Unrest Intensifies at Superdome Shelter

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/

Chaos engulfs New Orleans shelters
Desperation at Superdome, convention center; safety fears halt some work

NEW ORLEANS - This city spiraled into chaos Thursday as thousands of desperate residents begged for help and rising tension from the desperate situation led to fights, fires and fears for the safety of emergency responders.

“We are out here like pure animals. We don’t have help,” the Rev. Isaac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, complaining that he and hundreds of others were evacuated, taken to the convention hall by bus, dropped off and given nothing.

People outside the center, some holding crying babies or elderly barely able to stand up, shouted for help as TV news crews passed by.

Police told reporters to be careful. “We were told don't drink or eat in public as it could lead to a mob situation,” NBC's Michelle Hofland said. “We were told that by sundown to get out of here.”


Conditions inside and around the Superdome, such as this view Thursday morning, were said to be chaotic, with medics pleading for help to curb people with guns in the area.

Outside the Convention Center, the sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. Thousands of storm refugees had been assembling outside for days, waiting for buses that did not come.

At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry, desperate people who were tired of waiting broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.