Katrina
POSTED BY: SevenPercent
UPDATED: Friday, August 29, 2025 14:39
VIEWED: 7944
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Biloxi
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The clear difference between Biloxi and New Orleans is that the bodies that are turning up here (in Biloxi) have been dead for a number of days.
Baton Rouge
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There are hundreds of people from the National Guard here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We're seeing people from all the agencies. They're waiting to deploy. Their sense is that the condition inside New Orleans is so unstable they don't want to be sending people into harm's way.(A reporter) saw one woman who was so desperate she actually handed her 2-month-old baby to another woman and said, "Take my child. I can't get on this bus, but you've got to try to save the child.
New Orleans
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There are thousands of people lying in the street. We saw mothers holding babies, some of them just three, four and five months old, living in horrible conditions. Diapers littered the ground. Feces were on the ground. Sewage was spilled all around.... People are dying at the center and there is no one to get them. We saw a grandmother in a wheelchair pushed up to the wall and covered with a sheet. Right next to her was another dead body wrapped in a white sheet. Right in front of us a man went into a seizure on the ground. People have been sitting there without food and water and waiting. They are asking -- "When are the buses coming? When are they coming to help us?"
The people tell us that National Guard units have come by as a show of force. They have tossed some military rations out. People are eating potato chips to survive and are looting some of the stores nearby for food and drink. It is not the kind of food these people need.
They are saying, "Don't leave us here to die. We are stuck here. Why can't they send the buses? Are they going to leave us here to die?"
Metairie, LA
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We spent the night at the New Orleans Saints' training facility. It is the encampment for the FEMA officials and National Guard troops who will deploy out to certain areas.
They just deployed a new unit out here from California. They're called swift water operation rescue units. These folks are trained to go in and get people out of the homes that they have been stuck in for days now with water all around.
We were with a unit last night on a boat. We watched as they performed many of these rescues. It's quite a sight to see. Bodies are floating along the flooded road. And I asked them, "What do you do about that?" They said, "There's no time to deal with them now. We have to deal with the living". (we) heard faint screams coming from homes. People were yelling, "Help! Help!"
So we contacted the swift water rescue units and they went out there. To our surprise and their surprise there were no fewer than 15 people huddled in their home. We could only hear them. We couldn't see them. We were able to assist and get the right people over there to get them out.
Just like them, there may be literally thousands that need to be rescued. It's a very daunting task for these officials.
Convention Center
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We just heard a couple of gunshots go off. There's a building smoldering a block away. People are picking through whatever is left in the stores right now. They are walking the streets because they have nowhere else to go.... The convention center is a place that people were told to go to because it would be safe. In fact, it is a scene of anarchy.There is absolutely nobody in control. There is no National Guard, no police, no information to be had... no buses have come. No boats have come. They think water is going come. No water has come. And they have no food.... people at the convention center are starting to pass away and there is simply nothing to do with their bodies. There is nowhere to put them. There is no one who can do anything with them.
www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/scene.blog/index.html
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Quote:But then, we rarely see historic natural disasters and major wars together either and yet, quick as you can say "Bob's your uncle" .... here we are!
We rarely see two historically signifigant natural disasters happen so close together either temporally or geographically.
Hero, you obviously don't believe in Murphy and you surely ain't an engineer!
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I'm sure some of the fires were set by owners. You can't get flood insurance except through the Federal government, it's better if your building burns.
It's Iraq all over again - no electricity, infrastructure, water, shelter, food, medical care, organization, security - and help that's far too little, far too late.
The one thing I think is different from all other hurricanes is that N.O. is flooded long-term. In other hurricanes water abates quickly. So while in past hurricanes roads are difficult (debris, washed-out) at least there is solid ground for people to shelter on and wait, and for rescuers to work from.
In N.O there is no ground and all work must be done by boat and air. I think that basic difference wasn't anticipated and it has thrown out the assumption of response-as-usual.
But other things are inexcusable. There should be a full military presence to deal with the massive numbers of displaced people. And as ironic as it might be, there's plenty of rail lines that could be used to move masses of people.
Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.
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I started being horrified on SUNDAY. Response to Katrina at ALL levels was lackadaisical: The evacuation was called AFTER public transport had been shut down (!!) and was NOT followed up by a house to house search. Transportation and temporary shelter were not arranged. The National Guard and other responders in other states were not put on alert and moved forward. I thought it was like watching a slow-motion train wreck. The phrase that kept going thru my head was "What are they WAITING for? What are they WAITING for?" I couldn't believe my eyes. There was no leadership at any level, no Giuliani to save the day.
I have an image- watching the government response was like seeing what you thought was a sound log ripped open and finding it was all crumbly inside. The mayor (Nagin, D) didn't "impose" the government and "force" evacuation. Public transport depended volunteer bus drivers. The trains were pulled out of service. The governor (Blano, D) was... where WAS the governor? Apparently she was re-routing some traffic, using the state highway patrol, but... And where was FEMA and Bush? Bush was... well, Bush on vacation before landfall, and was playing golf in Arizona and making speeches in San Diego on Monday, Tuesday, and early Wednesday. It seems that people in government don't actually believe in doing- ya know- "governmental" things. Things that private industry CAN'T do. That instead of "the government" being an expression of our care for each other, it's turned into a hollow organization at best even in urgent matters of life and death for thousands of people. Am I the only one with this impression?
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I don't think it helps that it appears the vast majority of the people stranded in NO were those too poor to have the means to get out--or to secure shelter even if they did manage to escape in time. Not the segment of the population who can afford to buy the caring of politicians through fat contributions. No, TPTB have to be shamed into acting after the fact, when conditions get so horrific that there's political capital to be gained being seen rushing in to help. Where was the willingness to house 75,000 poor people in Texas BEFORE Katrina hit? Where were all those transport busses then; who was willing to pay for them? No, the poor havee got to pay for their aid with human suffering before it becomes cost-effective to provide it.
----
I can see you.
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I didn't want to get into that. But there was one Administration person who was surprised that so many victims were "crawling out of the woodwork". I think that choice of words unconsciously reflects a view that the victims are vermin, more or less.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
But then, we rarely see historic natural disasters and major wars together either and yet, quick as you can say "Bob's your uncle" .... here we are!
Happens all the time. (Points to Africa) famine and war, drought and war, floods and war. (Glances at the Indian subcontinent) flood and war, drought and war, floods and war. (Glances at Argentina) Earthquakes and war. (Glances at Texas) in 1900 a hurricane kills thousands while America is at war then happens again in 1943, (glances at Alaska) 8.7 Earthquake during Vietnam not to mention the 9.2 and Tsunami the year before...and so on. Found a great site for natural disasters by date, location, and magnitude, then corralated the dates with times of war.
What I failed to see was extremely large natural disasters occurring close together in time and place. Just like I said.
H
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I didn't want to get into that. But there was one Administration person who was surprised that so many victims were "crawling out of the woodwork". I think that choice of words unconsciously reflects a view that the victims are vermin, more or less.
Could reflect reality. People were literally crawling out of the woodwork. Naw, better to think the worst of people and the things they say. I was surprised that most of the people were black, guess that makes me a racist for daring to speak about what I am seeing.
Personally I think it was foolish to expect people with limited resources to exacuate on such short notice. The people hardest hit or the elderly, the infirm, the unlucky, the criminal element (who stayed for the criminal opportunity and got smacked by reality), and those without the means to travel long distances on little or no notice, I don't really blame anyone, nobody thought this would be this bad.
Clearly the ready aid on Tuesday and Wednesday went to the outlying areas so as to open the way for today's massive aid convoys. Overall the effort seems about a day behind, but given the widespread destruction, I can't blame them too much. We should save what and who we can, rebuild and learn our lessons.
H
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And the lessons are....???
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This was published on Monday, but it was anticipated well before Katrina arrived.
Quote:www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/katrina.doomsday/
(CNN) -- Flooding from Hurricane Katrina's Monday landfall could wreak catastrophe on New Orleans, overwhelming the city's water and sewage systems and leaving survivors in a bowl of toxic soup, a top hurricane expert said.
Some 25 feet of standing water was expected in many parts of the city -- almost twice the height of the average home -- and computer models suggest that more than 80 percent of buildings would be badly damaged or destroyed, said Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center and director of the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes in Baton Rouge.
Floodwaters from the east would carry toxic waste from the "Industrial Canal" area, nicknamed after the chemical plants there. From the west, floodwaters would flow through an industrial complex that includes refineries and chemical plants, said van Heerden, who has studied computer models about the impact of a strong hurricane for four years....
In New Orleans, which lies below sea level, gas and diesel tanks are all above ground for the same reason that bodies are buried above ground.
In the event of a flood, "those tanks will start to float, shear their couplings, and we'll have the release of these rather volatile compounds," van Heerden added.
Because gasoline floats on water, "we could end up with some pretty severe and large -- area-wise -- fires."
"So, we're looking at a bowl full of highly contaminated water with contaminated air flowing around and, literally, very few places for anybody to go where they'll be safe."
"Imagine you're the poor person who decides not to evacuate: Your house will disintegrate around you. The best you'll be able to do is hang on to a light pole, and while you're hanging on, the fire ants from all the mounds -- of which there is two per yard on average -- will clamber up that same pole. And eventually, the fire ants will win."
The levees intended to protect the city vary in height, from as low as 10 feet above sea level to about 14 feet, he said. They too are vulnerable because they are made of earth, he said.
Previous studies have suggested a catastrophic toll in lives and property if a major hurricane were to hit the New Orleans area, where about 1.3 million people live.
"...You're going to have enormous waves develop on that lake (Pontchartrain), especially with as much as 14 hours of hurricane-force winds," he said. Those waves will erode the levees, raising the possibility of their collapse, he said.
CNN BREAKING NEWS AP:
Quote:www.cnn.com
Huge oil spill spotted near storage tanks on Mississippi River downstream from New Orleans, state officials say. Details soon.
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They wanted to leave, but they had little money and an aging pickup. So they hunkered down.
In the next two days, the water rose — to ankles, to knees and, finally, to their chins. They made themselves a fort, stacking a sofa on top of two end tables, a futon on top of the sofa and a rubber mattress on top of the futon. The ceiling was a foot from their face when they climbed up the furniture. Snakes came. Dead squirrels floated by. Love tried to rescue the neighbor's dog that was chained to a nearby fence, but the animal tried to bite him. The dog died, and his carcass, draped over the fence under the blazing sun, began to rot. A body was also drifting nearby. The smell became unbearable.
On Thursday, fire ants floated in and attacked Love and Burbin, crawling onto their legs, into their hair. That was the last straw. They grabbed their last pack of hot dogs and a package of dry ramen noodles and made a run for it, slogging through the water for four hours before reaching downtown.
Compare that to this statement:
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I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as aNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME