據估計，颶風卡崔娜已造成高達數百人喪生，而在橫跨路易斯安那州、密西西比州和阿拉巴馬州等淹水地區及倒塌建築中，搜救人員更是擔心死傷數據向上累計。單單是受重創的哈里森郡，密西西比州州長鮑伯（Haley Barbour）就估計有80人喪生。可謂屋漏偏逢連夜雨，兩座堤防不抵大水湧進，紐奧良市成了水鄉澤國，加上停電，警察也疲於制止暴民的蠻橫掠劫。
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina is now estimated at more than 100, and search and rescue officials fear it could rise higher as more people are found in flooded areas and collapsed buildings across Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour placed the death toll at 80 in hard-hit Harrison County alone. New Orleans officials were just breathing a sigh of relief late Monday, thinking they had escaped the worst of Katrina, which shifted eastwards into Mississippi, when two levees that were built to protect the city broke under the weight of accumulated storm water. There is no electricity, roads and bridges are washed out and police are busy trying to stem a rash of looting.
