Katrina devastates all but leaves many of the poor in free fall

[Moloch]

NEW ORLEANS - Before Hurricane Katrina, Ruby Martin lived paycheck to paycheck, raising two daughters and two grandchildren as a $19,000-a-year nursing assistant.

Now, like thousands of other Gulf Coast residents who were already teetering on poverty's edge, the 39-year-old grandmother faces far more dire hardships.

"I think I have 30 cents to my name," said Martin, as she sat by the side of the only road leading out of New Orleans and her grandkids bounced on an abandoned air mattress. "We don't have nothing. And we don't have nowhere to go."

Many of Katrina's victims share her despair. In New Orleans, 125,000 people lived below the poverty line before Katrina. Mississippi is one of the nation's poorest states. Katrina's 145-mph winds devastated rich and poor alike, but left many of the poor in free fall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/_wea_katrina_poor

[Erika]

1. Yes, the poor were devestated.

The rich were inconvenienced.

[roseBudd]

2. it's yahoo, vote it up, we must not let them blame the victims