Posted on 09/26/2005 3:57:05 PM PDT by Daralundy
CREOLE, La. (AP) -- With Hurricane Rita's floodwaters receding along the Texas-Louisiana coast Monday, rescuers pushed deeper into hard-hit bayous to pull out residents on skiffs, crews struggled to clean up the tangle of smashed homes and downed trees, and Army helicopters searched for up to 30,000 stranded cattle.
The death toll from the second devastating hurricane in a month rose to seven with the discovery in a Beaumont, Texas, apartment of five people - a man, a woman and three children - who apparently were killed by carbon monoxide from a generator they were running indoors after Rita knocked out the electricity.
While residents of the Texas refinery towns of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange were blocked from returning to their homes because of the danger of debris-choked streets and downed power lines, authorities in Louisiana were unable to keep bayou residents from venturing in on their own by boat to see if Rita wrecked their homes.
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My hubby just flew into Dallas with his DMAT. Wonder where he will go.
I realize that I am being cruel and insensitive, but this entire family deserves a darwin award.
I can personally tell you that, as if common sense weren't enough, EVERY tv, radio, newspaper or other type of local media in LA was advising against indoor generator use in the days following Katrina and leading up to Rita. The generator, no doubt, had BIG YELLOW WARNING STICKERS with the same recommendation.
Is there no end to the idiocy of some people.
Accidents are just that! And can happen to anyone.
My 24 year old son evacuated with his fiance and their cats. They live in my Lake Jackson TX house while I am in Calif. They made it to Austin fine, they left EARLY in the week for Austin. They got home to LJ tonight about 6 pm. All is well there. The house is fine and my son and family are all fine. We didn't sleep all last week, not at all, we were so worried. God bless everyone hit or touched by the two hurricanes. It has been a nightmare.
I mentioned to my son today that they didn't need to evacuate, after all, since the storm didn't hit our town, Lake Jackson TX. But IF it had made a direct hit there as a cat. 5 or above, it would have wiped out the entire town and most of the county. So he is still glad he left, just in case. Better to be safe than sorry. We first moved to LJ in 1973 and have only evacuated twice before now. And in 1983 he was too young to remember. He had to do this on his own. Had to put patio furn. in garage, and make sure things were put up, or tied down in the yard. He didn't have time to board up the windows. Glad he didn't need to. But now he knows how to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. One secret is to leave EARLY - AHEAD of the RUSH.
Thankfully, lessons learned without dire consequences.
I am saying that IMHO, deaths from carbon monoxide created by running a generator in the house are as accidental as those caused by operating a radial saw while sitting in a tub full of water. These deaths are indeed tragic, much of the tragedy being how easily preventable they were.
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