The toll in both human lives and destruction of property is hard to take in. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin believes Hurricane Katrina has killed at least hundreds but "most likely thousands" of the city's residents. If true, it would make Katrina the most deadly hurricane to hit the United States since 1900. Some 23,000 people, who were unable to leave New Orleans before the storm hit on Monday, are now being evacuated to Houston, Texas. With much of the city lying below sea level, New Orleans cannot drain on its own. Every drop of floodwater will have to pumped out of the Big Easy. Editorials in Germany's major newspapers considered what could be done to protect the city and its unique Creole culture from another natural disaster in the future.

Some commentators try to link US President Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol to extreme weather conditions such as flooding, draught and violent storms like Katrina. But Germany's highbrow weekly Die Zeit writes even if there might be some connection between global warming and the changing of the world's weather, Hurricane Katrina can not be blamed on people. Still, the paper argues gaps in our scientific knowledge about climate change should in no way be used as an excuse for abuse of the environment. "Low-lying New Orleans is geographically a unique case and Katrina probably not caused by humans. But the pictures seen these days still beg the question: Are we living the right way? The legendary Canal Street now is aptly named."

The conservative daily Die Welt comments that as regrettable as the catastrophe in New Orleans is, the flooding was also to be expected. The location of the city between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River make future disasters likely, even if there is no evidence yet that global warming is increasing the strength of hurricanes. The paper says looking at Germany's own recent flooding could not help in devising protection for the "Crescent City" since simply raising levees and dykes would not be enough. "New Orleans is something special," the paper opines, referring to both its special mix of cultures as well as its below sea level geography. "Maybe it would be more helpful to look towards the sinking city of Venice, where there is discussion of raising the entire city hydraulically. Possibly the only practical solution is for New Orleans to raise its cultural heritage by a meter in a mammoth project." If hydraulic platforms are unfeasible then perhaps structures will have to be moved brick by brick to higher ground. "But first we'll have to wait to see what Katrina has left behind," the paper conludes.

Other commentators appear to be equally concerned about the long-term prospects of New Orleans. The left-wing Berliner Zeitung says modern flood protection measures would be unable to protect the city forever against Mother Nature. Still, the paper continues, it would be unthinkable to give up on the city. "It wouldn't simply be sacrificing a field to nature -- it would be a sea burial for history and culture." Part of the problem is the taming of the mighty Mississippi River, since it would continue to rise as sediment is longer able to spread out in the delta as it once could. If New Orleans is to be saved, levees and dykes must be built higher after each hurricane and each heavy rain. "But whoever wants to preserve New Orleans must accept that with each meter of added flood protection, the more endangered the area will be. Hurricanes are as untamable as Mississippi."

Tragedy in Baghdad

Germany's center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung comments on the tragedy of mass panic in Baghdad in which hundreds of people were trampled to death. The paper writes the incident shows just how hopeless the situation in Iraq has become -- as if the war itself was not enough of a catastrophe. The fact that up to 1,000 Shiite pilgrims died in a mass stampede is symbolic of how deep the rifts within the country are. "The mass panic was not caused directly by a mortar that had been fired earlier by Sunni terrorists...but there is an indirect connection." The paper opines that the continuing suicide attacks and ongoing resistance by insurgents has created a climate of fear -- now every sort of catastrophe in Iraq is conceivable. This catastrophe will simply speed up the cycle of violence and revenge between Shiites and Sunnis. The Iraq drama is running its course and no one seems able to stop it, the paper concludes.