...depicts people debarking from small boats onto rooftops with axes to explore the interiors of houses whose roofs are the only things visible above the water, hoping to find survivors. Heaven only knows what grisly sights greet them in the interiors of those homes.

The police report that they are hanging on by their fingernails until daylight. They are getting maybe 2 hours of sleep, the city is without light, and some of the looters are armed. At least one police officer has been critically wounded by a looter.

I have some sympathy for people who are taking food, diapers and first aid supplies. Although the likelihood is small that the merchants will be reimbursed, many of the stores have no employees to make sales, and those items are needed. (I have known people who have taken items in an emergency and carefully kept track to reimburse later.) It's the creeps with the TVs and the computers that make me truly angry. As the mayor has said, where do they expect to go with these things?

The Red Cross here has a bulletin out for spontaneous volunteers to assist in the relief efforts. People interested must be at least 21 years old and have a health certificate from a doctor. They must go to a two-day training and be prepared to stay at least three weeks. The Red Cross will pay for their transportation, food and housing. What a sign of desperation. What a lot of work must be going undone for an organization whose chief need is always money rather than people to be asking for people.

Property damage has been awful, but the worst is coming: disease. Raw sewage is in the streets, people are thirsty, and there is no reliable supply of drinking water.