Katrina Live Thread, Part XI

It amazes me how detached from reality the Louisiana governor is. Governor's like her scare me (I have one: Gregoire).

Democrats are by default detached from reality. Another case in point is the bolo tie wearing scumbag Democrat Governor here in Montana.

"Has anyone else noticed that virtually every anchor talking head refers to the water as "dissipating" as if it's going to flow uphill?"

I've noticed it a couple of times. Truly make me wonder how these people filling these high profile jobs can be so ignorant or just senseless.

The scapegoating thing did get to me...I am not looking for a scapegoat..hindsight is always 20/20..but it IS a leaders responsibility to lead...the mayor needed help and he is getting it...but a leader needs to show strength, will, anger when necessary and preparation for the evacuation of his or her city....EVERY MAYOR has this responsibility.

----And I'm tired of having to defend the mayor of a destroyed city just because politics puts him, or you, or whoever on the wrong side of the fence.----

The we-have-to-find-somebody-to-blame whiners ARE getting annoying, aren't they? Free Republic seems to have become Ground Zero for a bunch of Monday-morning quarterbacks who know DICK about New Orleans to complain that people are blaming a person (Bush) for a hurricane, then turn right around and do it themselves where Democrats are involved. All interspersed with snide comments about how they don't want their tax dollars going to people who obviously should have known better than to ever live there in the first place.

Maybe it's politics.... several of these people HAVE suggested that Freepers who aren't signing on to the Nagin/Blanco witch-hunt -- because, well, it's stupid, unfair, and pointless -- must be closet Democrats.

Ironic, as these same people are turning FR into more of a mirror of DU all the time.

-Dan

"To: Tiger Smack

Tiger Smack - I realize you are a very knowledgeable person so maybe you know the condition of my mother's house in Metairie. It is on Catherine Avenue near the Cleary/Clearview/Airline Highway area?"

Metairie is expected to flood to a depth of 9 to 15 feet over the next 8 hours.

Yep. I'm starting to expect John F. Kerry to show up here and tell us all how he would have sprung into action to save New Orleans if only HE'D been mayor. ;)

....Riding in to save the day aboard a Swift Boat.

And they did not even come close to saying it was the worst case scenario.
"A mandatory evacuation in a major US city is a significant order to give. They did it, and were as blunt as could be that people needed to leave."

Yeah, they did it: Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. AFTER the President of the United States called them up and told them to do it.

Good lord. Will someone please correct Howlin on his "facts," I am too utterly sick of this conversation to do it. God bless New Orleans. Many prayers for the people stuck there, God give them strength.

'night.

How many of these people are going to be without an ID????

Thanks for your information.

I will say that liberal San Francisco, California was pretty darn civil during the 1989 earthquake. There was no looting. Everyone was very patient when driving around the area when stopping at lights. The damage was much less, but the people around the Bay Area were really great during the earthquake.

I don't understand the people doing the looting. What scumbags.

Because he wasn't "sure" he had the authority to order an evacuation, so he said.

Mindboggling.

This just posted 20 minutes ago:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1473894/posts

the looting video is beyond ridiculious....cleaning out the entire walmart...loading up their kids with cd's and sneakers and laughing while doing it.

If there was any sanity business men would pull out of that "disadvantaged district" and never return..

let the thugs take the city bus 25 miles to shop if they can't respect their own community better than that

Accountability is the crux of responsibility. You cannot have one, without the other. Every action has a reaction. And every inaction, has a reaction as well.

It is you who is dead wrong.

The mandatory evacuation order was given at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday monring.

And everybody HERE knows it.

Goodnight all. Last update post from me. If no one else posts them, I'll do it in the morning. Prayers for all.

Updates as they come in on Katrina

12:19 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Tom Planchet

12:17 A.M. - Emergency search and rescue phone lines for those in distress: (225) 925-7708 | (225) 925-7709 | (225) 925-3511 | (225) 925-7412

To inquire about those in the area who did not evacuate: American Red Cross, (866) 438-4636.

12:12 A.M. - Info on parish and road access:

St. Charles: Only St. Charles parish residents can return to their homes. There is no power, low fuel and no food. If you must return home, please bring supplies with you. Hwy 90, I-10, Hwy 3127 and Airline are all open. However, there is water on Airline near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.

Terrebonne: No road closures. Use Hwy 90 or the Sunshine Bridge.

Lafourche : As of 2 p.m. Monday, the curfew was lifted. Go directly to your homes. Hwy 1 is closed between Golden Meadow and Grande Isle.

St. James: Open to residents only.

St. John: Open to residents only. You need your ID.

Jefferson: You can return Monday with your ID. You will be allowed to collect your belongings and will not be allowed to return for a month.

Orleans: Closed. The Highrise is not safe to cross. Many parts of I-10 are flooded.

Plaqeumines: Closed.

St. Bernard: Closed.

St. Tammany: I-10 and the Twinspans are destroyed, but the Hwy 11 bridge is intact.

Washington: No information available. Lines are busy!

Tangiphoa: No information available. Lines are busy.

Other road information:

--Hwy 90 between Lafayette and St. Charles Parish line/Lafourche parish line is open.

--Hwy 308/Valentine, south of that area is closed.

--Hwy 3185 (Thibodeaux Bypass) is closed.

--La Bourg Larose Hwy is closed.

11:28 P.M. - (AP) LAFAYETTE, La. -- Parents who had to evacuate because of Hurricane Katrina will be able to register their children for school in Lafayette Parish starting tomorrow.

Burnell Lemoine, deputy superintendent and chief academic officer for the Lafayette Parish School System, says registration ends Thursday and parents will be contacted Friday to let them know what school their children should attend.

He says students should be in classes by Tuesday. The children will be assigned to current schools depending on where they are in homes or shelters.

Heard on local news that LSU will be FEMA's headquarters.

Some other updates:

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

Highlights:

FEMA bringing 2,000 officials to town. Bringing in food, water, ice, tarps. Setting up offices where you can get grants and loans.(perhaps not the most immediate of needs...)

3000 rescued to date

Nine feet of water is expected on St. Charles Avenue (still no idea on the accuracy of these numbers, but St. Charles Ave doesn't appear to get below sea level, and the 9' number is coming from multiple sources, but could originate from a single bad source)

12:12 A.M. - Info on parish and road access:

St. Charles: Only St. Charles parish residents can return to their homes. There is no power, low fuel and no food. If you must return home, please bring supplies with you. Hwy 90, I-10, Hwy 3127 and Airline are all open. However, there is water on Airline near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.

Terrebonne: No road closures. Use Hwy 90 or the Sunshine Bridge.

Lafourche : As of 2 p.m. Monday, the curfew was lifted. Go directly to your homes. Hwy 1 is closed between Golden Meadow and Grande Isle.

St. James: Open to residents only.

St. John: Open to residents only. You need your ID.

Jefferson: You can return Monday with your ID. You will be allowed to collect your belongings and will not be allowed to return for a month.

Orleans: Closed. The Highrise is not safe to cross. Many parts of I-10 are flooded.

Plaqeumines: Closed.

St. Bernard: Closed.

St. Tammany: I-10 and the Twinspans are destroyed, but the Hwy 11 bridge is intact.

Washington: No information available. Lines are busy!

Tangiphoa: No information available. Lines are busy.

Other road information:

--Hwy 90 between Lafayette and St. Charles Parish line/Lafourche parish line is open.

--Hwy 308/Valentine, south of that area is closed.

--Hwy 3185 (Thibodeaux Bypass) is closed.

--La Bourg Larose Hwy is closed.

11:28 P.M. - (AP) LAFAYETTE, La. -- Parents who had to evacuate because of Hurricane Katrina will be able to register their children for school in Lafayette Parish starting tomorrow.

Burnell Lemoine, deputy superintendent and chief academic officer for the Lafayette Parish School System, says registration ends Thursday and parents will be contacted Friday to let them know what school their children should attend.

He says students should be in classes by Tuesday. The children will be assigned to current schools depending on where they are in homes or shelters.

9:23 P.M. - FEMA bringing 2,000 officials to town. Bringing in food, water, ice, tarps. Setting up offices where you can get grants and loans.

9:21 P.M. - (AP) One Mississippi county alone said its death toll was at least 100, 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.

Thirty of the victims in the county were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds.

9:19 P.M. - Lt. Governor Landrieu: Asking hotels in neighboring states to extend stays of refugees and to give them first priority and to possibly offer discounts for extended stays.

9:18 P.M. - Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu: 3000 rescued to date. People taken from rooftops, attics and from water, clinging to inner tubes.

9:17 P.M. - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs and in attics, and so rescue boats were bypassing the dead.

8:04 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Unhappy that the helicopters slated to drop 3,000-pound bags into the levee never showed up to stop the flow of water. Too many chiefs calling shots he says.

7:59 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Pumps at 17th street canal has failed and water will continue pouring into the city. Nine feet of water is expected on St. Charles Avenue that will be nine feet high. Water is expected to spread throughout the east bank of Orleans and possibly Jefferson Parish.

7:39 P.M. - WWL-TV's Karen Swensen - Algiers has downed trees and power lines but for the most part no water in homes. Some roof damage to some homes.

7:35 P.M. - Swensen: Camps on Highway 11 in Slidell are gone.

7:24 P.M. - John Marie of Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office: No one is allowed back into parish. Marshall law in effect. Forty-seven people were rescued by parish officials Monday and several dozen were rescued Tuesday.

7:22 P.M. - Marie: Belle Chasse suffered severe damage. South of Myrtle Grove completely under water. There are some, though unknown number, of dead bodies.

7:20 P.M. - Marie: Those rescued are airlifted to parish's highest point at the levee, dropped there with food and water and then the National Guard picks them up and sends them to the Belle Chasse auditorium. No looting reported.

6:41 P.M. - Efforts to stop the levee break at the 17th Street Canal have ended unsuccessfully and the water is expected to soon overwhelm the pumps in that area, allowing water to pour into the east bank of Metairie and Orleans to an expected height of 12-15 feet.

I think I posted those numbers at 2pm to Free Republic....sheesh

12:17 A.M. - Emergency search and rescue phone lines for those in distress: (225) 925-7708 | (225) 925-7709 | (225) 925-3511 | (225) 925-7412

Ironic, as these same people are turning FR into more of a mirror of DU all the time.

Well, most of us will just have to take your expert opinion about DU.