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

[oceanview]

phone lines don't need commercial electricity.

[Spktyr]

Unless Sean Penn is flying a chopper or flying people out on his private aircraft, he can go take a flying leap...

[Cboldt]

Phone service runs independently from power. That is, if you have an old fashioned land line phone. If you don't have one, get one.

[BurbankKarl]

There is an entire shelter in MS that came down with dissintary...bloody diarrea....said they must have swallowed the bad water...

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Yep, I think the city was around 70 per cent African American...welfare was there, but not all urban blacks by any means are on welfare. There have been aggressive programs designed to get mothers off welfare, that have been pretty good, at least when I was involved with the program. A lot of the mothers weren't third generation welfare mothers. A lot of the women I dealt with were from marriages or relationships that had fallen apart and left them with little education and kids in tow...and they had a lot of motivation to make life better for their kids.

Of course, there were others who were just coasting...

[debg]

She's "not desperate like some people on their roof!"

[oceanview]

that's FEMA's fault too Karl. Its Brown's fault that these people refuse to leave their homes.

</sarcasm>

[plushaye]

Yes, there it is. Thanks. Strong men have quaked before 'that look'.

[lainie]

I saw some of that (Robert Reich). I hadn't forgotten, but was reminded: he is a core-of-the-soul socialist. He's moving to teach at Berkeley this fall, because he wants to see the less fortunate slobs that can't afford private universities become bigger wage earners (and presumably taxpayers). And, you know, to give something back to the little people. He's very selfless like that.

[oceanview]

she hears the helicopter. GO OUTSIDE AND WAVE AT IT FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!

[conservative cat]

I don't like all the vaccines, either. I think that it is better to quarantine and treat the exposed kids before turning them loose on the kids in the schools. My older two have received all of their shots but my youngest hasn't had Hep B (bloodborne, sexually transmitted) or Chicken Pox (no guarantee of permanent immunity like the actual illness.)

[BurbankKarl]

James Lee Witt was paid $500k to develop the state disaster plan last year... I can't wait for the Congressional hearings.

[debg]

Sounds like a neighborhood that hasn't been searched. (Hard to know since she's stated she's heard helicopters but hasn't gone outside.)

[CedarDave]

How's she know the FOX number, that's what I want to know? I know some of the landlines are working; the Bell building downtown is the only one where there are lights at night.

[DrewsMum]

Sean penn just knows that he won't be able to run his mouth about the Prez later if he didn't do something himself

[lainie]

The last I heard about an insane bar owner in the FQ was last Sunday night, when the Cigar Bar dude said he wasn't leaving (and invited the city coroner to go ahead and sign his death certificate in advance). There's black humor and then there's just plain old stupidity.

[mystery-ak]

OMG...I didn't know that....

[Spktyr]

Yup. Order your popcorn now...

[No Blue States]

"Unless Sean Penn is flying a chopper or flying people out on his private aircraft, he can go take a flying leap..."

[DouglasKC]

While the thread is slow, allow me to make a comment. While prayer is vital, Blanco's call to prayer Wednesday morning, the morning after the levee burst, seemed a sort of resignation. A moment of prayer, certainly, then---"Everyone evacuate", "Stop the looting or we will shoot you," "Moblize the boats and helis that are staged but can't come in due to shots being fired at them", and on and on. Decisive action was required, and Blanco asked the citizens to spend the day in prayer... Yes, thankful you survived, at that point, but the fight for survival was just beginning

Yup, and the point we need to keep pounding is that she has 30,000 Louisiania National Guard troops under her direct command. She didn't have to wait for Bush. She could have sent in these people to restore order and take back the city. When she requested additional help (not till Wednesday) the city would have been secured and they could have because evacuations in earnest.