Time to reflect...

[TJ's Dad]

We've just heard from a friend in New Orleans (non rodder) who bolted and with good cause as her home is gone .. she spent 4 days with no food water etc .. lost everything except her life.
Reports here show sheer devestation.

.

[Mr Cool]

That place is seriously out of control, and WTF is the Bush government doing? It appears it has taken 5 days before anything was done, were they just waiting for the local law to do it all?
From the reports we are seeing over here and what we can read on forums like this http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1174992&page=1&pp=20    it ain't nice.
The news tonight is telling us about racial tensions. Shoot then ask questions later (sounds like our police force ) and rape, killing etc for food/water as well as anything of value.
I pity anyone stuck in this mess, but as for the thieves who are looking for more than just survival necessities I hope they all get very sick and die very slowly and painfully.

What i don't understand is why build a city below sea level in the first place?

[enjenjo]

I think the racial overtones are being exploited for ratings. most of the people there are black, the first ones evacuated were black, and with all the infratructure destroyed, most of them have to be rescued one at a time. No matter how you do it, someone will be first, and someone will be last.

There have been missteps by the authorities from the local level to the top, some I think, because at first no one could imagine the extent of the problem. I hesitate to blame any one for anything at this time because I think it was all done with the best of intensions, but many times, up and down the line, there was no follow up to see if the solutions were working.

I'll reserve judgement until things are more settled.

[Pope Downunder]

That place is seriously out of control, and WTF is the Bush government doing? snip
What i don't understand is why build a city below sea level in the first place?

Amongst all the media beat-up about racism, violence and political blame games, it is acts of spontaneous support like Denise's moving offer that get missed.  I am sure this sort of charity and compassion will be played out in homes and refuges right across the USA in coming months. Also, there are literally tens of thousands of people in there working their butts off right now to help as many people as possible, not to mention those in surrounding states.  It is a disaster of huge proportions, and that brings out the best, and worst, in people.

I understand the old city was founded by the French early in the eighteeth century, on what appeared to be sound ground, certainly strategically placed and well above the sea level.  Problem is the ground was not sound; the area has settled by about 1cm per year ever since.  Surcharging the area with development probably compounded the settlement rate.  It is now like a huge saucer, with parts 2-3m below sea level.  At a guess, I expect that is where the poorest people now live(?)

Obviously, the city is a heritage icon, and important to the USA society and economy in many other ways.  Although damaged, the infrastructure is probably largely in tact, and repairable.   The repair costs would be a fraction of the cost of 'moving' the city.

[Inprimer]

We've just heard from a friend in New Orleans (non rodder) who bolted and with good cause as her home is gone .. she spent 4 days with no food water etc .. lost everything except her life.
Reports here show sheer devestation.

.

I'm in shock as well as all of us are, here's my take, I'm not happy about 3.50  a gal but at least its a small price to pay . I have all of my family with us and all our possesions. I couldn't even begin to think that so many have lost literally everything they had ,God help them.....

[EMSjunkie]

We have about 750 refugees here in Amarillo.
started getting them Sunday afternoon, slowly trickled in
until this morning. most of them are very grateful to just be alive.
Our Medics have been at the Amarillo Civic Center around the clock since about noon Sunday. some of these folks haven't had food or drinking water for several days. have been starting alot of IV's and pushing alot of fluids. several have been without their medications for several days.

I talked to one gentleman who waded thru chest-high water carrying his granddaughter on his shoulders. he told me that several bodies washed past him.

we are seeing alot of cellulitis from the contaminated water.
seeing alot of despair. most of these folks were rescued just hours before coming to Amarillo.

I need a shower and some sleep.

thanks everyone for your prayers and your help.
its gonna be a long road for these folks.

[choco]

A few of us were in New Orleans in August last year. We stopped there on our way to Louisville. I'd always wanted to visit New Orleans, and I'm glad I did, because it won't be the same ever again after this.
How do I know?
I was based at a Naval Communications Station in Darwin in 1974 when Cyclone Tracy struck. We call 'em Cyclones, you call 'em Hurricanes (anti-Cyclones). The wind speed thingies on the tower at the bureau of meteorlogy in Darwin measured up to 200MPH. They were blown off the tower. Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, was flattened overnight on Christmas eve 1974. The devastation would be equivalent to that of Katrina, however, the population of Darwin was, and still is, miniscule in comparison. Nevertheless, 150+ people were killed by Cyclone Tracy, and many more are still missing, including many indigeneous people.
I still have a recording of the noise that was made by the cyclone. It was recorded by a priest who thought his days were numbered as he lay huddled in his rectory at an old church. I play it back every now and then, and remember what it was like as I ferried hysterical men, women and children from one "safe" haven to another, as the winds tore through the strongest buildings.  I remember what it was like seeing cars with caravans still attached to them flipping end over end up the road. I remember the looks on the faces of two friends (one a Hot Rodder with a 29 Dodge sedan) who were caught in a ditch when the Navy's bushfire truck was blown off the road. They were going to stay holed up in the ditch, but they heard someone calling for help. It was a young aborginal woman, still clutching the hand of her 4 year old daughter whose torso was severed from a flying sheet of roofing iron. They had no choice but to get her to safety at the Naval base sick bay. I also remember my friend Stevo, who had only joined us a few weeks prior to the cyclone. He had only just settled his wife and two daughters in a house on the base when the cyclone struck. He was teamed with me as part of the first Passive Defence team, formed after Cyclone Selma had struck some months earlier. The next morning, he was given permission to go and check on his family. He found them under a pile of bricks and rubble. He arranged the evacuation of their bodies by himself, and I never heard from him again.
I remember the attempts at communicating with the outside world once the cyclone passed. It took a couple of weeks before we could land some real assistance, as all road, rail and sea lanes were obliterated. The Air Force managed to clear their runways within a few days, and soon a mass evacuation took place, using Hercules and civilian aircraft. All that remained behind were Defence Force personell and a civilian infrastructure to start on the rebuilding of Darwin. It was a rather surreal 2 weeks before we returned to some semblance of "civilisation", but we were plagued with looters and opportunists for months.
Oh yeah, my car (just to keep on topic!). I had a hot EH Holden, similar to a 63/64 Chevy Nova, but with a 6 cylinder engine. It was lowered, painted purple and raced regularly at the drag strip. The night before, being Christmas eve, I had parked it behind the accommodation block where I lived. I was in party mode, as was everyone else, and the cars were staying hidden away. The cyclone blew a large oak tree down onto the wall above my car. The cyclone levelled the building, but the part of the wall that the oak tree had landed on stayed intact, protecting my car. Other cars parked in front and behind me were flattened.
My thoughts are with the people of New Orleans and other cities in the path of the hurricane. It is a terrifying thing to behold, and I am glad that, at the time, I was drunk as a skunk for most of the night!

[river1]

very good account of someone who lived thru one thanks
:!:

It took a couple of weeks before we could land some real assistance, as all road, rail and sea lanes were obliterated.

EXACTLY!!!!!

as a few of you know i'm in NO way a GW Bush fan but i have no problem with the gov't response to this disaster. now in hind sight could things have been done different, you bet. tho if we could have hind sight for everything we do i'd have won a lottery a couple of times, asked a few ladies out that i didn't and not asked a few i did, and bought a few cars i passed up and passed up a few POScars i did buy.      will things be done different in the future you bet. we as humans are NOT perfect but as long as we learn from our mistakes it's OK.

later jim

[rooster]

What valid reason could there be to turn away trucks of drinking water to the NO area?

What valid reason could there be to cut the communication lines in a emerengency
management building?

What valid reason should the Coast Guard not give diesel fuel to the local Emergency
Management people?

Resorces:
Meet the press Sunday 10/04/05
Video and transcripts:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608

The transcript:


MR. BROUSSARD:  You know, just some quick examples...

MR. RUSSERT:  Hold on.  Hold on, sir.  Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the
governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility?  Couldn't they have been much more
forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD:  Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's
coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's
coming."  I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry.  The cavalry's still not here
yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples.  We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of
water, trailer trucks of water.  FEMA turned them back.  They said we didn't need them.
This was a week ago.  FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard
vessel docked in my parish.  The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away."
When we got there with our trucks, they got a word.  "FEMA says don't give you the
fuel."  Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency
communication lines.  They cut them without notice.  Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back
in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting
near these lines."  Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would
have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.


I guess I really dont get WTF is happening down there. If the above holds true, thay seem to be acts of Treason to me!