By the numbers

These are from yesterday's Astrodome news conference:

• 16,000 hurricane victims are living in the Dome (down from 17,500 from Monday)

• 4,500 in the Reliant Arena (up from 2,300)

• 2,400 in Reliant Center (down from 3,800)

• 2,500 in the George R. Brown Convention Center (up from 1300)

• 40 new arrivals last night, 51 this morning

• 300 cases of the Norwalk virus.

• 0 cases of cholera despite rumors to the contrary.

• 0 curfew violators (implementation of 11 p.m. - 6 a.m. curfew postponed a day to get the word out).

• 37 arrests, from disorderly conduct to public intoxication.

• 2 reports of sexual assaults; one proven to be false and one still under investigation.

The Houston Chronicle's DomeBlog has proven to be the best source for this information (and a lot more).

Update: The numbers are going down fast. I think that's a good thing.

Sort of scary, all right

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhlemed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them."

-- former first lady Barbara Bush, speaking from Houston on Monday

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said it all, starting his news briefing Saturday afternoon: "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater..."

Well, there's your problem right there.

If ever a slip-of-the-tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it.

-- Keith Olbermann