Katrina: “I Can Smell…The Dead Bodies”

CNN’s Jeff Koinange reported from Canal Street in New Orleans on Late Edition:

“It is filthy. It is dirty. There is garbage everywhere. It’s probably mixed with sewage at some point. This is a recipe for every water-borne disease you can think of. This is what will make people sick. The authorities were smart in getting people out of here. They don’t want people to get sick from this. This water, I cannot tell you how dirty and filthy and smelly it is and there’s mounds of garbage everywhere, so when you combine the water with the garbage and this baking sun, this is not good at all.

…I haven’t seen bodies but I can smell the putrid smell of dead bodies. I know that from everywhere. From the convention center to this morning when you were walking about you can smell the dead bodies. You know they are there. We’ve ask several authorities why aren’t they taking care of body bags and getting them out of here to avoid disease. They said the priority is the living and that’s what they want to take care of first.”