Posted on 08/30/2005 4:08:23 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at wwltv.com ...
With a special appearance by Pete Fountain.
I agree with that. Why rebuild New Orleans? It is below sea level, and it should have never been built.
Why build a city on Mount St. Helens? What is the difference?
Condoms? Hey that's very safety conscious...I mean what are you going to do when there is no TV, RAdio, phone?
Sudafed might help allergies....hard to set up a meth lab with no electricity. I'm not saying I would be looting..but anyone who is in that Hell Zone is hardly thinking or behaving clearly. I would rather see people taking "things" than taking it out on each other with violence.
I heard on Fox that the Wallmarts invited people to come in and take whatever they needed. Like what are these stores going to do with most of the supplies after 2 months? Also that many are sharing things they take. Besides, what are they supposed to do? Go to the checkout counter and "buy' the condoms, diapers or TP? there aren't any functioning businesses ANYWHERE in NO.
Let's keep a perspective. This is not rioting and violence.
One can have compassion and empathy for the citizens of New Orleans, including those who stayed behind, while being dismayed and amazed at the lack of evac planning and foresight exhibited by their leadership. Its nice to be nice but it doesn't save lives. Planning, organization and execution do.
If an earthquake hits Memphis, Tennessee, it will make NO look like a cakewalk. Everyone has the temerity to point a finger but it is overtly obvious the reasons for the lawlessness.
CNN just reported that refugees (yes, they used that term) are car-jacking cars to try and get themseleves out of the city. the reporters have been warned not to drive anywhere.
Looting is said to be wide-spread as well.
All hell is breaking loose.
I believe this was the same thing that was said days ago. Yet many morons never bothered to listen.
NO is a major seaport and historic site
In a perfect world that would be the logical thing to do ... however, NO has never experienced a calamity of this magnitude before ... people will refuse to budge, unless they've had a recent experience to relate to and even then ... many would stay behind. Disease, related to a flood event, will be the next major issue to address in New Orleans. This will be a protracted and costly recovery.
Sitting back in their limos, snorting Coke, and bitching that its all Bush's fault.
WWLTV:
ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 12-15 FEET OF WATER ARE EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK.
This situation is soooo unbelievable. The possibility of this happening in New Orleans has been discussed for decades. You can't tell me that there wasn't an emergency contingency plan lying around somewhere. Obviously, the city/state leadership is ignoring it.
God bless all out on the lines working to clean up this mess, but I am overwhelmed by the poor planning of the city and state administration.
My gosh! That was what I have been thinking about since yesterday. The No Man's Land scenario after the earthquake devastates Gotham, where basically any people staying behind have to fend for themselves without any intervention from the govt.
And they can't figure out when to set aside politics.
Of course people will always stay behind, the gamblers and those without means. Yet, if all of those people left at the same time, maybe the majority would not have fared as well. I just can't see how blaming is helping right now. Think positive thoughts!
You kidding?
It was a mistake from the start. It was a time bomb waiting to happen. You want this to happen again?
They would spend $300 billion or so to rebuild New Orleans, just so Hurricane Hillary can smack them five years from now and we go through the same thing all over again.
One of the responsibilities of a leader is to make tough decisions. I say New Orleans should be abandoned, unless they can figure out how to bring a couple trillion cubic yards of landfill in to build it on a hill (that ain't happening).
Your reasoning sounds like a Democrat--"we know it is a problem, but this is the way it has been and we need to keep doing it the same way."
I strongly disagree.
Can there be any doubt that a made for TV movie is on the way?
I don't know.
Last year here in PSL Florida, the authorities entered a lot of closed stores and just took stuff that they felt was needed.
Seems that they have that power when an emergency is declared, but it did make me raise an eyebrow.
Look, let's not be naive.
There are many thousands of people who WANT to say behind so they can loot.
Many of these people who stayed wanted to have as much chaos as possible so they could hide their tracks after their looting. Many of the fires you see are looters covering their tracks.
There are also many flim-flam people who have been waiting a year since the hurricane to strike another part of America with their phoney contractor license after a natural disaster.
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.
"NOLA in fact has been deteriorating for years. This is the final blow. It's a human and economic nightmare, from which the city will never recover. "
I think the faliure to jump on the levee break is an urban renewal plan- all the worst areas are low income and downtown and french quarter are only knee deep if not dry (as is Super Dome).
These neighborhoods wil be bulldozed and never replaced (except with highrise with parking only on lower levels)
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