I didn’t check the validity of this, but nothing looks absurd - please don’t flood the phone number with calls.

Press Releases

Date: 9/8/2005

Contact: Denise Bottcher or Roderick Hawkins at 225-342-9037

Task Force Pelican Status Report, Thursday, September 8, 2005

AMERICAN RED CROSS

- ARC is managing 216 shelters in Louisiana with a population of
approximately 55,537 displaced citizens

- To date, ARC has served more than 1 million meals and 3 million
snacks
o Of which, 201, 285 meals were served in the last 24 hours

- More than 18,000 trained Red Cross workers have left their homes to
join thousands of local volunteers and assist in Katrina recovery efforts

- ARC is also coordinating a Family Registry Link to assist individuals
in locating their friends and family
o Additional information available online at www.redcross.org
o Or call: 1-877-LOVED-1S (1-877-568-3317)
o More than 94,000 individuals have already registered

Department of Health and Hospitals

- The official number of fatalities remains at 83
o This number will be updated as often as possible when deaths are
determined to be storm-related

- Several major pharmacy chains will be establishing mobile free
pharmacies or free pharmacy services for shelter sites
o The state has identified 16 sites in need of these services and at
this time 15 of
these sites have been adopted and one is scheduled to have a mobile
pharmacy
on site

- 19 new West Nile cases were announced yesterday
o The new West Nile cases are from Bossier (1), Caddo (6), Iberia (2),
Jefferson (1), Livingston (4), Orleans (1), Ouachita (2) and Webster (2)
parishes.
o No new deaths as a result of West Nile virus have occurred

Department of Transportation & Development

- DOTD continues assisting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on pumping
water from neighborhoods into Lake Pontchartrain

o Pumping Station #6 has two 1,000 cubic-feet-per-second pumps
operating three 250 cubic-feet-per-second pumps operating and two 24-inch
portable pumps and one 30-inch portable pump operating near the repaired
breach at the 17th St. Canal

o The Mound station pump is operating at limited capacity

o As of Wednesday, all pumps in the metropolitan area were pumping
8,041 cubic feet, or about 60,000 gallons, of water per second

- La. 23 in Plaquemines Parish is flooded from Port Sulpher to the
mouth of the Mississippi River

- DOTD is now operating the ferry at Algiers Point to Chalmette to
transport military emergency and supply vehicles
o Regular ferry operations resumed in Plaquemine & New Roads this
morning

- DOTD is replacing traffic signals and signs throughout the effected
region

- DOTD continues to make bridge and road inspections throughout the
region

- DOTD has hired a contractor to fix damaged bearings on the Rigolets
Bridge in St. Tammany Parish

- The control house for the Belle Chasse bridge (La. 23) caught fire on
Wednesday

- The bridge will remain in the down position, closed to marine traffic
that is too tall to pass beneath the bridge, until a contractor can be
secured to repair fire damage

Department of Social Services

- Displaced Citizens
o There are currently 54,622 displaced citizens in 201 Louisiana
shelters
o Another 704 citizens are housed in six special needs shelters
o About 78,923 Louisiana citizens are housed in 92 shelters in Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Utah and West
Virginia

- From 7 a.m., Sept. 2 thru 8 p.m., Sept. 6, DSS has processed 108,000
Disaster Food Stamp Benefits
o Applications will be accepted thru Sept. 9, 2005

- Foster Parenting/ Adoption
o The Office of Community Services is compiling a list of the many
calls received by individuals who wish to be a foster parent to those who
children who have lost parent
o DSS intends to work with Louisiana’s sister states should we have a
greater need for foster homes than we have resources
o Out of state offers should contact their local child welfare agency
for information on foster parenting or adoption.
o For information about foster parenting or adoption in Louisiana,
individuals should contact the Regional OCS office nearest them for training
and certification

- In order to ensure that there is a central source of shelter
locations, DSS is requesting all shelter operators (other than those who are
caring for individuals in their homes) to contact their Offices of Emergency
Preparedness if they haven’t already done so.

Department of Education

- Superintendents of the hardest hit school districts now have a better
idea of when they might reopen:

o St. Tammany Parish, to open October 3rd

o City of Bogalusa, to open October 3rd

o St. Bernard will not reopen this year

o Orleans is working to decide when or if they can open

o St. Charles Parish school personnel to report back Sept 12th

o Plaquemines Parish, no date for reopening

o Jefferson Parish, will likely reopen January 19th, maybe sooner

Department of Environmental Quality

- DEQ is conducting impact sampling of water
o Along the shore of the lake
o Along the north shore where the rivers come in
o At three points on the causeway
o At the site where the water is entering the lake

- Lake Ponchatrain is affected by tides and the water circulates
counterclockwise
o Most of the water that is discharged will be assimilated before it
reaches the Gulf
o The speed of the water entering the lake is a big factor in
assimilation
o There are booms in place at the areas where the water is going into
the lake
o More booms will be positioned

- DEQ is attempting to get representative samples but access has to be
taken into account

- DEQ has developed a comprehensive sampling plan for water - based on
historical data to compare

- The most current number on tonnage of waste is 22 million tons

- Of the 25 major waste water treatment systems in the affected area,
14 are up and running

Department of Labor

- More than 72,000 Katrina-related Unemployment Insurance claims have
been filed
o Taken in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Georgia

o California Labor Department partners with state to begin collecting
unemployment claims for Louisiana

- Labor Department asks that injured workers who were receiving
workers’ compensation benefits before Hurricane Katrina to call the Workers’
Compensation office immediately to update their contact information
o The toll-free number is 1-866-783-5567

Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries

- LDWF search and rescue operations winding down in Greater New Orleans
area
o DWF has rescued APPROXIMATELY 21,000 people
o Includes hospital evacuations, individuals, and small group rescues*
o **Numbers have leveled off - less than 50 rescues Wednesday

Areas worked Wednesday: Lower Ninth Ward, mid and central inner city, and
some parts of New Orleans east.

Search crews re-sweeping areas to ensure that all who want to leave have
boat transport access.

Presence: 20 LDWF flatboats and airboats (plus staff) to remain in rescue
area to support local police and emergency rescue efforts

- Habitat assessment - next phase of LDWF hurricane recovery effort set to
begin
o LDWF biologists will soon begin assessment of fish and wildlife
habitat to determine storm damage

o Fisheries Division staff will focus on hurricane damage to coastal
and inland waterways and the marine and inland fish species affected

o Wildlife Division staff damage will survey 12 wildlife management
areas and refuges affected by the storm to assess effects on waterfowl and
other marsh and wetland species

- LDWF staff affected by storm
o 90 LDWF employees have been displaced from homes and / or job
locations
o The agency is working to relocate all near new work assignments

Department of Corrections

- US Marshals Service will transport approximately 460 inmates by
airplane to federal facility in Florida Thursday
o Another 460 inmates will make the trip Friday
o BOP will provide housing without expense to the state of Louisiana
- This is the first move of state inmates out of Louisiana
o This move will greatly relieve population situation

- 239 St. John Parish inmates who were evacuated prior to Hurricane
Katrina’s landfall will return to St. John on Thursday

- As of 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, the Greyhound Detention Center was holding
53 males and 1 female

- There were no inmate transfers from Greyhound to Elayn Hunt
Correctional Center on Wednesday, nor LCIW
o DOC anticipates transfers on Thursday

- Probation and Parole agents continue to provide security for the New
Orleans Fire
Department Command Center
o 20 agents are assigned rotating shifts

- Electricity has been restored to Washington Correctional Center in
Angie, LA
o Normal operations have resumed and WCI is now a supplies distribution
point for Washington Parish residents

- DOC facilities are allowing evacuated inmates to place a call to
loved ones to let
them know of the inmate’s new location

- Federal authorities are still in the process of identifying federal
inmates for
transfer out of state

-30-

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