Hospitals Face Struggles in Katrina Storm Area

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- About 300 people were stranded on the roof of a two-story hospital in Chalmette. A nursing home official spoke of stepping outside and hearing gunfire all around him. Fourteen major hospitals in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina were trying to operate without power or fresh water. Some had generators working. Some didn't.

Officials were trying Wednesday to evacuate 10,000 people -- patients, staff and refugees -- out of nine hospitals that either were completely without power, using generators running low on fuel or battling floodwaters, according to Coletta Barrett, with the Louisiana Hospital Association.

Three-hundred people were stranded on the roof of a hospital in Chalmette awaiting evacuation, and Barrett said officials haven't been able to communicate with another hospital in that St. Bernard Parish city.