The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued an estimated 18,000 people in the week since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and New Orleans one week ago Monday, Coast Guard officials said. Spokesman Frank Paskewich said in broadcast remarks that 11,000 people were rescued via boat from their homes in flooded New Orleans, and another 7,000 in dramatic lifts from roofs and the top storeys of homes. The Coast Guard continues to make house-to-house searches to recover survivors and determine where dead bodies are encased in the homes, and it continues to receive information about new survivors.
