Reply #42: 'First Go for Life,' Workers Are Told

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/national/31rescue.html?hp&ex=1125460800&en=7d0e639ca67c99ba&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: August 31, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 30 - "If we come across a body floating?" Sgt. Chris Fisher of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office asked.

"Let it go," Maj. Bobby Woods replied, as Sergeant Fisher and other rescue workers prepared for the day's mission. "Let's first go for life."

With hundreds of New Orleans residents stranded on upper floors and roofs by rising floodwater from Hurricane Katrina, rescue teams from across the country mobilized in the gulf area on Tuesday in the largest relief effort since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

They sailed the seas over Interstate 10 and other submerged arteries, plucking people to safety with an arsenal of lifesaving equipment.

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