More Local News From The Gulf Coast

Another roundup for international Mercy Ships crew. These items are from multiple sources, primarily NBC and CBS, current as of 2 PM CDT Wednesday. Overall, five million people were without power Monday night, and an estimated forty thousand were in shelters. Thousands more are still in need of rescue.

In New Orleans:

• Two levees failed on Tuesday morning after the storm had already passed, allowing water to enter the city. The water level is finally stable, but 80% of the city is now underwater. The mayor says "hundreds, maybe thousands" may be dead.
• U.S. Army and Coast Guard helicopters are lifting stranded residents from rooftops. Thousands, including many small children, are collecting on highway overpasses and stranded on other high ground, with no drinking water, food, shelter, or medical care available yet anywhere.
  
• Looting began on Monday night, with police and military personnel in some areas outnumbered and struggling to keep order.
  
• Refugees in the Superdome, where as many as 25,000 are now housed, are surrounded by waist-deep water and will have to be evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston over the next several days.
  
• Inmates from at least one local prison were released as a last resort to keep them from drowning.
• The floodwaters are becoming more and more contaminated with massive amounts of sewage, toxic chemicals, and dead bodies (some new and some from the cemeteries). Disease outbreaks are feared over the next few weeks.
  
• The city is now being completely evacuated and is under martial law. Officials say it could be fourteen to sixteen weeks before anyone can return to rebuild.

In Gulfport and Biloxi:

• Buildings at the Gulfport port facility are gone, with only the water tower remaining. The Marine Life aquarium next door is totally destroyed.
  
• Up to a half-mile inland from the beach, almost everything - everything - has been totally destroyed.
  
• Floating casinos have either sunk into the water or been lifted up and thrown across Highway 90 to land on top of houses. One was seen to have flattened a Holiday Inn.
  
• The Highway 90 bridge to Ocean Springs is totally destroyed.
• Rescuers in boats are having to avoid floating bodies in order to rescue living residents still stranded. Houses with dead bodies are simply being spray-painted with a red X for eventual recovery.
  

In Mobile:

• A storm surge of 11 feet was recorded downtown. Most of the downtown was under several feet of water, which has been slowly receding today.
• A drydocked oil rig broke loose and smashed into the bridge at the peak of the storm. The bridge has been partially reopened for traffic, with the extent of the damage unclear.
  
• Isolated looting took place in Prichard.
• In Chickasaw, water still covered the road out to the Caribbean Mercy's dock this morning, with no power and therefore no pumps to remove the water for at least three more days. The caretaker crew has now driven from Georgia to the IOC to wait it out.
• According to the Caribbean Mercy's GPS position-signaling equipment, the ship is at least still in the same general area it should be, says caretaker crewmember Tom, but its condition remains unknown.