Katrina's victims ask for huge checks

[almaty 19]

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

A whopping $3,014,170,389,176,410 is the dollar figure so far sought from some of the largest claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Of roughly 489,000 total claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.

"That's the mother of all high numbers," said Loren Scott, a Baton Rouge-based economist.

For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn.

Some residents may have grossly exaggerated their claims to send a message to the corps, which has accepted blame for poorly designing the failed levees.

"I understand the anger," Scott said. "I also understand it's a negotiating tactic: Aim high and negotiate down."

Daniel Becnel, Jr., a lawyer who said his clients have filed more than 60,000 claims, said measuring Katrina's devastation in dollars and cents is a nearly impossible task.

"There's no way on earth you can figure it out," he said. "The trauma these people have undergone is unlike anything that has occurred in the history of our country."

The corps released zip codes, but no names, for the 247 claims of at least $1 billion. The list includes a $77 billion claim by the city of New Orleans. Fourteen involve a wrongful death claim. Fifteen were filed by businesses, including several insurance companies.

Little is known about the person who claimed $3 quadrillion. It was filed in Baker, 93 miles northwest of New Orleans. Baker is far from the epicenter of Katrina's destruction, but the city has a trailer park where hundreds of evacuees have lived since the storm.

Katrina, which is blamed for more than 1,600 deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, is considered the most destructive storm to ever hit the U.S. It caused at least $60 billion in insured losses and could cost Gulf Coast states up to $125 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Most of the claims were filed before a deadline that coincided with Katrina's second anniversary, but the Corps is still receiving them — about 100 claims have arrived over the past three weeks — and is feeding them into a computer database.

The Corps said it isn't passing judgment on the merits of each claim. Federal courts are in charge of deciding if a claim is valid and how much compensation is warranted.

"It's important to the person who filed it, so we're taking every single claim seriously," Corps spokeswoman Amanda Jones said.

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

The guy asking for $3 quadrillion is from a town not too far north of here. Seriously, north of Baton Rouge. I'm sorry, most of the people that died did so because they ignored evacuation orders. Therefore, they were responsible for their own demise, not the levees.

[Ban Hammer 13,633]

The guy asking for $3 quadrillion is from a town not too far north of here. Seriously, north of Baton Rouge. I'm sorry, most of the people that died did so because they ignored evacuation orders. Therefore, they were responsible for their own demise, not the levees.

it sure don't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's time to get outta dodge when a hurricane is coming.

[almaty 19]

i think..there was tons of$$$ wasted by the gov't in the Katrina disaster...pissed away....and i hope, this is not another chapter in it

[Alex+R 0]

The guy asking for $3 quadrillion is from a town not too far north of here. Seriously, north of Baton Rouge. I'm sorry, most of the people that died did so because they ignored evacuation orders. Therefore, they were responsible for their own demise, not the levees.

The fact that some people didn't leave doesn't change the fact that the government didn't protect them in the first place. Some of the people who died were in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

The guy asking for $3 quadrillion is from a town not too far north of here. Seriously, north of Baton Rouge. I'm sorry, most of the people that died did so because they ignored evacuation orders. Therefore, they were responsible for their own demise, not the levees.

The fact that some people didn't leave doesn't change the fact that the government didn't protect them in the first place. Some of the people who died were in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

Some of them WERE, but he vast majority WERE NOT. It's that simple. The people in the nursing home were supposed to be taken care of, but the owners of the nursing home made the decision to keep everyone there and not get them out. The people in the hospitals were almost exclusively terminal cases.

And seriously, these people have heard their entire lives that this was bound to happen, but they chose not to heed that warning. The only person ultimately responsible for your well-being is you.

[Alex+R 0]

The guy asking for $3 quadrillion is from a town not too far north of here. Seriously, north of Baton Rouge. I'm sorry, most of the people that died did so because they ignored evacuation orders. Therefore, they were responsible for their own demise, not the levees.

The fact that some people didn't leave doesn't change the fact that the government didn't protect them in the first place. Some of the people who died were in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

Some of them WERE, but he vast majority WERE NOT. It's that simple. The people in the nursing home were supposed to be taken care of, but the owners of the nursing home made the decision to keep everyone there and not get them out. The people in the hospitals were almost exclusively terminal cases.

And seriously, these people have heard their entire lives that this was bound to happen, but they chose not to heed that warning. The only person ultimately responsible for your well-being is you.

Why do we have a government at all if not to, say, repair our levees? You've got to be joking.

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

Why do we have a government at all if not to, say, repair our levees? You've got to be joking.

We have a government that tells us to get the hell out of Dodge when a hurricane is coming. Would you have preferred that they rolled tanks through the street and forced people to leave?

This is the bottom line, no one that evacuated when told to BY THE GOVERNMENT died in Katrina.

Did the levees fail? Yes. Were they expected to? Yes. There is more at work here, though. This country has greatly benefited from destroying Louisiana's wetlands, but the country will not spend the money to restore the coastline. They don't want to. That would mean changing shipping lanes to the largest refinery in the US.

Don't try to oversimplify the situation and imply ignorance on my part, because I assure you that I am well-educated on the topic.

[MissStacey 1]

I was one of the dummies that stayed for Katrina. I have to admit I was very lucky during the whole ordeal. We were in a very safe building that had survived Hurricane Betsy. My friend lived in the penthouse which was added on to the building so when it got bad we moved down one floor into the original brick building and camped out on the hallway.

The next day we walked around the city and the French Quarter- it was messy but we didn't think it was too bad- we figured in a few days it would all be up and running again. After when we heard about the levee breaking- we decided to leave for Baton Rouge. We got there safely and stayed with some friends. I was able to get a flight back to Canada within a few days.

[Ban Hammer 13,633]

Why do we have a government at all if not to, say, repair our levees? You've got to be joking.

is living below sea level and staying there when a cat 3 hurricane is coming the brightest move?

[AnewKINDofFEELIN 0]

I was one of the dummies that stayed for Katrina. I have to admit I was very lucky during the whole ordeal. We were in a very safe building that had survived Hurricane Betsy. My friend lived in the penthouse which was added on to the building so when it got bad we moved down one floor into the original brick building and camped out on the hallway.

The next day we walked around the city and the French Quarter- it was messy but we didn't think it was too bad- we figured in a few days it would all be up and running again. After when we heard about the levee breaking- we decided to leave for Baton Rouge. We got there safely and stayed with some friends. I was able to get a flight back to Canada within a few days.

I was dating a girl at the time that lived about 100 yards from the 17th Street Canal. Luckily she was on the Metairie side. We were able to get back into the city because she's a nurse. We walked down Veterans' Boulevard to the point where the water hit the road. It was so crazy to see it. I don't think I'll ever forget it. Anyway, my brother (who is in the Navy) and I volunteered to take our boat down for rescues, but were turned away. To this day, I cannot understand how they would turn us away. From what we know now, we should have just brought the boat down there and did our thing, but it's too late.