Horrific

Hurricane Katrina's death toll has increased dramatically overnight. It killed at least 55 people in Mississippi alone, and many more are believed dead there and in New Orleans, where CNN reports tales of "bodies floating in the floodwaters" that cover 80 percent of the city.

Those fatalities are in addition to the 11 deaths last week when Katrina passed through Florida on its way to the Gulf and the two people who died Monday in a traffic accident in southern Alabama. Downtown Mobile is submerged after a record storm surge, and parts of Baldwin, Clarke, and Washington counties sustained severe damage. More than 634,000 Alabamians had no electricity as of 6 a.m. today.

CNN just reported that President Bush will return to Washington today to coordinate relief efforts, which will need to be swift and massive in response to what appears to be the most damaging and one of the most lethal hurricanes in American history.

My thoughts and prayers today are with all of Katrina's victims.