Disasters

Minnesotans are mobilizing aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Dan Hoffman has been assisting refugees since shortly after the hurricane hit Louisiana last week. He works at the St. Paul Red Cross, but has been helping in Baton Rouge. He spoke with MPR's Perry Finelli. He says the work is grueling.
New Orleans is turning much of its attention Sunday to gathering up and counting the dead across a ghastly landscape awash in perhaps thousands of corpses. "It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine," the nation's homeland security chief warned.
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath is in the thousands, the first time a federal official has acknowledged what many had feared.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Saturday that Minnesota has told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the state will make room for 5,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina. But some of the state's residents aren't waiting for them to arrive.
Thousands more bedraggled refugees were bused to salvation Saturday, leaving the city of New Orleans to the dead and dying, the elderly and frail stranded too many days without food, water or medical care.
A listing of bloggers providing services during the Hurricane Katrina disaster on America's Gulf Coast.
A calendar listing of events to raise money and supplies in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
A walk through New Orleans is a walk through hell - punctuated, it must be said, by moments of grace.