Theos-Talk Archives (September 2005 Message tt00019)

See last paragraph of the following article:
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- US Senator David Vitter said that the death toll from Hurricane 
Katrina could top 10,000 in Louisiana alone. 

"My guess is that it will start at 10,000, but that is only a 
guess," Vitter said, adding that he was not basing his remarks on 
any official death toll or body count.

Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, also called for the immediate 
deployment of regular US combat troops in New Orleans, saying the 
build-up of National Guard troops was too slow to quickly restore 
order.

Such a step would require Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to 
formally request the dispatch of federal army soldiers, a highly 
unusual step.

Blanco said on Thursday that she had asked for 40,000 troops, the 
majority of which are National Guard units from Louisiana and 
elsewhere.

Five-thousand National Guard troops are expected to be on the ground 
in violence-wracked New Orleans by late Friday, military leaders 
said.

But Vitter said that timeline could be too slow, amid reports that 
bands of armed men are roaming the streets in the city, which is 80 
percent submerged in floods brought in by a storm tide after the 
hurricane hit on Monday.

Vitter, speaking to reporters at the emergency response center in 
Baton Rouge, also said he gave the federal government a grade 'F' 
for its response to the disaster so far.
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Quoted from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050902/pl_afp/usweatherdeaths