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Britons describe hurricane ordeal (Superdome Survivors)
BBC ^ | 9/5/05

Posted on 09/05/2005 9:07:51 AM PDT by linkinpunk

JENNY SACHS

Jenny Sachs, of Sheffield, told how soldiers had to smuggle her out of the Superdome in secret.

She said they had told her the lights would go out before the rescue, and warned her not to use a torch for fear of attack.

She was one of about 30 Britons who, realising they could not escape the city, fled to the stadium for shelter.

The military got us out, which we were all thankful for

"It has hit me more now I am at home, when you can have clean water, how bad it was," she said.

She said people had been raped and that others were beaten up.

"One of the soldiers did get shot and he was brought in," she said.

"A guy was brought in who had seven stab wounds and was covered in blood."

The military told all non-US citizens to stay together for safety, Ms Sachs added.

They later told them they would be secretly smuggled out in groups of 10 under cover of darkness as it had become too dangerous for them to remain in the stadium, she told BBC News.

"When we were leaving, people were going 'Where are you going?' and giving us looks.

"But the military got us out, which we were all thankful for."

I was telling people, 'Do not worry. She will be OK. She is in the best resourced, best organised country in the world. They will look after her'

Ms Sachs' American father, Bruce, said "the extent all this fell apart so quickly" had left him "totally shocked and very embarrassed" to be a US citizen.

"At the point where the hurricane started, I was telling people, 'Do not worry. She will be OK. She is in the best resourced, best organised country in the world. They will look after her'."

GED, SANDRA AND RONAN SCOTT

After looters had broken into New Orleans' Ramada Hotel, bus driver Ged Scott, 36, of Liverpool - stranded with his wife Sandra, 37, and their seven-year-old son, Ronan - had waded waist-deep through the filthy water to barricade the hotel's doors, he told BBC News.

"It was like wading through an open sewer.

"It reeked to high heaven and made you want to vomit.

"Outside I could see bodies floating in the water."

Mr Scott told BBC News he had ripped wires attached to speakers from the walls of the flooded hotel bar and tied tables and chairs together as makeshift barricades.

Hotel guests had already managed to chase one group of looters from the building, he added.

They had then taken turns patrolling the hotel's corridors with a torch, Mr Scott told BBC News.

JAMIE TROUT

Jamie Trout, 22, of Sunderland, told BBC News the five "horrific" days he and his two female friends had spent in the Superdome, before being freed by the US National Guard, had been "like something out of Lord of the Flies".

"It was very dangerous - rioting, looting of vending machines, racial abuse, absolutely terrible sanitary conditions."

They had been "intimidated by large groups of men" and, Mr Trout added, he had feared he would be killed.

The group had heard a child had been raped and found in the toilets with a broken neck, Mr Trout told BBC News.

"That was a really hard time. It made us all feel sick.

"The girls were terrified to go to the toilet.

The group had called the British embassy in Washington from a mobile phone, Mr Trout added.

But embassy staff had told them to contact the British consulate in New Orleans

When they had pointed out it was "15ft under water", the embassy staff had simply repeated they should contact the consulate, Mr Trout told BBC News.

"That was obviously very difficult to take."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Louisiana; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: hurricanebritons; katrina
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To: righttackle44

"But look who the leadership there is"

1. A governor that cries
2. A mayor that cusses
3. A senator that threatens a President

Just makes a NO citizen feel warm and fuzzy I bet.


21 posted on 09/05/2005 10:17:26 AM PDT by HawaiianGecko (Liberals believe common sense facts are open to debate!)
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To: HawaiianGecko

When it all shakes down there is going to be some local hell to pay.


22 posted on 09/05/2005 10:27:48 AM PDT by TrailofTears (."We mock loyalty and are shocked at finding traitors in our midst." CS Lewis)
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To: TrailofTears

IMO there'd BETTER be!


23 posted on 09/05/2005 10:38:36 AM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: Frank_2001

As far as to what's worth salvaging in New Orleans? There is no "there" that is there. Fini....gone....wasted....and why? Look at the local and state yoyos that were running things ...'nuff said!!!


24 posted on 09/05/2005 11:00:44 AM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: linkinpunk

We could see a huge hit to tourism for a long time after this, I lived overseas, and I know most average folk's impression of what the country is like is from movies and TV, and often they believe rumors and urban legends (just like here).

How many tourists see this, and are going to decide, "Nope, we'll go to Greece or Italy instead."

Sad. This country needs to start dealing honestly and effectively with the thug culture, or they'll bring it all down around our ears every time the power goes out.


25 posted on 09/05/2005 11:11:05 AM PDT by ByDesign
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To: Dallas59
"Lets see....Give London a C Hurricane...flood London....knock out the power.....see what happens. Yeah, people will tell me London is more civilized..."

Don't stop there... From reports I have seen the damage to all areas from this storm equal the size of Great Briton. So imagine the entire country in the situation the US is facing...

This is the problem I have with blaming anything on the administration. NOLA is being reported on the most but there was a lot more for FEMA to do besides just take care of NOLA.

26 posted on 09/05/2005 11:14:02 AM PDT by mugsaway
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To: mugsaway
Lots of thug culture in the UK. Yobs, *happy slappers*, to name two and Blair has just announced a zero tolerance program to try and get to the roots of it.

America needs to wake up to the gangsta influence via the music, the videos, the movies. This influences those already predisposed to be violent and to react against authority.

I was in NO about 30 years ago. It was fun! I loved Jackson Square and all the historic area and antique shops. Terrific restaurants, too. We visited the entire Gulf Coast that time, from Galveston to Mobile. It was lovely. It will be so again.
27 posted on 09/05/2005 11:21:17 AM PDT by reformedliberal (Bless our troops and pray for our nation.)
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To: Dallas59
Yeah, people will tell me London is more civilized...

It's not really a matter of more civilized, it's a matter of better governed. What happened in New Orleans was Third World.

28 posted on 09/05/2005 11:24:03 AM PDT by Tribune7
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To: HawaiianGecko

"Just makes a NO citizen feel warm and fuzzy I bet."

Makes you want to go right out and pet a crocodile. LOL.


29 posted on 09/05/2005 11:29:43 AM PDT by righttackle44 (The most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine with his rifle and the American people behind him)
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To: reformedliberal
"America needs to wake up to the gangsta influence via the music, the videos, the movies. This influences those already predisposed to be violent and to react against authority. I was in NO about 30 years ago. It was fun! I loved Jackson Square and all the historic area and antique shops. Terrific restaurants, too. We visited the entire Gulf Coast that time, from Galveston to Mobile. It was lovely. It will be so again."

I agree! We are in trouble if we don't reign in the culture...As it is now we are raising a couple of generations with little or no regard for life...

I lived in Alexandria LA for two yrs while in the military...Made several trips to NO and always had a blast...But like you this was a long time ago. (84-86) It's a shame it's gone so far down hill...

30 posted on 09/05/2005 11:35:57 AM PDT by mugsaway
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To: Bulwark

The buses were supposed to go out of town starting 24 hours ealier when Nagin had adequate warning to evacuate the city. Thats what. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist. I actually know a few of them so I can say that with authority. Nagin was too late, even though he had primary responsibility to call the shots. Then he went looking for scapegoats.


31 posted on 09/05/2005 2:26:31 PM PDT by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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To: RKV
The buses were supposed to go out of town starting 24 hours ealier when Nagin had adequate warning to evacuate the city. Thats what

Where to? Your backyard? Do you think any neighboring city wanted hundred of buses parked there?
32 posted on 09/05/2005 2:39:39 PM PDT by Bulwark
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To: Bulwark

Are you dense today or every day? Where did the hundreds of thousands of other people from NO go? Just about anyware that is above sea level would have done huh?


33 posted on 09/05/2005 2:58:14 PM PDT by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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To: Bulwark

"Here's the southeast Louisiana evac plan supplement, most recently revised in 2000. Go to page 13, read paragraph 5. It states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating."
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2005_08_28.html#004752


34 posted on 09/05/2005 3:05:22 PM PDT by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: bernie_g

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.


36 posted on 09/05/2005 5:11:32 PM PDT by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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To: lormand

And while I frequently stray over the bounds of PC when it comes to subjects such as this I can slightly disagree with you. I worked in the area for a year back in the mid Eighties and out of the ethnic/racial groups I found the black people the friendliest of all. So when this crap surfaced this week I was shocked and saddened for all of NOLA.


37 posted on 09/05/2005 5:16:31 PM PDT by junta (Invade Mexico, aggressively neutralize its corrupt leadership and introduce civilization.)
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To: RKV

I'm sure the kiss of doom will soon descend, but meanwhile.

In the name of Jesus have you no compassion for those poor people. Left to rot and die by inches in the street. The world is watching in total horror as you let your poor starve in the street and make jokes about rap music.

I don't even know what to say to you as a Christian if you don't see the problem with letting the people without valid credit cards starve in the street.


38 posted on 09/05/2005 5:19:42 PM PDT by bernie_g
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To: bernie_g

Number of murders to mid-August: 192 - which annualises to 294 or 0.8/day.

Number of bodies found at Superdome after 6 days: 10 - of which three or so are widely reported as having died of thirst or pre-existing conditions of old age, and certainly more will have. And we don't know whether the 10 include two alleged to have been killed by police.

Number of corpses found at the Convention Centre: Gary Yonge, debunking rumours, says zero but other apparently eyewitness accounts differ.

There was certainly a lot of rumour-mongering, both among the refugees and by cops and in the media. It seems to me that some of the "we saw" accounts may turn out to mean "we all, we stuck here saw... someone told me".

So - not counting police killings - NO does so far appear to be in the ballpark of the background rate. (MH)


39 posted on 09/05/2005 5:26:44 PM PDT by bernie_g
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To: bernie_g
"The poor will be with you always" Bernie. The world commits horrors like this quite regularly - let me just name a few, you ever heard of the Laogai in China, Bernie? How's about the slow death of tens of thousands by malaria (and the debilitation of millions) which is made worse by our "ban on DDT?" How's about sharia law in Iran making half of the citizens of that country into virtual slaves, and that rogue state's quest for a nuke? Thousands starve to death in North Korea every year, Bernie - so lets get come balance and perspective on this situation, eh? We may find, Bernie, that the French killed more of their old people last year with their power outage than died in this act of nature. Given how the world reacts to these and other outrages, I could care less what the world thinks.

Don't think you can guilt us into rebuilding this disaster again, either. NO is DONE. If it can't be rebuilt as a profit making enterprise then it shouldn't be done. And by the way I NEVER said a damn thing about rap music so I have no idea who you think you are talking to.

BTW, I thought you were done with Freerepublic. Or would that be too much to hope for.
40 posted on 09/05/2005 5:36:17 PM PDT by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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