Posted on 09/04/2005 6:52:12 PM PDT by Lorianne
AUSTRALIAN survivors of Hurricane Katrina told last night of their dramatic escape from New Orleans and the unfolding civil disaster in city.
The group, joyful at fleeing the nightmare of the Louisiana city, lauded one of its members as a hero. Bud Hopes, of Brisbane, was praised for saving dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome became a hellhole.
"I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Vanessa Cullington, 22, of Sydney, told the Sunday Herald Sun by mobile phone from a bus carrying 10 Australians to safety in Dallas, Texas.
"I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't got out. It's so great to be free."
News of the group's escape came as reports said as many as 10,000 people might have been killed by the hurricane and its aftermath, and President George Bush ordered more troops and an increased aid effort for the stricken Gulf of Mexico states.
As the Australians left the Superdome, food and water were almost non-existent and the stiflingly hot arena was filled with 25,000 people and the stench of human waste. Gangs stalked the tourists and women were threatened with rape.
"Bud took control. He was calm and kept it together the whole time," Ms Cullington said.
Mr Hopes, 32, said: "That was the worst place in the universe. Ninety-eight per cent of the people around the world are good. In that place, 98 per cent of the people were bad.
"Everyone brought their drugs, they brought guns, they brought knives. Soldiers were shot.
"It was like a refugee camp within a prison.
"It was full on. It was the worst thing I have seen in my life. I have never been so frightened."
Realising that foreigners were a target, Mr Hopes and the other Aussies gathered tourists from Europe, South America and elsewhere into one part of the building.
"There were 65 of us, so we were able to look after each other -- especially the girls who were being grabbed and threatened." Mr Hopes said.
He said they had organised escorts for the women when they had gone for food or to the toilet, and rosters to keep guard while others slept.
"We sat through the night just watching each other, not knowing if we would be alive in the morning."
John McNeil, 20, of Brisbane, said the worst point had come after two days when soldiers had told them the power in the dome was failing and there was only 10 minutes worth of gas left.
"I looked at Bud and said, 'That will be the end of us'," Mr McNeil said.
"The gangs . . . knew where we were. If the lights had gone out we would have been in deep trouble. We prayed for a miracle and the lights stayed on."
Mr Hopes said the Australians owed their lives to a National Guard Staff Sgt Garland Ogden, who had broken the rules to get the tourists out of the dome, with 60 people being evacuated to a medical centre.
"We did some shifts at the hospital to help nurse the sick to say thank you. It was a real Aussie thing," he said.
As the bus carrying the Australians crossed the Texan border, spirits were high.
"We've had hotdogs and chips and everyone is laughing," Mr Hopes said.
Later, the bus arrived at Dallas Convention Centre, where the Australians were processed.
Family and friends gathered at the Brisbane home of Mr McNeil's parents, Peter and Mary, where they were joined by Mr Hopes's sister, Debbie Browne.
Mrs McNeil broke down when she saw images of her son leaving New Orleans.
"There have been times during this past week when we didn't know if we would see him again," she said.
Mr McNeil said he could see a change in his son.
"They've been traumatised," he said. "I think they've witnessed several atrocities."
The other Australians on the bus were Emma Hardwick, of Sydney; Simon Wood, of Wyalkatchem, WA; Michael Ryan, of Lithgow, NSW; Yasmin Bright, of Newcastle; Michelle and Lisa van Grinsven, of Sydney; and Elise Sims, Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide.
Meanwhile, three Australian couples were safe in Los Angeles, awaiting flights home after being rescued from New Orleans by a Channel 7 news crew.
Tim and Joanne Miller, of Rockhampton, Garry and Cynthia Jones, of Brisbane, and Jack and Gloria Slinger, of Perth, crammed into a four-wheel-drive vehicle with reporter Mike Amor and two colleagues for the early morning dash.
The crew had arranged to pick up two couples from the building where they were holed up and found the Slingers on the streets.
"They were very wary about about coming out of the building. It was a pretty frightening scene -- bodies, shootings, looters," Amor said.
A phone call in the middle of the night gave hope to relatives of Brisbane's Fiona Seidel and her sister-in-law, Katie Maclean.
Mrs Maclean's husband, Andrew, was contacted by a New Orleans police officer who said he had seen the pair get on a bus.
Timing chain????
This is getting vicious,,,you,,you,,fan belt!
No
I'll take the word of the refugees who experienced the hell in that dome over what you wish were the truth and I want every single one of the predators brought to justice, or justice brought to them.
Waiting for someone to say, "Stick it where the cam don't shaft".
although everyone would like to see it, there won't be a "Movie of the Week"...and we all know why.
They could change it like the Sum of All Fears movie and make the bad guys nazis.
That's pretty ambiguous and I had to reread it a couple of times before I realized that the army guys were not shot at by state police. I think maybe it needs a that strategically placed, thus:
among the 5 or 6 that state police shot and killed after they fired upon the Army
No. These people are animals. It isn't a race thing it is a cultural thing. My children go to a high school that is about 50% housing project. One of my son's classmates was robbed of his MP3 player. He chased the SOB's down and when he caught them, they threw him to the ground and proceded to kick him in the head. They already had the upper hand and this kid was insane for doing what he did. But they KICKED HIM IN THE HEAD. They tried to kill him.
Our prayers are with you.
I think everybody's touchy over this. Black people naturally don't want the thugs to presented as representative of black people, white people are bristling at the accusations of racism from the black community, and Republicans are fuming over the democrat scum who are pinning this on W.
My wife, who has always said she didn't want to have guns around the house, saw what happened in NO and heard about what happened in places like the retirement homes and provate homes, and has said she is ready for a firearm.
We are in earthquake country and clearly she got the message that some people are animals.
I intend on a vanity asking for what is the best weapoin for her protection. She is slight but smart. I am thinking a .25 but what has the most killing power?
Actually, I will do that now...
Folks, Sky is talking about the laws that authorize the operations of the different components of the military. Sounds like just like in Stan and Iraq, military lawyers are doing everything they can to screw up the mission.
Fortunately, while the paratroopers may not have Law Enforcement authority, DOD standing rules of engagement allow them to use deadly force to protect their lives.
You might even be able to get the JAGs to buy off on letting them shoot to protect others' lives and government property -- although that would require special ROE and by the time a bunch of slow-moving lawyers get done staffing it, engineers will probably have the levee fixed.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
That's enough outta you there, hubcap.
I dunno about cams, but there's always a lot of cranks here.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Worst. Movie. Evar.
When Vanessa Cullington got through to the Australian embassy after two days trapped in the New Orleans Superdome, she thought she had finally found help. She was wrong.
Crying and screaming over a mobile phone, she explained to an Australian official the dangers she was facing, along with eight other Australians who had huddled together for protection.
Women among their group had been harassed and grabbed by marauding men. Faeces lined the toilet walls. There had been suicides, rapes and murders. It was "like being in a Third World country, in a maximum security prison", Ms Cullington said.
* * *
Their escape from the Superdome had to be clandestine. The tourists left in dribs and drabs, heading for a basketball arena nearby, with the help of an American sergeant.
Some survivors, angry that they were not going too, tried to pull the tourists back inside. "The last people who were walking out the door were grabbed, were screamed at," she said.
from http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/trapped-tourists-tell-of-struggle-to-survive/2005/09/04/1125772411703.html
Oh, so you're my mediator, spokesperson. I don't need you to tell me to cool down, nor am I impressed with your record of "hundreds" of posts.
I'll speak for myself, I need not your chastising or self-indulgent sophistry.
I took a walk down the street tonight after dinner. A neighbor came out with some wild story off of 'Hardball' about Homeland Security turning off power to NO and forcibly halting food and water deliveries. I'm getting tired of the nonsense.
This Gen is something else. He was on speaker phone, and he lets fly. He said "I don't F--cking care! Get this here! Do that F--cking now!"
Not the most Christian approach, but he got things moving. I must say, it changed when he took charge.
We are moving tons of stuff in the next 24 hours. We are almost approaching a changing state of what the mission is. The people in NO are out, now we will change to recovering the dead, and rebuilding and reconstitution.
stifle the truth.
Our = Aussie. You've never been with a group of tourists in a foreign country?
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