The wretched smell of rot and mold is so strong in some houses it burns the thro

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Mass. Guardsmen search muck for dead

By Caywood

Sunday, September 18, 2005 - Updated: 10:27 AM EST

http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=103124

NEW ORLEANS - With the sun beating mercilessly down and sweat

gushing from every pore, Massachusetts National Guardsmen yesterday

donned L.L. Bean hip waders and sloshed into the foul-smelling

contaminated muck to search the Lakeview neighborhood.

``It's like nothing I've ever seen before,'' marveled

Massachusetts Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Shane Cekovsky of

Westfield.

The water rose almost to rooftops in minutes when the levee

broke nearby, raising the grim possibility that those who didn't

evacuate before the storm might have drowned in their homes.

Yesterday for the first time the water dropped low enough for

searchers to enter the houses.

The wretched smell of rot and mold is so strong in some houses

it burns the throat and eyes. Black mold spores freckles walls and

ceilings and the furniture left heaped in a jumble by the receding

floodwaters.

Robin Rafferty drove from Nashville yesterday to survey the

damage and save what she could. Her two-story stucco house fared

better than most in this part of the city. It can probably be saved.

But standing in her sodden kitchen, she wondered whether the

city is salvagable. Where would her kids go to school even if she

could move back? The neighborhood school will have to be bulldozed.

``It's just so bad here. I don't know,'' she said, her eyes

filling with tears. ``I love this place. It's a very special place,

but this is going to take a long time.''

By day, the Massachusetts military policemen accompany the FEMA

rescue teams to keep looters and packs of desperate dogs at bay. The

troops patrol the streets by Humvee at night to enforce an order

that all residents allowed in to check out their homes must leave by

6 p.m.

On abandoned Oden Street, FEMA officials ordered searchers to

kick in doors to gain entry if necessary. When security bars

prevented that, the men busted out windows and took a sniff. The

sickly sweet smell of death likely would be noteicable in the

tropical heat, even over the stench of mold and the acrid, fishy

smell of the black muck.

Missouri-based searcher Gerard Orf shattered a windowpane with his

hammer and took a long, deep whiff.

``I'm not getting anything,'' he said before slogging on to the

next house.