Environmental Catastrophe Feared in New Orleans Flood
As the floodwater levels continue to drop in the Greater New Orleans area, concern is rising about Katrina's environmental consequences. Search and rescue efforts are evolving into the grim task of corpse recovery, identification and disposal. Much of the city remains a ghost town, as police and military authorities maintain a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Heavy equipment operators are pushing heaps of rubble-the current Louisiana Dept. of Environmental Quality estimate is 22 million tons-into piles for eventual disposal. LaDEQ officials are now selecting sites. Crews are spraying standing water with pesticides to suppress mosquitoes.
The most immediate threat is from the polluted floodwaters that are now flowing back into Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and the marshes in battered St. Bernards and Plaquemine parishes. It is a nasty bouillabaisse of chemicals, raw sewage and spilled petroleum products.