Katrina Live Thread, Part XIV

Various ^ | 2 September 2005 | Various

[NautiNurse]

President Bush continues to assess the catastrophic damage by air and on the ground in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Bush spent the day meeting with search and rescue personnel, relief commanders, and displaced residents in Mobile, Biloxi, and the New Orleans area. U.S. Congress passed a $10.5 billion relief package for the hurricane ravaged areas. First Lady Laura Bush issued a press statement from an evacuation shelter in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Patient and staff evacuations continue from numerous New Orleans Hospitals. Thousands of patients are being airlifted to a field hospital at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport for triage, staging, and transport to hospitals throughout the United States.

The U.S. Coast Guard and civilian volunteers continue to evacuate thousands of survivors from their flooded homes in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to repair the damaged levees.

The nation's airlines today began an operation intended to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans. The airlines are volunteering their aircraft and crews for the program. Long convoys loaded with relief supplies arrived throughout the day into New Orleans, while convoys of buses are moving survivors out of the city.

Several large fires are burning in the city and greater New Orleans area. Reports indicate snipers are holding down firefighters. Reports of shots fired with LEO down in the St. Bernard Parish area. Rescue operations are underway. A bus carrying NOLA evauees rolled over in Opelousa, LA.

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:

New Orleans Emergency Operations Center - is now open:
504-463-1000
504-463-1001
504-463-1002

WWL-TV New Orleans (via WFAA Dallas) - WWL-TV is operating from studios at Louisiana Public Broadcasting. CBS has a relay during the morning and afternoon. When available, use the CBS relay first as they have greater streaming capacity. Yahoo has also provided a relay.

WDSU-TV New Orleans - The news staff has started to return to temporary news studios near New Orleans. However, expect evening coverage from Hearst-Argyle sister stations WAPT Jackson and WESH Orlando when the New Orleans staff needs to take a break.

WGNO-TV New Orleans - New Orleans' ABC affiliate has returned to the air with WBRZ-TV and launched video streaming with continuous Katrina coverage.

WPMI-TV Mobile, AL - WPMI is webcasting from 5:30am - 10:30pm CDT. When off air, you can view pre-recorded reports on demand. This feed is often unreliable.

WKRG-TV Mobile, AL - This station is providing good coverage of the situation to the east in Mississippi and Alabama. However, the station is now signing off at around 10:30pm CDT like WWL and WPMI.

WJTV-TV Jackson, MS - The CBS affiliate in Jackson is providing live coverage for both the Jackson area and south Mississippi (knowing a lot of media in that area is off the air).

United Radio From New Orleans: WWL-AM, WNOE-FM, "KISS-FM," WRNO-FM, WYLD-FM, and WJBO-AM who have joined forces as United Radio From New Orleans, and they are streaming.

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/ Southern Baptist: NAMB - http://www.namb.net/
Samaritan's Purse - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII
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

[madison10]

Reagan would have not ever allowed it to get to this point.

The world wasn't such a PC place when Reagan was President. PC-ness has created/is part of the problem.

[Dolphy]

I tend to disagree with that assessment. We'll see....

I'm in Michigan and it's not playing well at all with those I know of all political stripes. It driving people to a deep indifference. There are so many things at work, including so many biases about the south.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Shep needs some rest. I suggest that if you had watched this many people with babies and old people suffering and saw no one coming to help them, you'd break down, too...

Geraldo has a new baby... I'm certain he's thinking about how he would feel if one of his children had to go without formula, much less water.

[Blogger]

Shep is not hysterical. He is angry and frustrated. There's a difference there too.

[WoodstockCat]

are you personally familiar at all with the terrain, available roads and bridges into New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the shape they were in at say 8 am on Wednesday morning?

[Lady Heron]

Someone on WDSU is saying that if we can get troops into Iraq in 24 hours, how come we can't get them into NO as fast.

Somebody should remind them of all of their belly aching during the build up to the Iraq war....How many times did we hear "its taking to long!".

[ShellieGOP]

Drat! I'm in Northern California. Rain check. Cheers!

Well, I'm in Sacramento, come on over.

Santa Cruz County here. The CONSERVATIVE part.

:)

[A Citizen Reporter]

It's obvious to me that most don't want their help. Like the superior officer to the ranting police captain.

You are the one defending Geraldo. At the very least, I would prefer that the reporters not become part of the story.

[mabelkitty]

Put him in the front door.
Light a candle or flashlight behind him, and folks will run away from your home thinking he's a linebacker!

[Mo1]

But if you don't have the pressure from those reporters, the people won't feel their needs are addressed at all.

Bringing attention to people that need help .. like Bill O'Rielly was doing is one thing

Completely losing composure for the cameras like Shep and Geraldo did is a completely different matter

[RushCrush]

Did you actually SEE Geraldo? or not?

[theophilusscribe]

I definitely fall into that category. No idea what the "youngsters" are listening too. :o)

[Diddle E. Squat]

I'm in Middle America... People are more upset that gas is >$3/gallon. And right, the press isn't going where things are good, because there's no story in that. Shep needs therapy. Bad.

And I'm in Texas, where we are actually taking these poor in and caring for them, instead of bitching about how tired one is of a reporter telling the uncomfortable truth and pleading to speed up the rescue of thousand and thousands around him. People have literally died before his eyes, this is multiple times worse than 911 and a still ongoing disaster. Does that not qualify as dramatic?

Maybe Shep needs therapy. Maybe you need a soul.

[nhoward14]

Talking heads on WWL stream are going out of their way to assure everyone there are good people from N.O. and that the entire city is not full of thugs.

Even if it is only 1%, that 1% they want to gloss over are sure making things terrible for everybody.

[Rumierules]

Shep and O'Reilly were talking about favoritism and racism. No doubt that there is a lot the former and perhaps some of the latter.

But think about this from the perspective of the police or the initial National Guard. They know they are overwhelmed. Their resources were and still are, to a lesser degree, puny in comparison to the needs. So, they likely respond to specific requests that are manageable . . . "Hey, come gets few dozen people with these medical needs, this many elderly, etc."

Those doing the rescuing and transporting want to, at a minimum, be reasonably safe. They also want to arrive and be somewhat welcomed. Say a bus arrives and can take 40 or so. It is certainly helpful if a group of 200 people voluntarily prioritize who will go instead of mobbing the bus. I believe favoritism may be given to those who are creating some order, making their case to those with resources, and welcoming them rather than blaming them.

[Cboldt]

Uh... no... the convention center was never set up as a shelter site. People just started showing up there.

I would not be surprized, given the state of official channels of communication, that some people were told by LEO or others who "seemed to know the scheme" to go to the Convention Center.

Today, people started showing up at I-10 site, in busses and in military vehicles, and the "peopel in charge" could not figure out why that was happening.

So, some fluid stuff happens - and the rescue and relief operation should be able to react to a mile or two shift in location of a mass of people.

[Dolphy]

I will never, ever forget hearing Shep Smith say "New Orleans dodged the bullet".

He's also the first one I heard report, before real chaos set in, that there were hundreds of people with no place to go, no direction, no information...and that they were all black.

[RushCrush]

Go for it! I certainly won't get in your way. Good luck!

[uncitizen]

Does anybody know if the DUmmies over at DU have anything to say about the mayors "school bus vs. Greyhound" remark?

[REDWOOD99]

God Bless Texas D.E.S.!