Bad drinking water, spoiled foods and carbon monoxide poisoning are among the biggest concerns for public health officials who are still trying to determine the scope of Katrina's devastation.

"This is a very large storm, very broad, highly intense," said Tom Sinks, an epidemiologist with the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Our general focus is to get an accurate assessment of the needs and prioritize those."

On the face of it, there's no more chaos than usual at the Chicago Board of Trade. But behind the erratic, yet controlled hand signals and catcalls, there is one underlying concern -- that the highway, that is the Mississippi River, may not be ready for the Midwest corn, wheat and soybean harvest next month.

"About 60 percent of U.S. grain exports go out of the Gulf," said David Lehman at the Chicago Board of Trade.

But right now, that Port of New Orleans is closed, wrapped up in the mess caused by Katrina. No barge is coming through and unless the route is fixed soon, suppliers will have to find another way to get their crops out through the delta and out into the world.

"It's downtown Baghdad," said tourist Denise Bollinger, who snapped pictures of looting in the French Quarter. "It's insane."

"It's like being in a Third World country," said Mitch Handrich

One looter shot and wounded a fellow looter, who was taken to a hospital and survived.

Here's an early review from S&P on how the storm may affect the credit ratings of various sectors, from utilities to state and local governments


After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, what can investors expect? Standard & Poor's Ratings Services is closely monitoring the effects of the megastorm on the economy and on credit ratings for industrial, energy and utility, financial services, insurance, and public-finance issuers.

"There are concerns about the well supply, sanitation, safety of the drinking water and food supply and waste disposal," says Patrick Libbey, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials in Washington.

Infections and heat-related illnesses
People are also vulnerable to heat-related illnesses and dehydration, conditions which can be compounded by the lack of clean drinking water.

Immediate infections that could result from exposure to filthy floodwaters include gastrointestinal illnesses, diarrhea, salmonella, hepatitis viruses and skin infections from infected wounds.