Pilot says devastation is worse than it appears

John Walton, a Louisiana helicopter pilot who has been helping evacuate hospital patients from New Orleans, said the hurricane devastation is even worse than it appears on television.

Walton, a pilot for Air Logistics, normally ferries workers and technical parts to oil rigs off the Louisiana coast. Since late last week, though, he has been running hurricane-relief missions.

“The impact on pipelines, the damage to infrastructure, I think it’s worse than most people think,” Walton said.

He spent Friday evacuating workers from the offshore rigs then waited for the storm to pass, he said. Late Monday, he flew a CNBC camera crew and Air Logistics executives to survey the area surrounding New Orleans.

“That was a complete disaster,” said Walton, 60. “That’s the worst hurricane damage I’ve ever seen.”

On Tuesday night, Walton and his co-pilot started evacuating patients from New Orleans Memorial Hospital to Baton Rouge. La.

“We took infants – a nurse would hold a bassinet with two or three babies in it,” he said. “People who had to have surgery, cancer patients. It was kind of like a Third World evacuation.”

During the flights, he said, a number of New Orleans residents could be seen on rooftops trying to flag down a rescue from the helicopter. But there was no way to stop, Walton said.

“You almost get immune to it because there’s nothing you can do,” he said.

Walton said he expects the worst problem in New Orleans to be disease in coming days and weeks.

“They’re going to have a huge medical problem in the next month,” he said. “It’s all one big sewer. And there’s no water supply, there’s no electric supply.”

Katrina’s effects

Louisiana
¢ Deaths: The mayor said the hurricane probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans – an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation’s deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
¢ Estimated 80 percent of New Orleans under water, up to 20 feet deep in places.
¢ Authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in the Big Easy and all but abandon the flooded-out city. Many of the evacuees – including thousands now staying in the Superdome – will be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, 350 miles away.
¢ Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people rescued by boat and air.
¢ Sections of Interstate 10, only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, destroyed.
¢ At least 713,000 customers estimated without power.
¢ BellSouth Corp., the region’s dominant local phone provider, estimated that about 750,000 lines may be out of service in the most heavily damaged areas.

Mississippi
¢ Deaths: At least 110.
¢ More than 236,000 customers without power.
¢ Hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums obliterated.
¢ Casinos built on barges along the coast damaged or destroyed, some floated across beach onto land. Dozen casinos employed about 14,000 people, generated $2.7 billion in annual revenue.
¢ More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen activated.
¢ Major bridges damaged in three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.
¢ Looters picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses.

Alabama
¢ Deaths: Two.
¢ About 325,000 homes and businesses without power.
¢ Flooding reached 11 feet in Mobile, matching record set in 1917, according to National Weather Service. Water up to roofs of cars in downtown Mobile and bayou communities. Piers ransacked and grand homes flooded along Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.
¢ Major bridge over the Mobile River partially reopened; it was struck by oil drilling platform that floated away from a shipyard.

Florida
¢ Deaths: 11.
¢ About 80,700 customers without power.