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Looters run riot in hurricane-hit New Orleans NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 31. — Officials watched helplessly as looters around the city ransacked stores for food, clothing, appliances and guns. Security officials said gangs of armed men were moving around the city.
“We don’t like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue,” Governor Ms Kathleen Blanco said today. She said she has asked the White House to send more people to help with evacuations and rescues, thereby freeing up National Guardsmen to stop looters.
Also today, the city’s mayor said Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans. “We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and other people dead in attics, Mr Ray Nagin said.
The frightening estimate came as Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans’ breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers. — AP
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