New Orleans Begins Grisly Cleanup
No one knows how many people were killed by Hurricane Katrina and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating in the ruined city, crumpled in wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:
"We need to prepare the country for what's coming, ... It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine."
In addition to civilian deaths, New Orleans emergency service agencies have had to deal with some suicides among their ranks, Mayor Ray Nagin said.
"I've got some firefighters and police officers that have been pretty much traumatized," he said. "And we've already had a couple of suicides... They need physical and psychological evaluations."