto the buses taking evacuees from the arena.
One ambulance official overseeing the airlift rescue operations said a gunshot was fired at a military helicopter over the Superdome before daybreak.
"We have suspended operations until they gain control of the Superdome," said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the building.
The military continued the ground evacuation without interruption, said National Guard Lt. Col. Pete Schneider.
More than 28,000 National Guard members have been deployed to the Gulf Coast region in what may be the largest military response to a natural disaster.
The Bush administration intends to seek $10 billion to cover immediate relief needs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and lawmakers decided to break off their summer vacation to approve the request by the weekend.
But across New Orleans, the rescuers themselves came under attack from storm victims hungry, desperate and tired of waiting.
"Hospitals are trying to evacuate," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesman at the city emergency operations center. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, 'You better come get my family.'"
Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and stop thieves who were becoming increasingly hostile.
Volunteers with boats hoping to help rescue those still stranded on rooftops in New Orleans were told to stand down by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after shots were fired.
"The truth is, a terrible tragedy like this brings out the best in most people, brings out the worst in some people," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today" show. "We're trying to deal with looters as ruthlessly as we can get our hands on them."
President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign to help victims recover.
Bush will survey the Alabama and Mississippi coast by helicopter, then go on to New Orleans. He also will tour some locations on the ground.
The president on Thursday warned that looters, price gougers, insurance fraudsters, those taking advantage of charity and others will face the maximum consequences for their actions.
There will be "zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this," Bush said in a live interview at the White House with ABC's "Good Morning America." "I've made that clear to our attorney general."
Chaos at the Superdome
Evacuees who had taken refuge in the Superdome were waiting hours to get onto buses that were taking them 350 miles away to the Houston Astrodome, which can hold 27,000 people. Conditions in the Superdome had become horrendous: There was no air conditioning, the toilets were backed up, and the stench was so bad that medical workers wore masks as they walked around.
We Pray for Peace In the Name Of Jesus!.