My wife, I can’t find her body, she gone.
The house just split in half. We got up the roof and the water came and just opened up, divided.
I held her hand tight as I could and she told me ‘you can’t hold me.’
She said, ‘take care of the kids and the grandkids’
My wife, I can’t find her body, she gone.

When we awoke, it was to that familiar phrase: New Orleans dodged a bullet.

COOPER: Senator, appreciate you joining us tonight. Does the federal government bear responsibility for what is happening now? Should they apologize for what is happening now?
LANDRIEU: Anderson, there will be plenty of time to discuss all of those issues, about why, and how, and what, and if. But, Anderson, as you understand, and all of the producers and directors of CNN, and the news networks, this situation is very serious and it's going to demand all of our full attention through the hours, through the nights, through the days.
Let me just say a few things. Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Alabama to our help and rescue.
We are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts. Anderson, tonight, I don't know if you've heard -- maybe you all have announced it -- but Congress is going to an unprecedented session to pass a $10 billion supplemental bill tonight to keep FEMA and the Red Cross up and operating.
COOPER: Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And when they hear politicians... thanking one another, it just… it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there's not enough facilities to take her up.
Do you get the anger that is out here?
LANDRIEU: Anderson, Anderson... I have the anger inside of me. Most of the homes in my family have been destroyed. Our homes have been destroyed…
COOPER: Well, who are you angry at?
LANDRIEU: I'm not angry at anyone.
COOPER: ..But this seems to be the time and place.
LANDRIEU: Anderson, I know. And I know where you are. And I know what you're seeing. Believe me, we know it. And we understand, and there will be a time to talk about all of that. Trust me.
Nobody's perfect, Anderson. Everybody has to stand up here... But I want to thank the president. He will be here tomorrow, we think.

I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says "they're looting." You see a white family, it says "they're looking for food." And you know it's been five days because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the teacher – the T.V. – because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation and now I'm calling my business manager to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help – with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way – and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

George Bush doesn't care about black people.
        - Kanye West, on NBC's live telethon for Katrina relief

New Orleans is sinking.
And its main buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city perilously close to disaster. So vulnerable, in fact, that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country. The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City. The New Orleans scenario may be the deadliest of all.

In the face of an approaching storm… the city’s less-than-adequate evacuation routes would probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. The toll would be shattering. The Big Easy might never recover. It’s been 36 years since Hurricane Betsy buried New Orleans 8 feet deep.

“To some extent, I think we’ve been lulled to sleep,” (said Marc Levitan, director of Louisiana State University’s hurricane center.)

How do you go about rebuilding this city?
It doesn’t make sense to me.
It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed.
And it’s a question we certainly should ask.

I thought I was gonna die. I mean, I look at it like this, now. 9-11 was bad cause it was terrorists, you know, It’s no surprise people hate the United States. It’s no big surprise. I mean, but New Orleans was worse, because it was our own government who betrayed us. They betrayed us. Like, they left us there to die.

You know what it’s like to not have water? You get a taste in your mouth that’s just, aw, it’s horrible. Your mouth all dry and you can’t even think right. You start getting delusional and hallucinating about things…. Water bottles. More water bottles. Big Kentwood gallon jugs. I’m serious. I went crazy. I mean, I would just sit down and rock and think, “is the world going to turn to hell and we all gonna burn?”

And then you hear George Bush telling the FEMA man, “you’re doing a good job,” – what do you mean by that? What do you mean by that? Because I mean, people are dying, so you telling him he’s doing a good job, what you’re saying, like, that’s good that people are dying? I never understood that and I really wish I can meet him to ask him, “what do you mean by that? ‘He’s doing a good job.’”