I have a friend who lives in New Orleans. He told me there were people who simply could not evacuate, because of the traffic. The shelters and superdome were overcrowded, and the city was lacking in police, because even they had evacuated. Don't criticize those who remained in the city, unless you've been in their shoes first.
Katrina = Cat.5 = Goodbye New Orleans
- Thread starter SA
- Start date
m885
Bluelighter
- Joined
- May 27, 2003
- Messages
- 8,586
Governor: Everyone Must Leave New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS - The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. "We've sent buses in. We will be either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is necessary," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans' breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the governor said Wednesday the situation was growing more desperate and there was no choice but to abandon the flooded city.
"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
As the waters continued to rise in New Orleans, the
Pentagon began mounting one of the biggest search-and-rescue operations in U.S. history, sending four Navy ships to the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, along with the hospital ship USNS Comfort, search helicopters and eight swift-water rescue teams. Red Cross workers from across the country converged on the devastated region.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to use heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags Wednesday into the 500-foot gap in the failed floodwall. But the agency said it was having trouble getting the sandbags and dozens of 15-foot highway barriers to the site because the city's waterways were blocked by loose barges, boats and large debris.
Officials said they were also looking at a more audacious plan: finding a barge to plug the 500-foot hole.
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina reached at least 110 in Mississippi alone, while Louisiana put aside the counting of the dead to concentrate on rescuing the living, many of whom were still trapped on rooftops and in attics.
The Red Cross reported it had about 40,000 people in 200 shelters across the area in one of the biggest urban disasters the nation has ever seen.
A full day after the Big Easy thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees broke and spilled water into the streets Tuesday, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or months.
"We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in," Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America, "and the other issue that's concerning me is we have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue."
Blanco said she wanted the Superdome — which had become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people — evacuated within two days, along with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising, the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.
At the same time, sections of Interstate 10, the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, lay shattered, dozens of huge slabs of concrete floating in the floodwaters. I-10 is the only route for commercial trucking across southern Louisiana.
The sweltering city of 480,000 people — an estimated 80 percent of whom obeyed orders to evacuate as Katrina closed in over the weekend — also had no drinkable water, the electricity could be out for weeks, and looters were ransacking stores around town.
"The logistical problems are impossible and we have to evacuate people in shelters," the governor said. "It's becoming untenable. There's no power. It's getting more difficult to get food and water supplies in, just basic essentials."
She gave no details on exactly where the refugees would be taken. But in Houston, Rusty Cornelius, a county emergency official, said at least 25,000 of them would travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and would be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome, which is no longer used for professional sporting events.
The
Federal Emergency Management Agency was considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, and so-called floating dormitories — boats the agency uses to house its own employees.
Once the levees are fixed, Maj. Gen. Don Riley of the Army Corps of Engineers said, it could take close to a month to get the water out of the city. If the water rises a few feet higher, it could also wipe out the water system for the whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert.
A helicopter view of the devastation over Louisiana and Mississippi revealed people standing on black rooftops, baking in the sunshine while waiting for rescue boats.
"I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour after touring the destruction by air Tuesday.
All day long, rescuers in boats and helicopters plucked bedraggled flood refugees from rooftops and attics. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people have been rescued by boat and air, some placed shivering and wet into helicopter baskets. They were brought by the truckload into shelters, some in wheelchairs and some carrying babies, with stories of survival and of those who didn't make it.
"Oh my God, it was hell," said Kioka Williams, who had to hack through the ceiling of the beauty shop where she worked as floodwaters rose in New Orleans' low-lying Ninth Ward. "We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos."
Looting broke out in some New Orleans neighborhoods, prompting authorities to send more than 70 additional officers and an armed personnel carrier into the city. One police officer was shot in the head by a looter but was expected to recover, authorities said.
A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.
On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting took place in full view of police and National Guardsmen.
Blanco acknowledged that looting was a severe problem but said that officials had to focus on survivors. "We don't like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue," she said.
Officials said it was simply too early to estimate a death toll. One Mississippi county alone said it had suffered at least 100 deaths, and officials are "very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher," said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport. In neighboring Jackson County, officials said at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Several of the dead in Harrison County were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds Monday. Louisiana officials said many were feared dead there, too, making Katrina one of the most punishing storms to hit the United States in decades.
Blanco asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer.
"That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors," she said. "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild."
Across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, more than 1 million residents remained without electricity, some without clean drinking water. Officials said it could be weeks, if not months, before most evacuees will be able to return.
Emergency medical teams from across the country were sent into the region and
President Bush cut short his Texas vacation Tuesday to return to Washington to focus on the storm damage.
Also, the Bush administration decided to release crude oil from federal petroleum reserves to help refiners whose supply was disrupted by Katrina. The announcement helped push oil prices lower.
Katrina, which was downgraded to a tropical depression, packed winds around 30 mph as it moved through the Ohio Valley early Wednesday, with the potential to dump 8 inches of rain and spin off deadly tornadoes.
The remnants of Katrina spawned bands of storms and tornadoes across Georgia that caused at least two deaths, multiple injuries and leveled dozens of buildings. A tornado damaged 13 homes near Marshall, Va.
NEW ORLEANS - The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. "We've sent buses in. We will be either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is necessary," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans' breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the governor said Wednesday the situation was growing more desperate and there was no choice but to abandon the flooded city.
"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
As the waters continued to rise in New Orleans, the
Pentagon began mounting one of the biggest search-and-rescue operations in U.S. history, sending four Navy ships to the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, along with the hospital ship USNS Comfort, search helicopters and eight swift-water rescue teams. Red Cross workers from across the country converged on the devastated region.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to use heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags Wednesday into the 500-foot gap in the failed floodwall. But the agency said it was having trouble getting the sandbags and dozens of 15-foot highway barriers to the site because the city's waterways were blocked by loose barges, boats and large debris.
Officials said they were also looking at a more audacious plan: finding a barge to plug the 500-foot hole.
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina reached at least 110 in Mississippi alone, while Louisiana put aside the counting of the dead to concentrate on rescuing the living, many of whom were still trapped on rooftops and in attics.
The Red Cross reported it had about 40,000 people in 200 shelters across the area in one of the biggest urban disasters the nation has ever seen.
A full day after the Big Easy thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees broke and spilled water into the streets Tuesday, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or months.
"We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in," Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America, "and the other issue that's concerning me is we have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue."
Blanco said she wanted the Superdome — which had become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people — evacuated within two days, along with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising, the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.
At the same time, sections of Interstate 10, the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, lay shattered, dozens of huge slabs of concrete floating in the floodwaters. I-10 is the only route for commercial trucking across southern Louisiana.
The sweltering city of 480,000 people — an estimated 80 percent of whom obeyed orders to evacuate as Katrina closed in over the weekend — also had no drinkable water, the electricity could be out for weeks, and looters were ransacking stores around town.
"The logistical problems are impossible and we have to evacuate people in shelters," the governor said. "It's becoming untenable. There's no power. It's getting more difficult to get food and water supplies in, just basic essentials."
She gave no details on exactly where the refugees would be taken. But in Houston, Rusty Cornelius, a county emergency official, said at least 25,000 of them would travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and would be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome, which is no longer used for professional sporting events.
The
Federal Emergency Management Agency was considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, and so-called floating dormitories — boats the agency uses to house its own employees.
Once the levees are fixed, Maj. Gen. Don Riley of the Army Corps of Engineers said, it could take close to a month to get the water out of the city. If the water rises a few feet higher, it could also wipe out the water system for the whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert.
A helicopter view of the devastation over Louisiana and Mississippi revealed people standing on black rooftops, baking in the sunshine while waiting for rescue boats.
"I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour after touring the destruction by air Tuesday.
All day long, rescuers in boats and helicopters plucked bedraggled flood refugees from rooftops and attics. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people have been rescued by boat and air, some placed shivering and wet into helicopter baskets. They were brought by the truckload into shelters, some in wheelchairs and some carrying babies, with stories of survival and of those who didn't make it.
"Oh my God, it was hell," said Kioka Williams, who had to hack through the ceiling of the beauty shop where she worked as floodwaters rose in New Orleans' low-lying Ninth Ward. "We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos."
Looting broke out in some New Orleans neighborhoods, prompting authorities to send more than 70 additional officers and an armed personnel carrier into the city. One police officer was shot in the head by a looter but was expected to recover, authorities said.
A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.
On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting took place in full view of police and National Guardsmen.
Blanco acknowledged that looting was a severe problem but said that officials had to focus on survivors. "We don't like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue," she said.
Officials said it was simply too early to estimate a death toll. One Mississippi county alone said it had suffered at least 100 deaths, and officials are "very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher," said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport. In neighboring Jackson County, officials said at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Several of the dead in Harrison County were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds Monday. Louisiana officials said many were feared dead there, too, making Katrina one of the most punishing storms to hit the United States in decades.
Blanco asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer.
"That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors," she said. "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild."
Across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, more than 1 million residents remained without electricity, some without clean drinking water. Officials said it could be weeks, if not months, before most evacuees will be able to return.
Emergency medical teams from across the country were sent into the region and
President Bush cut short his Texas vacation Tuesday to return to Washington to focus on the storm damage.
Also, the Bush administration decided to release crude oil from federal petroleum reserves to help refiners whose supply was disrupted by Katrina. The announcement helped push oil prices lower.
Katrina, which was downgraded to a tropical depression, packed winds around 30 mph as it moved through the Ohio Valley early Wednesday, with the potential to dump 8 inches of rain and spin off deadly tornadoes.
The remnants of Katrina spawned bands of storms and tornadoes across Georgia that caused at least two deaths, multiple injuries and leveled dozens of buildings. A tornado damaged 13 homes near Marshall, Va.
ChronicSceptic
Bluelighter
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10908301723/print
This guy certainly has his priorities in the right order.
This guy certainly has his priorities in the right order.
Belisarius
Bluelighter
"Things fall apart..." Road Warrior unfolding before our eyes.
<<A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.>>
They evacuated the main hospital, which is always a bad sign. Jesus, between the heat, inevitable mosquito explosion, dirty water, and water damage to the buildings, the city may never fully recover when it's all said and done, especially if it's a ghost town for a month or two. Then again, people and cities are resilient...
<<A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.>>
They evacuated the main hospital, which is always a bad sign. Jesus, between the heat, inevitable mosquito explosion, dirty water, and water damage to the buildings, the city may never fully recover when it's all said and done, especially if it's a ghost town for a month or two. Then again, people and cities are resilient...
RepeatOffender
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Messages
- 273
Always good to rmember that there are 100,000 or more people trapped down there.. no telling how many have turned to violence, guns, etc.. could be 1%.. could be less or more.. either way there are innocent people down there that still need help fast..
DeMenTia02
Bluelighter
what the f ... you think they would have guns all locked away in a safe room or something, not in the glass display cabinets :S
bowdenta
Bluelighter
The astrodome in houston will be the main site for evacuation. we are totally flooded with New Orlenas residents here already. around 1/5 people I know have families in town who are now gonna be staying for a while, including elementary students.
many are also in hotels and motels. Evac coordinators are predicting that many people, expecting a weekend stay, will realize that they cannot afford to stay in a hotel for 4 months. Over the next week, they are going to move in the astrodome, which is probably why at this time they only have plans to send us 10-12k people. Its going to be a mini-city right in the heart of the city, just adjacent to our main freeway loop (610)
the astrodome has been cleared for NO evac resident through december, but many might seek out new lives in other cities before that time (most of them houston). There is also the possibilty that the december date will be extended (or maybe they'll move some to minute maid?)
since school just started, many NO students might start going to Houston ISD elementary, middle, and high schools. thats going to be a wierd situation. it would involve a massive busing system around the astrodome everyday which is next to the worlds biggest med center and 4 miles from downtown. I think Houston just got a permanent shot of new orleans culture because it looks like a lot of people are going to have to leave NO behind forever
mardis gras, my place next year!
edit: now saying 25,000 are being moved from superdome to astrodome which they know wont fit them all. they cant keep all 25k cooped up in there for as long as they need to be here
many are also in hotels and motels. Evac coordinators are predicting that many people, expecting a weekend stay, will realize that they cannot afford to stay in a hotel for 4 months. Over the next week, they are going to move in the astrodome, which is probably why at this time they only have plans to send us 10-12k people. Its going to be a mini-city right in the heart of the city, just adjacent to our main freeway loop (610)
the astrodome has been cleared for NO evac resident through december, but many might seek out new lives in other cities before that time (most of them houston). There is also the possibilty that the december date will be extended (or maybe they'll move some to minute maid?)
since school just started, many NO students might start going to Houston ISD elementary, middle, and high schools. thats going to be a wierd situation. it would involve a massive busing system around the astrodome everyday which is next to the worlds biggest med center and 4 miles from downtown. I think Houston just got a permanent shot of new orleans culture because it looks like a lot of people are going to have to leave NO behind forever
mardis gras, my place next year!
edit: now saying 25,000 are being moved from superdome to astrodome which they know wont fit them all. they cant keep all 25k cooped up in there for as long as they need to be here
Last edited:
DarthMom
Bluelighter
I just thought this was apropos and we need a bit of a laugh I guess.
http://gorillamask.net/foamykatrina.shtml
http://gorillamask.net/foamykatrina.shtml
Tryptamine*Dreamer
Ex-Bluelighter
The mayor of New Orleans says minimum of hundreds but most likely thousands were killed.
NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans, the mayor said Wednesday � an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."
Full Story:
Mayor: Katrina may have killed thousands
NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans, the mayor said Wednesday � an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."
Full Story:
Mayor: Katrina may have killed thousands
Carl Landrover
Bluelighter
I'd almost rather have tried to brave the storm than have been in the Superdome for the last few days. I couldn't imagine the conditions in there...10,000+ people for several days, with no air condition, in heat, overflowing toilets, polluted/diseased water surrounding stadium, I definitely couldn't be living like that. 
Correction, that's 10,000+ confused, hungry, thirsty, and now homeless people.
Sets up a possibly dangerous situation, people getting wore-down and all. There's no one to get pissed at either, just yourself and your own damned misfortune.
Correction, that's 10,000+ confused, hungry, thirsty, and now homeless people.
Sets up a possibly dangerous situation, people getting wore-down and all. There's no one to get pissed at either, just yourself and your own damned misfortune.
Slaughterhousefive42
Bluelighter
A helicopter view of the devastation over Louisiana and Mississippi revealed people standing on black rooftops, baking in the sunshine while waiting for rescue boats.
"I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour after touring the destruction by air Tuesday.
Hiroshima = people standing on intact rooftops dodging water looking for rescue boats??
"I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour after touring the destruction by air Tuesday.
Hiroshima = people standing on intact rooftops dodging water looking for rescue boats??
kittyinthedark
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
- Messages
- 10,887
DarthMom said:
It's easier to go to www.illwillpress.com, the site that Foamy the Squirrel comes from. The whole series is hilarious
Other than that,
fengtau
Bluelight Crew
Shimmer.Fade
Bluelighter
This was a horrible storm. My aunt and uncle lost a store in Biloxi, had looting in a Jackson store, and their house kinda faded. I hope the best for the millions screwed over or worse by this storm.
OpaqueSpark
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2005
- Messages
- 264
I like to say RENEGADE BUS.
It's like a normal bus, but stolen and awesome. At least someone's making the best of this.
It's like a normal bus, but stolen and awesome. At least someone's making the best of this.
keystroke
Bluelighter
hooray for looters.
OpaqueSpark
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2005
- Messages
- 264
...the looters with some sense of priority, not the guy dragging around a Power Wheels or a 27" TV. And the ones that aren't setting fires.
endlesseulogy
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2003
- Messages
- 2,831
My thoughts go out to everyone effected by this. If Bush had any sense he would withdraw troops from Iraq and free up billions in military spending to help those effected by this. Sense ? Bush?.. Now i dont have any sense.
Of course I don't know what it's like to go through a hurricane, and I'll probably never know what their reasons were...... but I just don't get it - why the fuck did all those people stay? If every indicator told you that a gigantic ass hurricane was heading your way, isn't that a good clue to leave?
I just don't get it - do people think they are invincible to mother nature?
*shrugs*
I just don't get it - do people think they are invincible to mother nature?
*shrugs*