Escape from Hurricane Katrina + Live Blog from N.O. Hell

[was]

-I just saw a report of the mayor of New Orleans screaming about the lack of aid and effort from federal sources. He claimed that they were incompetent and stitting on their behinds (I cleaned up the language)
-What I want to know is, who was coordinating the town's emergency resources? Towns, especially larger cities, are supposed to have emergency plans for things like this. From what I understand, the floodwaters originate from Lake Ponchartrain (spelling?). The dikes were built to stop the seasonal flooding from this lake. It only seems like they should have had some sort of emergency plan for flooding already layed out.
-I wonder whether this ex-cable television executive is just inexperienced due to it being his first term, or whether he's looking to shift the blame for an inadequate response. From what I understand, it was not the federal government who sent people to an inadequately supplied Superdome and it was not the federal government directing them to busing stations with no buses.

"# CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you."

"# Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told two-and-a-half days ago to make our way to the Superdome or the Convention Center by our mayor. And which when we got here, was no one to tell us what to do, no one to direct us, no authority figure.

 

[S'mon]

I wouldn't give much for the Mayor or Governor's re-election prospects, yup. That said I don't think the Federal response was brilliant, either.

 

[RedWick]

Any word on how the rest of the relief effort in the South was going? More than just NOLA was hit by the storm...

 

[was]

I wouldn't give much for the Mayor or Governor's re-election prospects, yup. That said I don't think the Federal response was brilliant, either.

-I know its hard to be patient in this sort of scenario, but it's hard to get supplies and transportation in when you struggle to reopen an airport that's been damaged by a hurricane. Now that its fully running again we should see a more rapid influx of relief. That is, if the troops can quell the armed gunmen roving and looting downtown New Orleans.

 

[RedWick]

That is, if the troops can quell the armed gunmen roving and looting downtown New Orleans.

From the impression I've picked up, it was mostly drug addicts who are/were going through withdrawl and not as widespread as one would think.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Any word on how the rest of the relief effort in the South was going? More than just NOLA was hit by the storm...

The company I work for has branches in all the states effected, from what I have been told it is slow and it concerns them that most every media eye is being focused on NOLA not any the other locations but when they see and hear what is going on in NO they are like us. Other states seem to be responding better or at least the people are.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Any word on how the rest of the relief effort in the South was going? More than just NOLA was hit by the storm...

I've heard that things are not much better in some other areas, but they are smaller communities so they don't get the attention. Heard a report from some small town in Mississippi that has been devastated. They say they have no way out, have not seen any relief efforts and he was predicting that if someone doesn't show up soon, they'll be in similar bad situations as N.O. when people start running out of food and water and start trying to take what they need from those who still have stocked supplies.

 

[Rel]

Any word on how the rest of the relief effort in the South was going? More than just NOLA was hit by the storm...

From what I've seen on TV, the coastal areas of Mississippi and part of Alabama are devastated but they are not struggling with the dense population and massive logistical nightmare of New Orleans. Having been through two hurricanes here in NC (ones that were nowhere near this bad however), the typical pattern is to stage personel and materials at the edges of the effected area and begin moving in, clearing roads and bringing aid to those who have damaged homes or flooding problems. But New Orleans is a unique situation because it is so completely surrounded by water.

 

[was]

From the impression I've picked up, it was mostly drug addicts who are/were going through withdrawl and not as widespread as one would think.

-Unfortunately, it's much more than that. Some people down there have viewed the disaster as a free for all. I saw footage of looters stealing televisions, stereos, expensive clothes and sneakers. I understand desparate people looting the grocery stores for food, but the rest is unacceptable. CNN broadcast phone interviews with people still down there, reporting rampant armed thefts of gasoline and carjacking. Half the police department was stuck at the station the previous night after having to repel attackers trying to reach their weapons locker.
-While hospitals and medical personnel have also been attacked for medical supplies, it NOT just a bunch of drug addicts suffering from withdrawal. That's just the mayor's attempt to skirt the issue. Interviews with the governor and police officers down there paint a very different picture.

"# CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street"

" The troops chased gun-toting gangs from the local convention center to deliver the first largescale relief supplies to up to 20,000 survivors huddling in fear and filth." AFP

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I have spent quite some time crying over the past couple days. I have never felt so deeply sorrowful and sickened by a disaster. Everything just seems so horrible, I can hardly wrap my brain around it... and it just continues to get worse.

Last night before I went to bed, I read a report on CNN about gangs of men raping women.

Police officers are simply not doing their duty.

Dead bodies are just being dragged into the corners of any shelter that is housing survivors.

Yesterday at school, I was having lunch with a girlfriend that didn't realize that there *was* a hurricane. I wanted to SLAP her.

My initial sadness was almost entirely centered around the fact that a city so historic, so beautiful could just be eliminate so quickly, so irrevocably. Now, my sadness deepens as it seems that this disaster has brought out the worst in so many people.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/02/katrina.impact/index.html

Earlier, police officers told CNN that some of their fellow officers had simply stopped showing up for duty, cutting manpower by 20 percent or more in some precincts.

Before Thursday night fell, police were stopping anyone they saw on the street and warning them that they were not safe from armed bands of young men who were attacking people and attempting to rape women.