Governor says entire city (New Orleans) needs to be evacuated

wwltv.com ^ | 04:36 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 | Associated Press

[gondramB]

With conditions in the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans rapidly deteriorating, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday that everyone still in the city, now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers, needs to be evacuated.

"The situation is untenable," Blanco said, pausing to choke back tears at a news conference. "It's just heartbreaking."

The breach of two levees Tuesday meant the city was rapidly filling with water and the prospect of having power was a long time off, the governor said. She said the storm also severed a major water main, leaving the city without drinkable water.

"The goal is to bring enough supplies to sustain the people until we can establish a network to get them out," Blanco said.

FEMA is considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, or so-called floating dormitories, boats FEMA normally uses to house its own employees, said Coordinating Director Bill Lokey.

[gondramB]

I'm an ammature hurricane photographer - we "chase" a couple of hurricanes a year. But I stayed the heck away from this one - I understood the historical nature of atmospheric pressures that low and the greography around New Orleans- but lots of people don't.

Also, when we go into or out of a hurricane area we are prepared to pay more for everything - food,water, hotels, rental cars - we figure a couple hundred dollars a day. Seriously poor people without their own cars might not be able to handle to costs.

[silentknight]

Quote These "citizens" of New Orleans include a very high percentage of people who stayed behind specifically to loot jewelry stores and get rich quick, no different than the phoney contractors who will be showing up next month to do the same.


Total BS. A VERY high percentage? Come on. Back that up with some real facts. You are just spouting off. LARGE numbers of people did not stay behind to loot. A HANDFULL of people are doing all of this. Thousands of people are NOT looting. You could prob count them more like DOZENS of people are looting.

If you are going to make statements like that then you need to have something to back up the comments.

People can post anything they want...pure opinion on your part.

[Boardwalk]

I agree, the majority without means went to the dome. The had no nefarious plans.

[PAR35]

I can report that the GNO bridge, which is 4 hwy and 2 railroad lanes

Are you sure about that? I don't think there are tracks on the GNO. The trains still use the Huey Long (which I would predict to be even more sturdy than the GNO.)

[Coop]

I see no plans being executed.

That's because you're blind and only intent on throwing around criticism from your sanitized living room/den.

• Bus service to the poor was a plan.
• Superdome as a shelter was a plan.
• Food/water to thousands and thousands was a plan.

  With your insane tagline, I'm not even going to waste anymore time on you. Oh, if only the rest of us were as brilliant as you, Your Majesty!

[Anticommie]

Gee thanks for that little contribution.

You're welcome.

[Anticommie]

Gee thanks for that little contribution.

You're welcome.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

I will bet you the family farm that the amount of looters numbers far more than your "dozens". I say it will be in the hundreds, possibly thousands, before this is over.

I can also tell you that there are huge numbers of phoney contractors who have been waiting around all over the country since the hurricane season of last year in Florida to jump on the next natural disaster.

And, I can tell you that as the hurricane approached New Orleans, many future looters went into planning mode about how to avoid the evacuation and how to be set up to loot jewelry stores once the hurricane hit.

This is an awful side of life today, but this is the truth.

[alarm rider]

I see that you are getting flamed, but I see your point.

Election to office because of gender, race, etc. as opposed to perceived competence comes back to bite you in the butt, every time.

There was time to think in the abstract, to prepare a plan based on worse possible scenario. That's what public elected officials are supposed to do. That is their job. They might have been wrong, but there needed to be some adult leadership given the geographical situation and what has been for sometime, the probable outcome if the worst happened. It was a known factor, the population would have been warned and advised what would happen if a threat showed itself.

With something like a hurricane, and all the information that is available, and with the power available to governors and local officials, there is very little wiggle room for Ms. Blanco, or the Mayor.

I do not feel sorry for the people that were too shortsighted, too ignorant, too dependent on the public teat, etc., and those types will always be with us.

There are indeed people there who needed help, and deserved help.

[fortunecookie]

Yet those who chose to stay are surely doomed. 9 more feet, is that what I heard? This will cover many more structures. It is heartbreaking. And unimaginable. I hope they can get to everyone.

[fortunecookie]

Too little, to late, incompetent and irresponsible b*tch!

Yes. Sadly, yes. And now she's all teary about it.

And the Bush bashing is already starting, like he told them to stay or something.

[Lady Heron]

Are they giving up entirely? In the 1993 floods in Des Moines, St Louis and elsewhere seems like the governments and citizens busted their butts to fix the levees and save the towns.

The difference being they knew in advance what was coming and they could truck both dirt and sand in to the needed areas before being hit and still many places did not hold. New Orleans has very few routs left open to truck that much material in when so many need to be gotten out not to mention it is now to late.

[No Blue States]

They are not collecting bodies because they have to rescue people on roofs 1st.

PS: Shot officer expected to survive. Looters responsible.

Important pump failure, NO East bank will reach lake Ponchatrain level.
(the dreaded bowl effect)
Mayor: 9-10 feet higher. West bank is safe.

Sandbags never got to 17th st canal. Helicopters needed may have been busy rescuing.

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad

[Gvl_M3]

I didn't catch this in the thread, but who is she telling?

It's not like the people that need to be evacuated have a TV or Radio to listen to her.

Are they just going through the city on boats with a bullhorn?

Seems to be a little grandstanding on her part.

This should have read:
"Govenor says they are in the process of evacuating and moving the rest of the people out of NO."

[eeriegeno]

If I build a house on a muddy hill in California, I can expected that someday it may be destroyed by a mudslide. If I build a house on the San Andreas fault line, I can assume that there is good probabilty that the house will be destroyed by an earthquake. If I build a house on the banks of the Mississippi, I can expect that it will occasionally be flooded. If I build a house below sea level in New Orleans, which I know is an area that could be affected by hurricanes, I must be insane??????

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

And the Bush bashing is already starting, like he told them to stay or something.

Didn't you know that Halliburton secretly caused this hurricane from Dick Cheney's basement with top secret weather control devices so they could make George Bush's oil buddies rich? Jeb Bush had no busniess letting that hurricane get past Florida in the first place...

[TeleStraightShooter]

The Marine Amphibious base in Norfolk Va has a fleet of landing craft sitting idle could be put to use.

I do not know if they could be mobilized in time. It there not thousands of swamp boats in La.?

[Surtur]

quote This is incredible. They act like there is no plan. The mayor and governor are grasping and wet and soggy straws. I bet there is no plan as all that money spent for consultants over the eyars just lined bank accounts of corrupt cronies. /quote

Oh, they have a plan alright.

Step 1: PANIC

Step 2: Expect the Federal gov. to fix it all for them.

[Flux Capacitor]

----Many were blasting the government and government officials with incompetence before there was any damage and others engaged in a war of words over silly, petty matters. I had to stop reading the continuing hurricane thread b/c there was so much hate being posted.----

My favorites have been the Monday-morning meteorologists from Iowa, who've never been in one of these storms in their lives, that have decided a Category 4 hurricane was the fault of politicians, and that a disaster 300 years in the making can be directly assigned to whoever happens to be in office now.

I've hated KKKathleen Blanco from day one, but Hurricane Katrina is NOT her fault. Nor is it the fault of Ray Nagin, nor Mary Landrieu, nor any other Democrat politician we don't like. This is the mirror image of what we hear spewed from those DU numbnuts. When we start declaring that if people die in this then "Nagin will have blood on his hands", as has been stated elsewhere, we really do sound like DUmmies.

I'm also getting tired of Freepers bitching about the prospect of federal aid being sent to New Orleans because they don't want to be responsible for bailing out "irresponsible" people. THESE folks sound like Michael Moore right after the last election.

-Dan

[fortunecookie]

Didn't you know that Halliburton secretly caused this hurricane from Dick Cheney's basement with top secret weather control devices so they could make George Bush's oil buddies rich? Jeb Bush had no busniess letting that hurricane get past Florida in the first place...

Wow, (smacking palm on forehead), how could I be so silly? That's what I get, for not believing what the news people and Sen Landrieu and others have been saying. How naive could I be?! I'd better turn off that Foxnews. /sarcasm

ROFLMAO! Excellent.