Please continue to contribute to the Katrina Blog for Relief effort. (Progress report here.) Deepest thanks for your continued outpouring of compassion and creativity.

In response to many readers concerned about hard-hit communities outside of New Orleans, I’m posting info on a few of these neglected neighborhoods, along with resources/links/blogs covering the damage and assisting the survivors. I know there are many more. This is just a start:

CHALMETTE, LA. – Horrifying news from NOLA.com:

100 said dead in Chalmette
Thursday, 9:46 p.m.

About 100 people have died at the Chalmette Slip after being pulled off their rooftops, waiting to be ferried up the river to the West Bank and bused out of the flood ravaged area, U.S. Rep. Charles Melancon, D-Napoleonville, said Thursday.

About 1,500 people were at the slip on Thursday afternoon, where critical supplies like food and water are scarce, he said. Melancon expressed serious
frustration with the slow pace of getting these items to the people waiting to finish their journey to safety.

Many of those at the slip were evacuated from a shelter set up at Chalmette High School that suffered massive flooding as the waters rose during Hurricane Katrina.

Melancon said people are being plucked out of their water-surrounded
houses, but the effort to get them out of Chalmette and provide them with sufficient sustenance is the problem.

Here’s another report on desperate conditions in Chalmette.

Chalmette is in St. Bernard Parish. Local bloggers/resources at the St. Bernard Parish official website and at Parish Photos After Katrina.

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SLIDELL, LA. – Suburban community of about 25,000 people northeast of New Orleans near where Interstates 10, 12 and 59 intersect in St. Tammany Parish. Officials report near total devastation. Baton Rouge Advocate reports “only slabs remain where dozens of houses were blown down and several feet of water remain in the Slidell Memorial Hospital on Gause Boulevard as well as throughout the old town area off U.S. 11.”

Latest news: Three deaths confirmed, rescue workers asking for help.

Chicago Bulls player Chris Duhon, a Slidell native, has established a fund for his hometown.

The Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog is tracking developments and rescue efforts, and posting missing person requests. Explicity Ambiguous is also Slidell blogging and posting missing persons requests. More missing persons reports via Google News.

Noah’s Wish, based in New York, is helping coordinate animal rescue efforts in Slidell.

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METAIRIE, LA. – Largest suburb of New Orleans, located on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

Help is needed at Metairie’s East Jefferson General Hospital. A RedStater is looking for a missing Metairie family. More missing in Metairie.

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PASS CHRISTIAN, GULFPORT, AND LONG BEACH, MISS. – These small coastal town are “simply not there,” says Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Pass Christian had high fatalities:

Emergency officials in Pass Christian pulled at least 12 dead bodies from the rubble near the Wal-Mart on U.S. 90. Escambia County Road Crews several times had to stop their work while state coroners could remove bodies. The Wal-Mart parking lot served as a staging ground for hearses and ambulances to remove the bodies.

Frank Dawson, a Harrison County Sheriff’s deputy, estimates the death toll here could be at least 30.

Ellen DeGeneres, a Metairie native, has an aunt who lost everything in Pass Christian. “”Whether you have family there or not, it’s a devastating situation,” the 47-year-old actress-comedian said.

Fires are now consuming homes in Pass Christian and Gulfport. New York Times files a report from Pass Christian. Here’s an eyewitness report filed from Gulfport. Some news of search and rescue efforts in Long Beach. Help is on the way.

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GRETNA, TERRYTOWN, HARVEY, AND MARRERO, LA. – Mike P. at Interested Participant has a detailed rundown of conditions in these neglected towns on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. There’s been looting in Gretna.

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MANDEVILLE AND COVINGTON, LA. – LGF’ers are reporting on the scene and passing aid requests at Punditeria. One tale of survival.

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BILOXI, MISS. – It’s a “ghost town.” The Biloxi Sun Herald has latest news, a missing persons bulletin board, and an editorial plea:

Things are bad and only going to get worse here. We know that and are prepared to live with the uncomfortable state for a very long time.

Everyone wants gas and water. Neither can be found and with each hour our personal caches are dwindling.

But the needs of our people are so incredibly great as to cry out for attention.

Medical needs, food, water, gasoline — are all needed and now. Some say our plight coupled with the unbelievable state of degredation in New Orleans represents the greatest humanitarian crisis in American history.

This has led us to profoundly understand our dependance on others. In this moment of need, we wonder who will help us? We are even so bold as to send a message from the lost cities of the Mississippi Coast: Will you help us?

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Hurricane news for individual counties and cities in Louisiana and Mississippi here.

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ALABAMA – Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, Clarke, Choctaw and Sumter counties all suffered. Ed Driscoll takes a closer look.

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