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Posted on 09/01/2005 3:46:26 PM PDT by NautiNurse
28,000 National Guard troops are deployed to the disaster areas in Mississippi, Alabama, and to Louisiana, where SWAT teams are working to combat the looters and shooters in New Orleans. Additional 1400 National Guard troops are being deployed daily.
Shootings reported at a New Orleans hospital, rescue boats, and a military helicopter, while conditions continue to deteriorate at the SuperDome amid refugee deaths and chaos. Evacuation of New Orleans continues.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert has voiced serious doubts about rebuilding New Orleans with federal funds, while assuring the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that the United States Congress stands ready to help them in their time of need. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS."
Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, "We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us," said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the largest of two public hospitals.
The Port of New Orleans is now open to shallow draft vessels. Congress is reconvening in an emergency session. International offers to assist the U.S. have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States.
Jesse Jackson has arrived in Louisiana...
Links to various news, local and state government websites:
WLOX TV Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagula has link to locate family and friends
2theAdvocate - Baton Rouge Includes Slidell, St. John Parish, St. Bernard Parish updates, and other locations.
NOLA.com
Inside Houma Today includes shelter and volunteer updates
WLBT.com Jackson MS
WALA Channel 4 Mobile, AL Includes links to distribution centers, Emergency Ops, etc.
Sun-Herald Gulfport MS Includes link to town by town reports
Gulfport News via Topix.net
WAFB Baton Rouge
Mobile Register via al.com
Mississippi updates via Jackson Ledger
Lafayette LA Daily Advertiser
Pensacola News Journal
St Bernard Local Government
Alabama Homeland Security Volunteers can sign up online
Alabama DOT
Alabama.gov
Louisiana Homeland Security
Louisiana State Police road closure info
State of Mississippi Website has traffic alerts, emergency contact numbers
Streaming Video:
WWL-TV (via CBS): WWLTV via CBS
WWL-TV Now via WFAA Dallas **NEW LINK**: http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/bi/video/makeadplaylist.pl?title=beloint_wfaa&live=yes
WDSU-TV: http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx
WPMI-TV: http://www.wpmi.com/mediacenter/default.aspx?videoId=113739
WKRG-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518
WTOK-TV Temporarily Not Live Streaming (follow the link on the home page): http://www.wtok.com/
WJTV-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95563
Louisiana Statewide Katrina Network (WJBO-AM Baton Rouge): http://ccri.eonstreams.com/ccri_la_batonrouge_wjbo_am.asf
Gulf Coast Storm Network (radio): http://www.stormalert.net/main.html#
Louisiana Scanner
Related FR Threads:
FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread FReeper Check In thread
Discussion Thread - Hurricane Katrina - What Went Wrong?!?
Post Hurricane Katrina IMAGES Here
Looting Begins In New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina HOUSING Thread
Martial Law Declared in New Orleans
Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.
www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow, and lines are busy
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/
Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Party XII
Katrina Live Thread, Part XI
Katrina Live Thread, Part X
Katrina Live Thread, Part IX
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12
Sadly smiling while remembering....you are a hero to me always.
"It's like we're in Afghanistan," said Lisa Washington of Algiers, who came to the Dome with a large group from the Lafitte housing development. "People are getting raped. People are getting killed. People are getting diseases. We're fighting for our lives right now."
As in days past, many in the crowd said elected officials should be held to account for the debacle.
"There's no leadership," said Zachary Smith, who evacuated from his home in Mid-City. "None. Where's the mayor? Where's the City Council? They all want to come to the 'hood when they need a vote. Where are they now? We need them.
"When we get back," he added, "I'll be out with a picket sign right in front of City Hall."
I do hope those on the ultra-right and ultra-left, the looney tunes types always shrieking that "They're going to round us all up and put us into camps!", learn something from this fiasco: Our government and military don't have the organizational ability or the political will to impose martial law, no matter the circumstances. If they can't even pull it off in a mostly empty and decimated New Orleans, how could they ever do it nationwide against a well-fed and well-armed populace?
hehe, it's late and i'm cranky...
of course we'll rebuild, it's what we do...
but basically everything i said will occur.
The LA machine will get rich, rebuilding will drag on for decades, money will simply disappear, people will wink and nod and smile all the way to the bank, and on and on and on...
and then, lord help us, the lawyers will get started.....
Speaking of Memphis, this is from one of the Memphis news outlets:
"Two thousand hurricane evacuees are on their way to Memphis. It's estimated there are already 10,000 evacuees in the city. Their new home will be the Memphis Coliseum"
Also, I think part of the Army units has been sent to the military base near Memphis. It was a unit that had been based down on the Gulf Coast, but base was damaged in storm. Can't totally verify that yet, however.
No more blood for beads!
thanks for the laugh
I think Terri went over the top on that poll at 5 AM.
I'm asking her prayers tonight for all those people starving and suffering thirst in New Orleans.
I think they put too many people in one place for this to work for more than a few days. But at least they have power and toilets and food and water.
If I were king I would have sent a few thousand to many locations...let them ease into the local population and be diluted by the people around them. Get jobs and hopefully stay....and change their previous lifestyles.
Good choice!
"They should have just taken out the women and children, perhaps dogs too, for now."
That was our thought too; children, the ill, elderly and women first.
And quite the contrast to the scanner reports of folks actually putting their lives on the line to solve the problem that most listeners are expressing.
One of the things I noticed living in Florida during hurricanes is that no one waited to be told what to do or when help would arrive. We just took care of it.
Trees in the road? Break out the chainsaw. Etc.
Pitiful? No, an air-drop mission like that would be murderous, criminal. I would not order it or allow it. A mob of people in the drop zone can't move quickly enough to get out from under the pallets.
I have experience with air-drop missions in Vietnam. We air-dropped supplies on pallets into Special Forces camps under seige, but the defenders were in deep foxholes so they couldn't get hit by the pallets.
Your comment on the deployment of troops is as bit off. 6,200 troops were deployed in a four state coastal area the day Katrina hit land. 124,000 Guard troops were available in 17 states for the area affected by the hurricane for relief and security operations. Guard units have been deployed from every State in the Union & Puerto Rico. The only places with no units deployed are Hawaii & Guam. Active Coast Guard, ANG & Naval personnel were deployed immediately. The hurricane did not only affect the coastal areas, but as far inland as the Ohio River Valley. We have a sales rep. in MS that lives 200 miles from the coast. They had extensive wind damage, toppling their chimney, no power until late this afternoon, sept. 1, and trees and powerlines down all over. No gasoline was available for purchase for hundreds of miles around. An NG convoy heading south for the coastal area was hampered by road blocks in the form of large trees, downed power lines, flooded underpasses, abandoned cars and trucks, etc. They had to unload heavy equipment on rte. 49 in a National forest area just to clear the roads of hundreds of downed trees and other debri. It is no easy task to mobilize thousands of troops on short order. By definition Guard soldiers are citizen soldiers, and those not already on active duty have to be called up, pulled away from their jobs and family and get ready to deploy. A day before the Hurricane hit a train convoy was on its way to LA from Ft. Hood, Texas, with heavy equipment on board. A fleet of 60 Texas State Trooper squad cars were on their way from Texas to LA, bringing their guns and ammo with them. Hundreds of other stories will be told of efforts to help those in need in this crisis. One story that has yet to be told is the response of fire fighting and hazmet units that are going to be needed badly as this disaster unfolds further
The biggest problem I see with respect to NO is not calling for a mandatory evacuation earlier. If a CAT5 hurricane hit NO head on with full force the place might well have been leveled completely. They certainly knew the track of Katrina well before it hit, and the NHC was spot on in its prediction, even forecasting the late NE turn which probably saved a lot of lives in NO, but devastated the MS coast. If they had called the evacuation 24 hours earlier they might have been able to use the hundreds of school buses now under water to transport people to safety.
I have no clue as to when and how many troops NO requested at the outset. The mayor could have asked for 100,000 but logistics would dictate a much smaller number could be deployed initially.
While it is true that many people stayed or were left behind because they chose to ride the storm out, protect property, could not get a ride out, or were infirmed at various facilities. That was their choice or fate, and there is nothing I can offer them but hope. As for the looters and criminals many will be found and procecuted. For those thugs with rifles, shot guns and pistols, they are no match for NG troops, many of whom have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and know full well the face of battle. If there are any spider holes left in NO the thugs better find them quick.
Although my cousins in Pensacola were on the far Eastern track of the storm at landfall, the decision for them was easy, get out of the way and fast, and they did as soon as Katrina hit Florida and continued tracking west. Everyone should do the same when facing a similar decision.
Prayers for everyone in Katrina's path. They will need every last one they can get.
Yeah, triage!!! It's an old concept, but apparently no one in management in NO has heard of it.
I know! And from what I saw on the networks tonight, that's just what is happening in all the areas except NO.
We had long lines here today for gas and also at the grocery store. People are stocking up just in case.
As for hoodlums, I think the culture has turned so violent over the past 25 years that normal life is over.
Significant numbers of the New Orleans police walked away from the job. Unreal.
Trees in the road? Break out the chainsaw. Etc.
Needs repeating
and given the clear thought and reason that seems to be the mindset of these crowds, any airdrop would probably result in a mass stampede, then the "loot" would be seized by the punks with the guns....
still, we could in theory be doing it better, but i'll be dammed if i can figure it out here in front of my keyboard
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