Hurricane Katrina

[minki]

Hope everyone in her path is getting or has gotten out of her path. And check back in to let us know you're all right!

[Very Young Mr Grace]

Yes indeed.

My thoughts and prayers are with the state of Louisiana.

[Tiddles]

I hope mother nature isn't about to rip apart the lovely city of New Orleans. This planet is really falling apart. Tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, land slides.... :shrug:

[Lucas The Tucas]

I don't wish her on anyone...

My Prayers will be with them...

Lucas :(

[sonosun]

New Orleans is already below sea level. :cry:

[dazzlestar14]

I hope that everybody will be safe from this mess!
My wishes go out to you if you are. :(

[minki]

Everyone I know in LA is in Shreveport--don't know if they're staying or going. It looks like Katrina's going to swing through NW Alabama at one point, so Miss Macinthorpe better check in whenever she can too.

[dazzlestar14]

I just saw a news report and the man who was reporting said that over 10,000 people did not leave the area, and are going to play it at risk. I certainly hope they succeed in that. But apparently there are 5 minute cycles where you get heavy rain 5 minutes, and nothing the next. Too creepy

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

Let's just hope these people will be safe. My thoughts go out to them today !!

[missmacinthorpe]

Well, here I am. :) Lots of wind and driving rain. Thankfully we didn't lose power. I think Ivan blew down every possible tree last year, so there aren't any more trees for subsequent hurricanes to bother. :wink: Still, I'm darn tired of these hurricanes coming inland. :x

[sonosun]

It might be safer in Canada. :lol:

[Tiddles]

Pictures on the news this evening had me in tears. Most of these people are already poor, and with so little left....it's horrifying the things that happen.

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

Hopefully we as Americans can start to worry and take care of our own instead of worrying about the rest of the world.
Horrible situation down South. I feel horrible for the families that lost everything, I feel for the loss of life. I don't know what else to say...

[Old Mr. Grace]

I was horrified by all the looting that's going on. A CNN reporter actually inteviewed a woman who was pushing a shopping cart full of stuff from a Walmart in New Orleans.

The reporter asked the woman if she lived around here. And the woman's exact words were: "No, I came down here when I heard what was going on. I had to get me some of this. I might come back again later." :x

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

I was horrified by all the looting that's going on. A CNN reporter actually inteviewed a woman who was pushing a shopping cart full of stuff from a Walmart in New Orleans.

The reporter asked the woman if she lived around here. And the woman's exact words were: "No, I came down here when I heard what was going on. I had to get me some of this. I might come back again later." :x

We need Marshall Law and snipers !!!

[Tiddles]

When given the "ok" I think people will steal anything they can get their hands on. I can see giving people full reign to take water, baby formula, sanitary supplies. But when you see people who have NO HOMES ANYMORE taking stereos, etc. it makes me want to throw up. PUT IT BACK!! :x

[Lucas The Tucas]

:( MMMMM______I guess that we will always have our "TRASH"...in this world... :(

Lucas

[Very Young Mr Grace]

Well said Tiddles.

If they are fighting for survival I can understand why they are taking food from shelves in grocery stores that are practically devastated, but to swipe jewelry and electronics at a time like this is beyond me.

What the heck is someone gonna do with an RCA TV and a toaster in the middle of a flood?

Also, TV reporters talked about hospital workers taking breaks from their shifts, going outside to clear their minds and getting held up at gunpoint by looters and carjackers wanting their vehicles.

Insane.

[Tiddles]

Hospitals have been looted for drugs. People are also looting guns. This situation is the worst thing I have ever heard of here in the USA in my 45 years here. It's not like 911...where people were banding together and helping each other. You wonder where the looters are storing all their ill gained goods. Maybe it just makes them feel better to hold products in their hands for a few minutes, instead of using their able bodies to pull some victims out of their collapsed homes. People make me sick. :roll:

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

People make me sick. :roll:

This is why
1. I don't watch worldly events and
2. I love my cats.

[Lucas The Tucas]

:( It seems that I spoke to quick ! :(

We didn't seed that thing..And let it hit a MAJOR CITY...

We didn't call out the National Guard untill Monday Night...10,000 of them...

And some are still not there...They are coming from all over the states...

But we had 1550 to send to Iraq last week... :shrug:

We didn't have them and SUPPLIES on stand by...

We need 40-50,000 National Guard troops ...But they are in IRAQ...

Instead of home...Hence NATIONAL...

:( Some people have been over 3 days without "DRINKING WATER,FOOD, CLOTHES,A PLACE TO SLEEP, AND BATHE AND BE ABLE TO TALK TO THEIR LOVED ONES"...AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES... :(

LUCAS THE TUCAS

You know if I was there, I might have an attitude too... :x

As far as seeding them...Seed-um and don't say anything...

[sonosun]

You know if I was there, I might have an attitude too...
:x

That's really not like you Lucas. :lol:

[Lucas The Tucas]

I'm not for the LOOTING, But in this case if some one is after food or water or maybe "some"clothes...{not all}.

I would find it hard to go after them...

But guns and TV's and ect....No Way !

After H. Alicia in 1983 ?? We were with out electricity for 13 days...And the light co. substation was 200 yards away...And other houses 1/4 of a mile from me had power in 2 days...They were on another road...

Lucas :(

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

I guess this is where the Wibster gets on his soap box.
The Government is out on their vacations and some might return by the weekend. Funny that how in a major disaster like this, they might come back but when the Terry Schivo thing was going on, they were there sticking their nose in that.
As Lucas said, we can deploy all these troops in a foreign country in the wink of an eye yet not in our own country.
Tons of money is handed out to other countries that will never do anything for the USA, we are still the bad guy in their eyes but we have a hard time doing anything for our own country.

Unrelated but what the Hell, I'm pissed off !!! President Bush says he will graciously release some of the surplus oil America has. PEOPLE !!! We pump enough oil in this country to keep us warm, gassy and happy for quite a while. Unfortunetly, the government thinks we should ship out all our oil so the Arabs can regulate the prices.
I'll now step down.....

[Tiddles]

Amen Bruvvah Greg! That area is in a state of turmoil and anarchy, and NO one's mind is at peace. Like the bumper sticker says "Don't blame ME....I didn't vote for him!"

[sonosun]

Seems to me that in times when Martial Law is declared and the Military is sent in the operative command is that those caught looting will be shot on sight. :eek:

[Lucas The Tucas]

The news is that some more Natioal Guard Troops are getting to "N.O." today...

:? And over half of them are coming back straight from IRAQ...And we still don't have the 10,000 that are going to be sent... :?

Four and a half days after the fact... :shrug:

Lucas :(

[Very Young Mr Grace]

Let's not forget that New Orleans had funds appropriated to them over 40 years ago, according to FEMA, for the reconstruction of the levees around the city. Each year passed and nothing was done about them; no reinforcements, no additional barriers, nothing. In 2001 the National Hurricane Center put New Orleans on the top of a short list of cities that needed to revisit their "weather walls", if you will, but this did not happen. They waited, and waited and waited....still no improvements. Then the tragedy struck last week. Why did the city not use those funds to improve their walls when they had half a century to use them, and received increases in the mid-1990's?

Whether you agree with the war or not, even if we had a million peacetime troops in the U.S., you still cannot get them into a city that is 80% covered in standing water. All the helicopters and surplus trucks in the world cannot maneuver their way through floods of that calibur. Dry land is needed to post base operations and send food & water to refugees while coordinating rescue efforts. The brave men and women of the Coast Guard risked their lives to pluck survivors from roofs and blast them out of attics. That's worth something in it's own.

I can also play the political card. The mayor of N.O. is a Democrat, as is the current governor. There are thousands of school buses throughout the city that could have evacuated the poor in the days before the hurricane, but the mayor was too busy getting himself out of town and did not allow this to happen. True, there were sparse areas where public transportation was free, but this wasn't on a massive city-wide scale. Mayor Nagin and the governor could but if he apparently knew so much before the event, as he claims to, then why wasn't the manditory evacuation made earlier? He didn't even approve the Super Dome to be used as a shelter until Katrina had torn through town. Nagin and the governor can point fingers at the President all they want, and Jesse Jackson can continue to rant about "racism" being a factor, but N.O. could have done far more themselves.

Yes, I agree that we have to help ourselves first before we aid other countries, but it's interesting how others view that as "selfish" and "smug", which brings an isolationist label to the U.S. Several groups such as H.R.N. and Amnesty International had lobbied Clinton for years to assist Africa with the AIDS crisis. He gave what was a fair amount, in my opinion. Amnesty said more was needed, so Bush gave much more, but now he's being criticized for doing so, along with the Tsunami efforts. It's funny to hear a political party rant on about how our leaders never help anyone in times of trouble, but then when they do, the same party bashes them for giving our money away.

I guess we'll never really know what happens on the "boardroom" level.....



:mrgreen:

[minki]

I agree with you, VYMG, especially on the fact that it takes time for help to reach an area that is below sea level and which has been decimated by a Category 5 hurricane. Considering that the effects of Katrina were being felt in a 200-300 mile radius, it's not as though we could have people sitting in the next state waiting for the storm to pass so they could run in the second it went by--the next state was being battered with the storm too, as well as the one next to that one. Yet critics think that the National Guard should have been able to teleport in.

I know that when people are suffering, immediately isn't soon enough. But people also need to be realistic--the resucers have to get through floodwaters and debris to reach them. And it would also help if those stranded would stop shooting at those who are risking their own lives to help rescue them.

I'm getting fed up with the fact that people seem to be using Katrina as their latest tool to promote their agendas. It makes me wonder if they're hoping that people stay in dire straits as long as possible, just so they can get all the mileage they can out of it for their grandstanding. I had to stop watching the news because of that. It's sad what our world has come to. And what is worse, I think this would have happened no matter what party was in charge of the administration. It just would have been different people yelling.

Anyhow...

We got a few thousand victims that have been relocated to our town. I cleaned out the closets and sent to the shelter a few large bags of clothing. I hope they'll be able to get good use out of them.

[Greg WibblyWobbly]

I'm getting fed up with the fact that people seem to be using Katrina as their latest tool to promote their agendas. It makes me wonder if they're hoping that people stay in dire straits as long as possible, just so they can get all the mileage they can out of it for their grandstanding. I had to stop watching the news because of that.

Especially now that this whole Hurricane only happened for "racial" reasons. I find that one a bit hard to swallow. Then you have the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton putting their two cents in. We needed that you know. Wasn't enough chaos going on down there.... :roll:

[frankdicer]

History repeats itself....

Odd as it may seem....the 1906 fire in San Fransisco spawned some of the
worst looting ever...It has been documented that people from CHICAGO boarded trains and headed to SF to get in on the fun.

And the question being asked at the time was ," should we even try to
rebuild it"

Of course, as long as you are dealing with people, things are going to
repeat themselves.

My heart goes out to all the people affected there...yes even the looters.
I in no way condone looting, but I still feel for the people doing it.
But as Tiddles says, taking water, food to survive is one thing. Stereos, guns,
cars, jewelry, money etc. is just debased thievery.

[Lucas The Tucas]

Any Looters trying to hop a train from the Houston area are out of luck...

They are not going there very much now...

If they were not UNDER right now it would be 8-15 an hour going there from Houston on Sunday afternoon and night...

Not counting the other ones and times...

Lucas :shrug:

[sonosun]

Most of the evacuees that had been relocated to my city have moved out of the local Domed Stadium. Many of them have found jobs and are planning to stay here. Thirty families have been given apartments by the small city where I work. My employer has donated pillows and blankets and paper goods and socks and underwear and sleeping bags and a bunch of other household items to those families. We have been selling nachos at lunch time to raise money for the Hurricane relief.

[lovepink]

I hope that all the people will be ok in the future and i hope the people in louisana and in alabama and also will in texas for Hurricane Rita.