Reporters' Blog: Raw Accounts from the Front Lines of Katrina

ByABC News
September 2, 2005, 8:22 AM

Sept. 7, 2005 — -- ABC News reporters have fanned out across the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Here, in their own words, is what they are seeing and hearing.

Diane Sawyer
Sept. 7, 2005

Never in its 125 years has the Red Cross had this great a response to a natural disaster. It's helping more than 142,000 evacuees at nearly 400 shelters in 18 states. This week I found out what it's like to be with the Red Cross -- on the front lines.

Let's say you decide to come to the Gulf and volunteer. The first thing you do is sign papers -- it's called processing. Then you head over to the place where meals are served.

Five thousand people come through for lunch every day, hearing about this post through word of mouth. With the least amount of training, I start out as the pea server, wearing plastic gloves and a hairnet. Kevin Titus of the Red Cross said the food is brought in by the Red Cross itself, which buys as much of it as possible locally to feed money back into the community.

He then walks us along some of the goods that people have sent from around the country. All they can do is place them out to see if anyone needs them. They are doing all this in partnership with the local Baptist church, which cooks the food

If spaghetti and peas were lunch, then it's fried chicken and peas for dinner. These meals are then loaded into some 22 trucks, which make two trips a day serving about 250 meals. That's about 8,000 meals for people around the parish.

We drive around with Theodore, who sounds a signal. Slowly, gradually, the ones who are there emerge from their wrecked homes.

So many of them tell us what they are most anxious about is medicine -- asthma medicine for a wife, insulin medicine for a daughter. All we can do is direct them to the medical clinic at the Baptist church. So far, these people say they've seen nothing of FEMA and its medical services.

It's a giant area and a daunting task -- unless you are one of the legion of volunteers who believe every mission is possible.

Roger Sergel
ABC News' medical unit
Sept. 5, 2005

We are now getting reports of infectious diseases from patients coming from the Gulf:

A patient with TB, who came from the Astrodome, has been hospitalized at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston. TB is communicable like the flu, so who knows how many patients were exposed. They are now watching very carefully for patients who may have contracted TB.

There has been an outbreak of gastroenteritis in children at the Astrodome. This is also communicable. Ninety children have been seen within 36 hours with the illness. This is similar to the virus on cruise ships. If it is bacterial they, can treat with antibiotics.

In Biloxi, a doctor reports he has seen several cases of Vibrio vulnificus. This is caused by a combination of exposure to sea water and injuries, where sea water would get into cuts. It is not communicable. However, it is a 20 percent fatal illness that involves flesh-eating bacteria. The doctor in Biloxi reports he is now giving prophylactic antibiotics to anyone with a significant cut and scratch and exposure to sea water.

In addition, ABC News affiliate KTRK in Houston reports:

Seventy children at Texas Children's Hospital have tested positive for diarrhea-type issues. All have been isolated. They are concerned about two other issues: Tb and staph. The staph is of great concern because they are afraid a new strain may be imported into the area. There is a huge staph outbreak in the Houston area prior to the flood.

Dennis Powell
Rich Esposito
Sept. 5, 2005

Two senior-level state and federal sources say that the death toll could top 6,000. Both believe that the majority of deaths -- 80 to 90 percent -- were caused by a slow response from FEMA and Department of Homeland Security.

Barbara Pinto
Houston
Sept. 4, 2005

On Friday, we met Joy and Isadore Armond, a couple at the Astrodome, which is acting as a shelter for hurricane evacuees. They were desperate to find their premature infant son.

They had last seen the baby at University Medical Center in New Orleans the day before the storm. He was fragile, 3 lbs., and on oxygen. We aired their story and their baby's photo on "World News Tonight."

Joy called to tell me that someone at a Louisiana hospital saw the story, recognized the child, and put them in touch. Joy called me in tears to share the news.

The Armonds are searching for housing today and hope to travel to Louisiana to bring the baby home on Tuesday.

Ron Claiborne
New Orleans
Sept. 4, 2005

The National Guard Urban Rescue teams and police were out in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood looking for survivors still trapped inside their homes... and the bodies of those who couldn't, or wouldn't, leave.

There is a stench in the air. It is the smell of natural gas still leaking in this area, gasoline mixed in with the flood waters, and just a foul odor of the toxic brew that is the flood waters, which are up to two or three feet in this neighborhood. This was by far the hardest hit area in all of New Orleans.

While we were out, we saw a Coast Guard helicopter drop a rescuer onto the roof of a two-story brick apartment house. He chopped a hole to try to reach the man inside, but then decided it was too risky an operation. He asked us if we could take that man on our boat instead.

We brought our boat around to the rear entrance, and the man, Patrick Gentry, climbed aboard with a dog in his knapsack. He said he'd been inside his home -- unable to leave -- for the past six days.

"I have been standing on the roof waving white flags and white towels. I have seen helicopters but I don't think they have seen me," he said.

Gentry said National Guard troops came by on Monday during the storm and offered to evacuate him and his wife. But they wouldn't take Spikey, his puppy. His wife left, but he and Spikey rode out the storm together.

He said a downstairs neighbor also stayed -- and drowned.

David Muir
New Orleans
Sept. 3, 2005

Under the blistering sun, we saw hungry and thirsty refugees begin another day lining the sides of Interstate 10 in downtown New Orleans.

They've been without water and food. There's been gunfire, rapes and death -- with at least one corpse visible along the side of the road.

With her baby in her arms, Cassaundra Brooks, by the side of the road for four days, called it a nightmare.

Cassia Gammill described the anxiety.

"I don't know," she said. "We're just scared. We left a safe place -- because the Coast Guard told us we'd be taken out of town and dropped us off here."

While we were there, help finally arrived -- military helicopters. Families hurried to push wheelchairs and the sick to the front of the line. Evacuees were frisked before boarding the helicopters.

But the job was far from done. Another group of people gathered on the side of the interstate. They presumably would be next, but it looked to be a very long process: Farther down the road, there were still hundreds of refugees waiting to get out.