Louisiana nursing home case puts Katrina response on trial

[snopes]

When Sal and Mabel Mangano were arrested after 35 people drowned in their nursing home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became vivid symbols of the inept preparation and response to the disaster. St. Rita's Nursing Home was a signature scene of the horror that followed Katrina, and the Manganos' decision not to evacuate the home as floodwaters rose in the New Orleans area outraged residents there.

Now, with the Manganos' criminal trial scheduled to begin, the case has grown from a narrowly drawn inquiry about negligent homicide into a melodrama writ large about virtually everyone who had a hand in botching the official response to Katrina.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-1Acover_N.htm

[snopes]

In the trial of two nursing home owners accused of letting 35 patients die in Hurricane Katrina, a flood-control official testified that though people had been warned about flooding, the ultimate devastation was "unimaginable in my mind."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US