What are the latest Katrina death toll numbers?

[EnfantTerrible]

It's macabre to even ask this, but there are some who I've spoken with that think the 100,000 plus estimates that I've heard are rediculous. Did I hear them wrong?

[liberaliraqvet26]

1. I think thats too high...

but the official count is only in Biloxi its like 140. I think Sen Vetter's 10,000 will be pretty close

[rocktivity]

2. It's way too soon to tell

for New Orleans, at least.

They'll have to count the bodies in the Superdome, the convention center, the buses, the houses, and the streets after the city is drained. Last I heard, it's 152 in Mississippi.

:headbang:
rocknation

[EnfantTerrible]

3. The 100,000 plus was

an estimate for all of the Gulf Coast, not just NO. I had heard that 250,000-300,000 people had not evacuated and they were estimating that 1/3 of those people were killed.

I surely do hope that the number I heard is 10 times, even 100 times, too large.

I just thought that maybe some official estimate had been released.

[SheilaT]

4. As best I know

only Mississippi has released any death toll numbers, and the last one there that I heard was still under 200.

It will eventually be in the thousands, but I'd hesitate to guess any better than that. I'm sure a very rough estimate can be made at this point, guessing how many stayed behind and how many of those seem to be unaccounted for. But it would be very, very rough.

One problem with trying to guess is that so many people who are alive but currently unaccounted for simply have no way of letting anyone know where they are.

It's possible many bodies will have washed out to sea. In some cases, entire family have been killed. In others, the people left their homes and will never bother to go back, but will simply relocate elsewhere. Depending on how a final count is reached, some of those who relocate may wind up in the dead column. And I would not even begin to attempt to guess how many or what percentages will be in each category.

David McCullough's first book was about the Johnstown Flood and toward the end he discusses the problems of trying to reach a final death toll. And that disaster occurred over a much smaller geographical area and a shorter period of time than has already elapsed since Katrina struck. But he talks about those who took advantage of the flood to disappear from their normal obligations, only to show up many years later somewhere else.

[Jersey Devil]

5. Jefferson Parish reported 200 yesterday preliminarily

There are a lot of parishes outside NO that have not been accounted for that may have been hit harder than NO with the hurricane itself and where essentially no aid has arrived yet so it will take time to determine how many died.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Like Iraq, one unnecessary death is too many.

I find the numbers game morbid and unbecoming.

[EnfantTerrible]

7. I agree

it is morbid and unbecoming. But I find the people I've come in contact with who feel that Bush did nothing wrong and all that could be done had been done, morbid and unbecoming.

This was not an inquiry to satisfy some ghoulish fetish... it is an attempt to educate those who have no clue just how serious this disaster is and how culpable our pResident is in the wake of this disaster.

I apologize for the crassness of the question, but how else to get answers without asking?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Understood.

[geomon666]

9. Official number so far

Is around 160 people.

[Roland99]

10. That's one thing COMPLETELY missing in this news story

9/11 we saw and heard death tolls constantly.


Ain't hearing squat now.

[EnfantTerrible]

11. It's true

I've heard very little. I suppose it's more important right now to get aide to those who need it most. There will be plenty of time for the grim speculations. I'm sorry I posted this question at all.

[Roland99]

12. Yeah...it's one of those things where if you don't want to hear the answer

ya know?