Katrina May Have Killed 80 in Miss. County

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Katrina May Have Killed 80 in Miss. County

Tuesday August 30, 2005 1:46 PM

By HOLBROOK MOHR

Associated Press Writer

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - As dawn broke over the ravaged Gulf Coast on Tuesday, rescuers in boats and helicopters furiously searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80.

``The devastation down there is just enormous,'' Gov. Haley Barbour said on NBC's ``Today'' show, the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph.

Barbour said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County, which includes Gulfport and Biloxi, and the number was likely to rise.

``We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to,'' the governor said. ``I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5242924,00.html