Marines rescue stranded hurricane victims

[USMCRET6391]

By Christian Lowe and Christopher Munsey
Times staff writer

Marines rescued more than 100 people stranded by the destruction of Hurricane Katrina Monday after tides and high winds pummeled cities along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Leathernecks with the Reserve’s reinforced 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, based in Gulfport, Miss., navigated the debris-filled streets of Biloxi late Aug. 29, plucking dazed citizens from their battered homes.

About 130 people were rescued by the Marines, who drove two AAV7 Amphibious Assault Vehicles through the destruction.

The amtrackers took the flood victims “to a designated drop-off point where they were returned to safety by civilian authorities,” according to a news release from Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport. One amtrac in the operation rescued 100 people, making four trips with 25 victims crammed into the crew compartment, a Navy spokeswoman said.

Navy Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 1, 7 and 133 — based in Gulfport — are clearing a 10-mile-long stretch of road to the nearby town of Pass Christian so civilian authorities could rescue stranded citizens there, the spokeswoman said.

The Marine amtrackers headed to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport today for rescue operations there, but no further details were available.

Katrina pummeled the Gulf coast after it made landfall Monday, unleashing 145-mph winds and pushing a rain-fueled storm surge that broke through a levee protecting low-lying New Orleans. The break put 80 percent the historic city under as much as 20 feet of water, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people who had did not heed warnings to leave the city during the weekend.

Officials along the Gulf coast of Mississippi reported as many as 80 people killed by the storm in one county, a death toll that officials throughout the region say will likely rise.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[SpongeJuan]

I knew some Marines would go rescue victims.

[AmericanGirl]

God Bless those Marines and all the rescue workers who are doing what needs to be done during this unfathomable crisis.

[Grimmy]

There's a bad chance that there's a real harsh body count on the horizon. The speculation is that since the power went out before the levies broke, most folk had no idea a flood was comming until it hit them. There's the potential for maybe 1000's of folk, including entire families, that were occupying single level dwellings may have sought refuge in thier attics as the water started comming. Many single story dwellings became completely submerged. Many may have been trapped and drowned in thier attics.

[ASUMarine]

FYI I am in Bulk Fuel Co. C. We are a reserve unit based in Phoenix, AZ. We are part of the 6th Engineering Suport Battalion and The 4th Force Service Support Group. For those of you how don't kow the 4th FSSG has its headquarters in New Orleans. Also I learned today that my unit and other units in the 6th ESB are looking for volunteers to go active duty in New Orleans for a period of 30 to 90 days. I did volunteer but thats not why Im posting this. This is all "semi-official" scuttletbutt however it may be true. I haven't learned any details but I will let everyone know when I learn them. But there are most likely more Marines going to the Big Easy.