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.
Sounds like the right man, in the right job, at the right time. Good Gen's are like that...
Yes, that's true. I guess I perceived you as being part of a concerted effort that did include accusations of being "racial bigots." But I should not have implied that you actually said such a thing, since you didn't.
I asked you an above the board question that you blew off as "irrelevant."
Yes, that is also true. I perceived your question to be in the category of "When did you stop beating your wife?" and that's why I refused to be drawn into answering it.
I'd let it go, so you are the one continuing something. Not me.
Yes, you are right about this as well. I pinged everyone who had pinged me on the previous thread, but it's true that you had already dropped the subject.
"I never said there was no crime, no looting, no rape. I'm sure there was some.
My point is not that crimes haven't happened. It's that they're being magnified beyond reality by rumor and hysteria."
Just out of curiousity, how many rapes, robberies, beatings, and murders have to occur in a given congregation of humanity in a given timeframe for you to consider it worthy of great distress?
---I read that only about 1/3 of the NOPD stayed working.---
That's another matter of the greatest curiosity, since members of the PD are required to reside within the city of NO. How could they not get to work. Are we to believe that they're trapped in their attics somewhere. Surely no one would suggest that they deserted their posts at the time of the city's most critical need?
Is that what Geraldo said? 25,000 at the convention center?
Where did that 4,500 come from? (I don't recall seeing/hearing anything about actual figures of people congregated there.)
Racism is exhibited by people of all races. Denial isn't helpful. Discusions even if heated at times is the best method of fighting ignorance, increasing understanding and repect of others. Even if it doesn't appear this is happening at the time it is in the long run.
Welcome to the future.
You did now. Please, both of you, knock it off and set an example for others around here.
Q: General, you mentioned a disintegration of the New Orleans Police Department. Do you know how many officers are still on duty?GEN. BLUM: I would rather not say. I think you'd be better to refer that question to the mayor of New Orleans. I have my own estimate. I would say they are significantly degraded and they have less than one-third of their original capability.
Yes; many, many NOPD deserted their posts; I have seen and heard about this on FR threads and on the News...numerous turned in their badges and quit....that's also been on the news...others said they didn't see the use of working...they'd lost everything (paraphrasing)...two committed suicide (according to reports)...many members of the NOPD failed to serve and protect when the going got tough.....
I posted the following:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476758/posts?page=12#12
NOLA had an absurdly high per-capita murder rate in the last three years I lived there ('92-'95), averaging more than one KNOWN murder per day, in a city of less than 500,000, mostly concentrated in exactly the same sub-demographic now making life Hell for those folks who are now being rescued from the flood: PROJECT RATS.
And for God's sake, let everyone realise one true fact: this is nothing to do with race, and everything to do with culture.
MaxLoon posted this reply:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476758/posts?page=23#23
And for God's sake, let everyone realise one true fact: this is nothing to do with race, and everything to do with culture.
I've never seen a clearer case of someone saying, "Who are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?"
I think I'll continue to believe my eyes, despite your proclamation of a supposed "one true fact."
to which I replied with this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476758/posts?page=24#24
You know, that's the most open admission of racial bigotry I've ever seen on Free Republic.
I was considering treating you to an explanation of the demographics of the situation, but I figure: why waste the effort?
It suffices to say that your eyes are not lying, but the data filters resident inside your mind are doing a wonderful job of deceit.
etc...
***********
It isn't the fact of noticing that the looters are/were black, it is the insinuation that they are/were looters BECAUSE they are black that prompted recognition of racial animosity on the part of some FReepers.
read the thread and see whom you agree with, Flyer.
oh, and Maximum Loon? your post #33 on the thread referenced above was removed by the moderators. You know the one where you first accused me and others of being dishonest? Yeah, that one. GONE.
So it seems you lied to Petronski about your supposedly blemish-free posting history
Agreed!!!
Why must Geraldo exaggerate and bloviate so? I do appreciate his constant support of our military....and because of that, I cannot bring myself to disdain him completely.
sorry - didn't see this before my last post. do what you will.
All we want is common courtesy.
I will try harder, but I do not react well to being lied about.
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