Something occured to me...

[mcctatas]

I have never seen any official figures on how many people were killed during Hurricane Katrina. Of course I could have missed it, so info would be appreciated:), or maybe since they haven't made much of a dent in the clean up yet, maybe there is no official tally. It's been bugging me alot lately, not knowing, it seems like everyone should know...

[uppityperson]

1. I think around 1,836, but, with qualifiers

according to wikipedia which of course is never wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
As of May 19, 2006, the confirmed death toll (total of direct and indirect deaths) stood at 1,836, mainly from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (238).<24><25> However, 705 people remain categorized as missing in Louisiana, <26> and many of the deaths are indirect, but it is almost impossible to determine the exact cause of some of the fatalities.

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There are still many missing, and sometimes deaths can be atributed not directly to Katrina and immediate aftermath, but still Katrina was responsible for (after a time, but from health issues or social issues associated). wiki link above has a bunch of links to other articles, a place to start.

[mcctatas]

2. Thank You!

I wrote a paper about it last year, and the numbers I found then were less than 1,000...
makes me so angry!

[uppityperson]

3. 2 newspapers from gulf coast with good coverage.

http://www.nola.com/
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/

http://www.nola.com/photos/index.ssf?/photos/content/graphics.ssf
http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/

[vickitulsa]

4. Today I heard a Weather Channel regular list the total as 1,800, but

I have always believed we will never know the true total. Not only do the ones in this administration have plenty of reasons to cover up all the deaths they can (mostly by hiding them in other stats), but surely it is literally impossible to count the losses in objective terms.

Considering that the Big Heat Wave of 1995 in Chicago killed around 800-900, that would mean that Katrina would have cost "only" double that number according to official figures.

I'll never believe the official figures on Katrina deaths -- unless (perhaps if) a Democratic administration in the White House after 2008, or a Congressional committee at some point led by Dems, investigates how the final tally was determined and eventually issues a "recount" of fatalities.

However, because it will always be an "estimated" number in the end no matter who determines it, it's not likely that any number will stick in the public's mind for good. At least not any time soon.

Like you, I've been concerned about this ever since the storm hit, and I've never been satisfied with the answers this administration has provided.