New Orleans Locals Think Katrina's Toll Is Still Rising
Surge in Deaths Blamed On Storm-Related Stress
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 19, 2006; A03

NEW ORLEANS -- The official death toll of Hurricane Katrina is more than 1,300. The unofficial toll of the storm may take that a lot higher.

Though not quantifiable in the orthodox fashion, because so many area health agencies are still in disarray, a belief exists among many here that the natural mortality rate of New Orleanians -- whether still in the city or relocated -- has increased dramatically since, and perhaps because of, Katrina.

The daily newspaper has seen a rise in reported deaths. Local funeral homes are burying just as many people as they did last year, though the population has decreased. Families say that their kin who had been in good health are dying, and attribute that to the stress brought on by the hurricane, flooding and relocations.

It is too early for state officials to have statistics for last year, said Bob Johannessen of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. And epidemiologists are reluctant to draw conclusions based on anecdotal information.

Still, stress here is palpable, and it is overwhelming people of all ages, said psychiatrist James Barbee, director of an anxiety clinic at Louisiana State University. "People are struggling terribly."

Barbee said he has seen many more patients with serious problems -- hypertension, diabetes out of control, suicidal tendencies -- than before the storm. "Katrina took all order away from lives," he said, and the effect can be extremely deleterious.