Mayor: 200 trapped on Ninth Ward rooftops; bodies floating in Bywater

WWLTV.com ^ | 02:37 PM CDT on Monday, August 29, 2005 | WWLTV

[Smogger]

Mayor Ray Nagin said that 200 people were stranded on rooftops in the Lower Ninth Ward and several “bodies are floating in the water” in the Bywater neighborhood and in Eastover.

Nagin made the announcement in his first press briefing after Hurricane Katrina slammed just east of the city, but did plenty of devastation to New Orleans.

Nagin said that the 200 stranded people included 20 police officers who were riding out the storm at their homes in preparation to take over shifts from other officers. He said that boats would be dispatched on rescue missions later in the afternoon.

Mayor Nagin issued a "boil water" recommendation for water in the city - except for Algiers and the CBD due to a water main line break that may have compromised the water.

Nagin said at least 20 buildings in the city had collapsed and that it might be 48 hours before residents would be allowed back to their homes to assess the damage.

[Lunatic Fringe]

WTF???

Aid to disaster victims is a legitimate government responsibility. What is your solution when these people go weeks and months without water, food, and electricity?

[Fudd Fan]

If you think PRESIDENT BUSH is a "socialist" then you're gonna love Hitlery.

[BayouCoyote]

The law enforcement folks are told they have to stay and most want to stay to help and then when they're stranded or killed, some freepers have the nerve to make comments like this?

I was in the LA NG as an MP when Hurr. Georges passed right by us. Let me tell you, they housed us in a Trustee prison cell in Chalmette, LA with other inmates on another wing. It was our duty to help other citizens when ordered to do so, regardless of opinion. Fact is, we new that we would likely die if the levee broke. There was discussion of how to get out, but in my honest opinion, we would have been fighting to stay afloat where we were. Don't even think that there isn't alot of gators around that area, let alone snakes of all sorts. If you look at a map, there's the Bayou Savage Wildlife Refuge right next to the levee that broke! I can attest to the size of the ones I've seen there, and the make a 12' rogue look like a dingy next to a destroyer.

[BayouCoyote]

Same to ya!

[Saundra Duffy]

Boil water RECOMMENDATION?! Ya think?

[PhiKapMom]

Apparently we are reaching the point of needing laws to outlaw living in accident prone areas. Time to manage our tax dollars a little more.

Exactly! When you build on the edge of the Gulf, you should not be allowed to rebuild IMHO. I really resent tax dollars going to help casino owners who put their casinos on the Gulf rebuild as well.

[exnavychick]

Oh, I definitely think they could refine their evacuation plans! :)

[Huck]

This is what i call constituent activism. Judicial activism is where judges invent extra constitutional powers. Constituent activism is when voters do the same thing. Where does the constitution empower the president to spend tax money to payout flood victims?

[PhiKapMom]

That person has obvioiusly never visited New Orleans. Taking your life in your hand to walk along the Interstate IMHO.

What is with some of these folks?

[MizSterious]

We lived in New Orleans because dear hubby was in the USGC--another group that doesn't get to heed the evac. orders. And then there are the doctors and nurses (and everyone else who keeps a hospital open and running) and by the way, how do these folks think those hotels in the Quarter stayed open? Those employees (and likely their families) did NOT get to head for higher ground.

The ignorance of those statements is bad enough, but the heartless factor just floors me.

[PhiKapMom]

You mean like putting the plans into affect earlier than 24 hours before? The Mayor and the City Council need to answer to the city for their incompetence IMHO.

[yellowroses]

My son and I have been on our knees, praying for you and yours. That's the only way we can help right now.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I guess you haven't thought it through to realize that many of the levees may not be stable, there is still the risk of a breach or failure. Given that so much of the city is below sea level, and that the lake and river will be high for several days, what if they let everyone back in and then the bowl flooded? No way they all get out without mass drownings.

[Huck]

Y'all sound like a couple of liberals. if you want to help, write a check. Why has the gubmint got to be involved in it? And if we really want to help, let's just get the gubmint to buy everyone flood insurance.

[MizSterious]

If the President hadn't twisted some arms in Louisiana, I have no doubt there would have been a much higher death/injury toll.

[cdga5for4]

The Ninth Ward is one of the scariest places in the United States. If you want to talk about mean streets, this is it. This is where Marshall Faulk escaped from. There are certainly elderly and infirm who would have had no way to evacuate.

[yellowroses]

"Can you believe some of the comments? The law enforcement folks are told they have to stay and most want to stay to help and then when they're stranded or killed, some freepers have the nerve to make comments like this?

And for the others...some people are just poor but most of us on FR who have computers and can afford things like internet service don't understand that there is abject poverty left in this"

Ditto. They can't be REAL freepers... I won't own them and their mean spirited comments.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The story at mid-morning was that it wasn't a breach but the Miss. River overtopped the levee at Arabi. Are you hearing different? Sorry for your loss, it is all a darn shame.

[MizSterious]

Sure, let's just let folks suffer with no help. Way to go, Scrooge.