Gulf Coast Death Toll Update

So sad. From the Times Picayune:

Body count jumps in hard-hit areas
Flooding likely caught many by surprise
70-year-old man rescued from home

Tentative optimism that New Orleans' death toll from Hurricane Katrina might be far lower than first projected gave way to somber reality over 36 hours as search and rescue squads turned up bodies by the dozen in the hardest hit areas of the city.

By midafternoon Friday, the black triangles used to designate human remains were multiplying on an emergency command center map. Federal Emergency Management Agency rescue squad liaison Charles Hood said a spike in discoveries Friday started to take an emotional toll on rescue workers.

"Our squad members are getting access to trauma and grief counselors," Hood said. "It's becoming a very difficult task."

The state is in charge of releasing Katrina's official death total, which stood at 579 Friday night. Hood said the periodic reports from his seven 80-person squads indicate the casualty count is going to jump in the coming days, but declined to speculate on what the number would reach. One squad alone located and marked more than a dozen houses containing bodies Friday.

"Parts of the city have become a target-rich environment for human remains," Hood said. "We're just now getting into the areas that experienced the most rapid inundation."

Large chunks of the city, including parts of Gentilly, the Desire-Florida area and Upper 9th Ward, have revealed telltale signs that the two breaches of the London Avenue Canal led to a rapid rush of floodwaters that caught scores of residents off guard. The surprise factor was only worsened by the fact that the fast-rising water, more than 12 feet in spots, came well after the storm had passed.

"Those are areas where the people were probably asleep when the water rushed in," Hood said.

2,000 kids still separated from parents

In Louisiana, 2,560 children have been reported missing by parents or have reported themselves missing, and 691 of those have been reunited with family as of Friday at noon, according to Oname Thompson, communications coordinator of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In Mississippi, 217 children were reported missing and 66 were recovered. In Alabama, 35 children were reported missing and three reunited.

The center is also keeping tracks of adults reported missing: 7,565 since Katrina; 1,016 of those reported missing have been found.