Posted on 09/19/2005 5:21:23 AM PDT by CobaltBlue
As she took that first call from a woman trapped in her 9th Ward attic, 911 operator Lechia Allen ached with the grim realization that the next call would be the same. And the next. And the next. She couldn't do a thing for any of them.
Working in the downtown 911 center at Broad and Gravier streets, next to the Falstaff antenna, Allen knew police wouldn't respond to calls while the winds of Hurricane Katrina roared. She knew the rescue operation wouldn't start for hours and, in many cases, days. Laboring under the heavy weight of helplessness, all Allen and her 120 fellow operators could do was listen to the terrifying tales of rising waters, raging fires and parents holding their children toward the skies, above the floodwaters.
"They heard people taking their last breaths. They heard people holding children up in the peak of the attics, and dropping children in the water and watching them drown," said New Orleans Police Capt. Steve Gordon, chief of the 911 center."
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
It didn't flood until after the storm passed did it?
That's what I thought. There wasn't any rising water until the next day after the storm.
Imagine going through a hurricane, and then a flood, no food or water, no shelter, violence and chaos all around you.
And then, trying to escape from hell on earth, imagine being shot at by the police as you tried to get help.
The hurricane itself brought high water all over low lying parts of the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines -- it's called a "storm surge." Completely submerged thousands of houses.
Katrina had the highest storm surge ever measured in this area.
Then, after the storm passed, there was a second flood, caused by the flood walls of several outfall canals failing.
Imagine morons shooting at emergency personnel, so as to delay the rescue.
New Orleans east flooded during the storm as the storm surge hit during the middle of the hurricane...no levee break, levees got topped.
Wrong. It came in two stages. First, the flooding caused by the hurricane itself.
Second, the flooding caused when the canal walls broke.
No, that is incorrect. The hurricane itself flooded parts of the city, most notably the 9th Ward & East New Orleans, and then the levees broke and flooded most of the rest.
“Help me to evacuate... I know we have buses available!”
Imagine, if only the mayor and gov had carried out the evacuation plans and buses had taken these people out before the storm hit.
But then, the mayor was probably on the phone with his real estate agent in Dallas... alas
Are ya'll having a contest for "Hard-tail of the Year"?
I give these people all the credit in the world. I don't know if I could have done it. I used to be a telephone operator, and not often, but once in awhile we'd get calls where someone was screaming and pleading for help. It's gut-wrenching. But that pales in comparison to getting one call after another after another.
Imagine knowing for at least a day or two that you'll have to leave your home and then going to a shelter without bringing so much as a jug of water or peanut butter sandwich in which to sustain yourself. And then imagine blaming others for your lack.
Imagine NOT leaving your BELOW-SEA-LEVEL city BEFORE a category 4-5 hurricane hit.
At some point, personal responsibility has GOT to play a part.
Imagine being told that you've been volunteered to pay for rebuilding a corrupt city that refused to take care of its own. I thought W was supposed to be a conservative...
Nagin and Blanco should have to listen to the calls over and over.
>>>And then, trying to escape from hell on earth, imagine being shot at by the police as you tried to get help.>>>
That is the criminal part, and I whoever is responsible pays for it. It's one thing to be unable to evacuate, it's another to be held back at gunpoint. Those people took their chances on the hurricane and one that battle. They didn't win the battle of the levees and years of corruption that left them in that situation. Maybe one sad lesson in this is that you don't vote for the politician who promises the most monetary gains by electing them, but the one who will let you take care of yourself. For some though, that is a foreign concept.
There are those however who were stuck by circumstance. Disabled, elderly, tourists, etc... that is even sadder. Hell, it's all sad.
I wasn't told I had to leave my common sense at the door before checking in.
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