Friday, September 2, 2005

Evacuees leave horrors of Superdome behind

Once-secure haven became cesspool of filth after the power failed and toilets overflowed.

Detroit News wire services

James Nielsen / Associated Press A soldier carries a baby as the Superdome is evacuated. Heavily armed police officers and Guardsmen stood watch. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

NEW ORLEANS -- A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered the restroom. Blood stains the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers.

The Superdome, once a mighty testament to architecture and ingenuity, became the biggest storm shelter in New Orleans the day before Katrina's arrival Monday. By Wednesday, when officials started busing the first of about 25,000 refugees to Houston to be housed in the Astrodome, the Louisiana Superdome had degenerated into unspeakable horror.

"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. Another mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.

The hurricane left most of southern Louisiana without power, and the arena, which is in the central business district of New Orleans, was not spared. The air-conditioning failed immediately, and a swampy heat filled the dome.

There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming. The city's water supply, which had held up since Sunday, gave out early Wednesday, and toilets in the Dome began to overflow.

During Thursday's evacuation, heavily armed police officers and Guardsmen stood watch and handed out water as tense and exhausted crowds struggled onto buses that would deliver them from the miserable conditions of the Superdome.

The first group of buses arrived hours late, and an angry group of residents broke through a line of National Guardsmen before they were stopped by heavily armed state police officers. But the mood lightened later in the day as things began moving more smoothly.

"I would rather have been in jail," Janice Jones said in obvious relief at being out of the Dome. "I've been in there seven days, and I haven't had a bath. They treated us like animals. Everybody is scared."

The Astrodome's new residents will be issued passes that will let them leave and return as they please, something that wasn't permitted in New Orleans. Organizers also plan to find ways to help the refugees contact relatives.

Besides the refugees being brought to Houston, Texas officials said another 25,000 would be taken to San Antonio and other locations.