From a Financial Times article, Louisiana governor calls for evacuation of New Orleans:
“It is likely Hurricane Katrina will be the largest insured loss from a single event since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the largest US hurricane loss since Hurricane Andrew in 1992,“ Fitch Ratings said.
And number one in lives as well as treasure:
Hundreds of dead are predicted for Katrina when the priority of recovering the living ends.
Three thousand died on September 9, 2001.
And just the rumor of terrorism killed over seven hundred in Baghdad, today.
From a Yahoo! AP article, 719 Dead, 383 Hurt in Iraq Bridge Stampede :
719 Dead, 383 Hurt in Iraq Bridge Stampede By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press WriterBAGHDAD, Iraq - Trampled, crushed against barricades or plunging into the Tigris River, more than 700 Shiite pilgrims died Wednesday when a procession across a Baghdad bridge was engulfed in panic over rumors that a suicide bomber was at large.
Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. It was the single biggest confirmed loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Sabah Ali, a senior official in the Health Ministry, said 719 were killed and 383 injured.
Tensions already had risen among the Shiite marchers because of a mortar attack two hours earlier near the shrine where they were heading. Then the crowd was slowed by barriers about a quarter of the way across the Two Imams Bridge, Interior Minister Bayn Jabr said on state-run TV.
"Pushing started when a rumor was spread by a terrorist who claimed that there was a person with an explosive belt, which caused panic and the pushing started," Jabr said. "Some fell from the bridge, others fell on the barricades" and were trampled to death. […]
