Officials still expect the death toll in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana
to rise above its current 300, but they doubt it will reach earlier estimates of
as many as 10,000 in New Orleans alone.
City Police Chief Eddie Compass says things are getting better on a force
where some officers deserted their posts during the flooding,
hampering efforts
to stop looting and violence. He says there have now been 200 arrests since the
storm and the city is once again under control. "We've seen a change. We are
getting a lot of supplies in. We are getting a lot of support in. We are getting
our logistics up. We are getting buildings erected. There is a process of
getting some kind of permanent housing for my officers. So I am very encouraged
by what I am seeing," he said.
Public opinion polls show plenty of blame to go around for what went wrong in
the first efforts to respond to the storm. One poll says state and local
officials are more to blame than President Bush for the slow response.
