US orders shoot-to-kill as armed gangs hit streets

Hospitals lacking drugs and power were in a desperate fight to save critically ill patients and thousands of people who lost relatives and all they own in raging floodwaters sat on sidewalks waiting for long-delayed help.

Hit by mounting criticism that his administration was too slow to respond, US President George W. Bush conceded the rescue efforts were “not acceptable” and promised to fix them. “We’ll deploy the assets necessary to get the situation under control,” Bush said as he left Washington to tour the region.

In another positive sign, commercial aircraft flew in and out of New Orleans International Airport at an improved rate of four an hour to drop off supplies and evacuate displaced residents, many of them seriously ill.

Also, the US House of Representatives gave final passage to a $10.5 billion emergency aid bill that Bush was expected to sign later in the day. But thousands of people are feared dead and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he was furious at the lack of help his historic city had received.

“I need reinforcements. I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man,” he said in a radio interview. “Now fix this.”

Plumes of thick black smoke rose after a mighty explosion rocked an industrial area hit hard by Katrina, and an apartment complex in the centre was also in flames.

Most of the victims were poor and Black, largely because they have no cars and so were unable to flee the city before Katrina pounded the US Gulf Coast on Monday. The disaster has highlighted the racial and class divides in a city and a country where the gap between rich and poor is vast.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said 14,000 Guard troops were on the ground along the Gulf Coast and he expected 30,000 there in the coming days.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said they had shoot-to-kill orders. “These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded.” But Nagin questioned why they had not come sooner. “People are dying, people have lost their homes, people have lost their jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same.”

—Reuters

Fats Domino safe after boat rescue from floodwaters

LOS ANGELES: Rock ’n’ Roll pioneer Fats Domino, who went missing in Katrina’s aftermath , was rescued by boat from floodwaters near his New Orleans home and is ‘‘stressed out’’ but safe, his agent, Paul Embry, said on Friday. Domino (77), beloved for his boogie-woogie piano style and such hits as Ain’t That a Shame and Blueberry Hill, ended up as one of thousands of New Orleans residents stranded by flooding. The rotund musician, his wife, Rosemary, and at least one daughter were picked up by rescue boat on Tuesday. REUTERS