Hurricane Katrina

I've got to admit that I got addicted to the coverage this morning.

I was hoping Anderson Cooper was going to get blown off that Bridge he was standing on. And then there were Fox News' computer graphics showing models of New Orleans getting flooded every few minutes.

It seems like its not as bad as it could have been though which is good.

 

I heard there are a few 6-foot holes in the Superdome roof. I am not sure how all the people are coping inside the Superdome, but these hurricanes are for the birds!

I was disappointed in MSNBC yesterday. I usually like to enjoy my Sunday afternoon's with four back-to-back episodes of "Headliners and Legends," but because of the Hurrican coverage I was not able to watch them.

Just kidding.

 

I was watching last night and apparently its a lot worse than they were originally reporting yesterday. A CNN reporter was going out with rescuers and she said that hte water level was rising quickly, and people fled to their attics, but were trapped there and were trying to chop through the roof. She said that the water continued to rise and they could not get to some in time.

and more bad news, a levee broke this morning releasing more water into New Orleans.

 

yeah, New Orleans and the surrounding area down there is in a world of hurt. The water is continuing to rise and things are just in shambles down there. I feel bad for those people.

Oddly enough, about two months ago I was watching a special on the effects of hurricanes on the city of New Orleans. Experts said in that show it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when New Orleans will eventually be overcome with water and the city will be no more.

The coastline along the Gulf of Mexico has receded like Claus Jensen's hairline in the last 50 years and it is getting dangerously close to New Orleans. This obviously hurricane obviously did not help matters at all. It is very sad.

 

I think the freakiest thing is that all the animals are running from it as well. This guy said that he fell asleep on his roof last night and woke up this mornign and there were squirrels and lizzards and snakes and rodents sitting on top of his porch with him trying to escape the flood as well. When our building flooded during Isabel, they found 8 snakes in our building that got washed in with the tide, also a beaver or groundhog or something.

I was reading somewhere that the fire ant colonies roll themselves into a ball and float out the flood

 

Chris Duhon of the Chicago Bulls today already started a relief fund for the victims down there. He is originally from Slidell, Louisiana and has family and friends that were effected. It is nice to see the athletes doing something to help out the relief efforts.

 

Seriously, can we shoot the looters? It'd be one thing if they were stealing water, food or something that they needed, but they're stealing TVs, and there was video last night of people "shopping" at a wal-mart and walking out with carts full of stuff. The shelves were empty.

they're marking buildings with fatalities with paint slashes because the police and rescuers don't have time to deal with them as they're trying to rescue as many as possible...and these a-holes are looting.

 

Its chaos right now. The police are starting to tell reporters that they're going to need to evacuate as well because its getting too dangerous for even the reporters to stay. Someone shot at a military helicopter this morning as they were trying to airlift people out.

the city is overwhelmed with refugees and has really lost control in the last day or two.

 

Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

Nope, but I get angry just thinking about it. I don't want to read about it as its unbelievable that people are stooped to a new low.

 

RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

It's disgusting how a few violent, stupid punks can put thousands of people in even more danger than they already face. Four days in though I have to ask - why hasn't New Orleans been secured? There is only one organization that can do it - the US Military. Why haven't we sent in an adequate force to stop the violence, keep the peace, provide basic food and water, and evacuate the people who are trying to get out? We have the best-trained and equipped military in the world and yes, while much of it is in Iraq, there are more than adequate resources remaining here to have the job done by now. Why hasn't it happened?

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

Being here in Dallas, I know that they have been transporting people from New Orleans and Mississippi to the Houston Astrodome and Dallas' Reunion Arena, the semi abandoned arena once home to the Mavericks and Stars. So I guess it has become a migrating thing now. I can't imagine these poor people shacking up at the arena for over a month or more until New Orleans becomes liveable again. But there is locker room showers and restrooms and tons of overpriced Nachos and Beer...... I feel very bad for all the victims of Katrina, And as far as looting big screen tv's, Thats just ridiculous. Those people looting and shooting are making everyone else look really bad.

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

I was in Naval Air transport when a hurricane ripped through Haiti and I recall it took three days before we flew there, even though I was assigned as crew on the flight late in the first day.

And that was all standard relief stuff out of the Red Cross Warehouse somewhere near DC.

I think this caught everyone by surprise and they were all numbed the first day of the flooding. And think about what might have been if that dike hadnt broken.

This situation is actually WORSE than if it had happened in a third world country... in THAT case, those affected by flooding would have walked out soon after it began. In this case, those who couldnt evacuate, did what they THOUGHT they were supposed to do. Stay put and wait for help.
In hindsight a lot of this death and misery would have been a voided if everyone who was able just had started walking west when the dike burst.

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

I don't buy the excuses. The forecast two days ahead was for a direct hit on New Orleans by a Category 5 hurricane. There should have been a mobilization plan in place for a large military presence and they could have been able to move as soon as the storm blew through. We're not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan 5000 miles away. There are dozens of military installations within 500 miles of the impacted area - in fact probably the densest concentration in the country. I suspect some turf battles between FEMA, Homeland Security and DOD got in the way.

Pettyfog's point is a good one that people walking out of town would have solved a lot of the problem. But I see a lot people on TV who can't walk very far and had no resources to begin with. That's why they were stuck there.

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

There's plenty of blame to pass around... this is a display of what happens when everything goes wrong.

BTW; Dubya has no business setting his boots on the ground anywhere near Biloxi or NO... the situation is bad enough; disrupting what order there is, even on the fringe is lunacy, he knows all he needs to know just turning on tv.

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Hurricane Katrina

For once I fully agree with you Fog.

Heather - They had a pretty good idea where the hurricane was going to hit two days before. Yes it can move but at that point probably not that much. It was obvious that a direct hit by a Cat 5 would overwhelm the resources of any State and local government particularly those of one of the poorest cities in the US. The military is clearly the only organization with the training and resources to handle the situation. The military and disaster planners know what a reasonable radius is that would provide quick access to the site. Within that radius some installations will be impacted and some won't be but you have them all mobilized and ready to go after the storm blows through. Start with food, water and medical supply drops and when you can get adequate force in to keep the peace. You underestimate our military capabilities and I don't blame the military - I think it's the bureucrats and FEMA and homeland security who didn't plan properly. The Mayor said it this morning - "they think small". Given the fact that millions of dollars that have spent since 9/11 on disaster planning things should have gone better. Affixing blame is not a worthwhile activity - reviewing what went wrong so we do better next time definitely is.