Hurricane Katrina: Death Toll

The death toll of victims killed either while Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, or during the aftermath is yet to be determined, although estimates were predicted before the storm had even made landfall.

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Articles & Commentary

August 2005

• Joseph B. Treaster and Maria Newman, "Rescuers Search for Survivors as Higher Death Tolls Are Feared," New York Times, August 30, 2005.
• Jack Shafer, "Lost in the Flood. Why no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage?" Slate, August 31, 2005.

September 2005

• Robert D. McFadden and Ralph Blumenthal, "Higher Death Toll Seen; Police Ordered to Stop Looters," New York Times, September 1, 2005.
• "Thousands feared dead, New Orleans to be abandoned. UN says Katrina worst disaster ever," Associated Press and Jamaica Observer, September 1, 2005: "The United Nations went further to characterise it as one of the worst disasters internationally, outstripping even the damage caused by the December 26 Asian tsunami which killed 180,000."
• Ralph Blumenthal, Joseph B. Treaster, and Maria Newman, "Officials Struggle to Reverse a Growing Sense of Anarchy," New York Times, September 1, 2005: "Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana said that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath would be in the 'thousands,' based on reports that she was receiving from officials throughout the state, The Associated Press said."
• "Death toll in Louisiana could be above 10,000: US Senator," Agence France Presse (Yahoo! News), September 2, 2005.
• Jacqueline L. Salmon and Nick Anderson, "Toll Feared Rising but Still Unknown," Washington Post, September 3, 2005.
• Shankar Vedantam and Allison Klein, "'You Wonder Why It Didn't Kill a Million'. Officials Upbeat in View of What Might Have Been as Survivors Recount Horror of What Is," Washington Post, September 3, 2005.
• "New Orleans turns attention to its dead. La. toll at 59; officials brace nation for possibility of death toll in thousands," MSNBC, September 4, 2005.
• Mark Egan and Paul Simao, "Thousands Return to New Orleans Homes," Washington Post, September 5, 2005: "Thousands are believed dead in the catastrophic storm ..."
• Jacqueline L. Salmon and Josh White, "Toll Suspected to Soar as Body Recovery Begins. Two Temporary Morgues Set Up to Handle Thousands in What Could Be Deadliest U.S. Natural Disaster," Washington Post, September 6, 2005.
• "Lawmakers: Storm Killed 100 In Warehouse, 30 In Nursing Home. Rescuers Warned To Stay Out Of Floodwaters," WTAE-TV 4 The Pittsburgh Channel, September 7, 2005.
• Julie Cart, Edwin Chen, and Scott Gold, "Missing police feared dead," Los Angeles Times (Toronto Star), September 9, 2005.
• Adam Nossiter, "Dozens Found Dead at New Orleans Hospital," Associated Press (Yahoo! News), September 13, 2005: "The bodies of more than 40 mostly elderly patients were found in a flooded-out hospital in the biggest known cluster of corpses to be discovered so far in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans."
• "Katrina Corpses Get 'Chipped'. A company is implanting RFID tags in corpses in Mississippi to help identify the dead," Red Herring, September 16, 2005. re VeriChip Corporation.
• Mark Crispin Miller, "The fuzzy numbers of the dead," News from Underground, September 21, 2005.

November 2005

• Kevin Johnson, "6,644 are still missing after Katrina; toll may rise," USA Today, November 21, 2005; updated November 22, 2005: "... the death toll could be higher than the 1,306 recorded so far in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to two groups working with the federal government to account for victims." (emphasis added)