Katrina Live Thread XII

Yes, those rescue crews have been awesome. Was reported how many are skipping their breaks because they want to finish the job ASAP.

781 posted on 08/31/2005 6:57:14 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat

wow. It is just 2.75 here, though it is a small town with little competition. I am betting back home an hour east of here, it is at 3 bucks a gallon.

782 posted on 08/31/2005 6:57:31 PM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)

To: George W. Bush

>>I'll bet before this is over that Bush gets the blame. Already that idiot Robert F. Kennedy is blaming Barbour of Mississippi for Katrina. Now that moronic Moon Bat Cindy Sheehan is blaming Bush.

>We ain't seen nothin' yet. The fat lady is opening her mouth, ready to sing...

If it means anything, I have a buddy who is conservative at heart, but because he is immersed in a liberal environment, tends to adopt liberal positions on issues. Just this evening, I raised the spectre of Landrieu blaming the president for the hurricane. He just laughed at the desperate political games the RATs are pursuing. It obviously wasn't going to sell with him.

783 posted on 08/31/2005 6:57:50 PM PDT by XEHRpa

To: ican'tbelieveit

Sorry Mom, we'll come back for you after we get the puter set up!

784 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:11 PM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights

Oh, the other poster clearly indicated that people will not open their pocketbooks without a good taste of dead bodies piled on a beach. Why not just set up a pay-per-view website?

785 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:17 PM PDT by NautiNurse ("I'd rather see someone go to work for a Republican campaign than sit on their butt."--Howard Dean)

To: rwfromkansas

hard to say..... at 95 degrees outside, I woud not want to be in an attic or on a roof all day... but these folks have no choice. You have to wonder how many will be found in attics. My concern is this city is so big, how do you search every house in enough time to rescue even those barely alive? Especially with what they are calling 30 days to drain the water out.

786 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:17 PM PDT by Tuxedo (This space for rent.)

"Why not bring buses to the local elementary schools? People who want to leave can leave from a near-by location. People who weren't sure if you were serious would see the buses and re-evaluate whether their position. Yes, some would still stay, but many, many others would take the hint and get out.

Better yet, go house to house informing those inside that they have to leave now. When authorities encounter those that refuse, give them a water proof tag with a number and start asking personal info. When the occupant asks "Why?", tell them to attach the tag to their body so their next of kin can claim them from the morgue.

"I know this is all 20/20 hindsight, but lord almighty, I don't think they even tried to get the poor and infirm out."

I went to my 90 year old grandmother's house and turned on the TV before the storm hit and told her we were about to witness the largest disaster this country has ever witnessed. I knew she lived through the 'Great Depression' but that happened slowly compared to this event. When I saw them herding people into the Super Dome, I told her I thought the people in charge in LA act like they want to kill off all the poor, street people, drug addicts and infirmed and then be able to blame it on Bush.

787 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:28 PM PDT by DocRock (Osama said, "We love death, the U.S. loves life, that is the main difference between us.")

Molly Henneberg on FNC reporting the bright red shirted people are the Red Cross .. the bright yellow-shirted are the Scientologists .. they've also set up a tent.

788 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:32 PM PDT by STARWISE (GITMO IS TOO GOOD FOR THE 911 TRAITORS -- SEND THEM ALL TO EGYPT FOR QUESTIONING.)

My wife works as a PACU nurse part-time at a small day surgery hospital in Arlington, Texas. They have been warned to expect trauma patients starting tomorrow. Trauma patients are being flown into the Joint reserve base in Fort Worth (use to be Carswell AFB). The bigger hospitals are getting patients tonight. The little hospitals starting tomorrow and the next day.

789 posted on 08/31/2005 6:58:40 PM PDT by Fellow Traveler

...Now that moronic Moon Bat Cindy Sheehan is blaming Bush.
Did that wench say anything at all in empathy for the people suffering down South? A prayer, a well-wish, or is it still all just about her loss? What an imbecile!

790 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:06 PM PDT by Shqipo (If NO was still French they would have already surrendered!)

To: Diddle E. Squat

"Senator Mary L. in major buttcovering mode. And apparently now she's decided that the failure of the levees was a separate event from the hurricane."

How does she propose to prove that? According to the Corps of Engineers, the hurricane raised the level of Lake Pontchartrain, causing the levees on the two canals to fail. The rest of the entire levee system survived the storm. Unfortunately, the way New Orleans is laid out, they can't have more than a 0% failure rate.

791 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:15 PM PDT by popdonnelly

To: rwfromkansas

I saw those people on I-10 today, holding babies and the heat. The reporters had sweat running down their necks; I can't imagine what the people are suffering. And to top it off, sleeping on I-10 overnight.

It is bad enough you are in shock at what has happened to your home, your city, your life, now you are sleeping on cold concrete at night, no real food, water, protection from the elements. Then the concrete heats up during the day... I agree about a health crisis about to emerge.

792 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:18 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit

To: Pearls Before Swine

Presently LP is draining through a tiny channel and across 2 miles of marsh. It will drain slower and slower as it's level approaches sea level. Now about 3 feet. We need a new channel at least twice as big as the existing natural one. LP level comes down 3 times faster.

If one B52 load of carpet bombs is not enough, use 10. It would take 5 hours from decision to do it. Most of NO could be dry by morning.

793 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:35 PM PDT by John Jamieson (Hybrids are a highway around CAFE, that's all they're good for.)

To: RKBA Democrat

The guys with the AK47's ARE doing the looting. Last night they attacked and attempted to shoot-up the first precient station (Bourbon Street Station)... the police are afraid of these people, the news people are afraid of these people, the administrators of the hospitals they were trying to break into last night are afraid of them, they took innocent citizens prisoners in home invasions last night and robbed them before going to their next victims...

This has nothing to do with gun rights, this has to do with a huge criminal element that exists in New Orleans proper. Most of these guys are probably drug addicts and if they haven't found drugs by now, will get even more violet as they start withdrawals.

794 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:36 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn

Get the people out first, that can happen before we engineer a draining job.

Get the people out then bulldoze it all and rebuild somewhere else.

795 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:49 PM PDT by Spiff (Don't believe everything you think.)

Evening ma'am ....can I get an update I just came in from work.

796 posted on 08/31/2005 6:59:56 PM PDT by Dog

I saw that. WOW! Glad I don't live in Atlanta, but the way things have been before this, it wouldn't be the healthiest part of the country to live in. If things get too far out of conrol, there will be more problems and the govt will have to put a cap on it somehow. More govt intervention, I know, but we will see rioting and plundering if it gets much worse. They are already stealing it however they can all over the country, and Europeans have been paying much more than we have had to pay for a long time.

I don't care to speculate where it will go from here.

Odd that it was my bp station I called for the latest prices I posted.

797 posted on 08/31/2005 7:00:46 PM PDT by Aliska

I doubt that showing bodies would expedite charitable contributions. But, way way way too many people chose to try and ride out a Category Five storm.... I only hope what we are seeing is enough to convince anyone not to try such a stunt.

798 posted on 08/31/2005 7:01:13 PM PDT by Tuxedo (This space for rent.)

some really good news if true

799 posted on 08/31/2005 7:01:26 PM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)

From the Army:

Army working to help stop New Orleans flooding

VICKSBURG, Miss. (Army News Service, Aug. 31, 2005) — Although the category-four winds and rains have dissipated, major flooding continues to be a problem in the New Orleans area and the Army Corps of Engineers is working to help.

One source of flooding was the Aug. 30 overtopping and subsequent breaching of the London Avenue Canal floodwall at 6100 Pratt Drive, New Orleans, Corps officials said. They said Corps personnel are continuing to evaluate information on the breaching and are developing plans to seal it off.

One element of this plan is to use up-to-3,000-pound sand bags on the 17th Street Canal. Army National Guard Chinook helicopters are expected to begin assisting in the operation soon, officials said.

Access to breach sites continues to hamper efforts to close them, officials said. Barges and cranes cannot be moved through the Industrial Canal due to motor vessels and other large debris blocking the canal. Vessels must go around and through the Gulf Inner-Coastal Waterway or the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.

The Mississippi River is closed to vessel traffic from Southwest Pass to Natchez, MS. The Army National Guard, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, other federal and state authorities, and private contractors are all working alongside the Corps to bring in necessary materials, supplies and equipment to begin making inroads to the damage.

The Corps is working with two major contractors to determine the scope of unwatering services available to inundated areas.

The Corps of Engineers Motor Vessel “Kirby Responder” is surveying the Gulf Inner-Coastal Waterway from Pascagoula, Miss., toward News Orleans with U.S. Coast Guard members on board to help determine what can be navigated.

They will survey Baptiste Collette Aug. 31, officials said, weather permitting.

The survey vessel LaFourche is currently surveying the condition of the navigation channel from Baton Rouge to Southwest Pass.

Corps of Engineers motor vessels are also delivering barges with cranes and excavating equipment and critical recovery materials.

The Port Allen Lock reopened Aug. 30 and remains on auxiliary power, officials said. Algiers Lock and Harvey Lock are operating.

The Industrial Canal Lock is operating on an emergency generator and officials said the lock is expected to be operational in the near future. The canal is blocked with vessels, loose barges and boats. All other Corps of Engineers waterway facilities are open for normal operations.

The Port Allen Lock has been designated as a staging area for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In support of FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is contracting for:

• emergency clearance of debris to enable reconnaissance and movement of emergency personnel and equipment.

• temporary construction of emergency access routes, including damaged streets, roads, bridges, ports, waterways, airfields, and any other facilities necessary for passage of rescue personnel

• emergency restoration of critical public services and facilities including supplying adequate amounts of drinking water, temporary restoration of water supply systems and providing water for fire fighting

• emergency demolition or stabilization of damaged structures and facilities as designated by state or local governments

• immediate emergency supplies including ice and water

• emergency power generation at critical sites (hospitals, shelters, etc.)

• temporary roofing and temporary housing

• technical assistance and damage assessment, including structural inspection of structures

• unwatering to assist the state of Louisiana by performing and or contracting to remove water from New Orleans and the greater metropolitan area.

While the Corps is coordinating public works and engineering activities under FEMA, it will also provide direct assistance under Flood Control and Coastal Emergency authorities, officials said.

Aerial reconnaissance of the region has been conducted. Corps ground reconnaissance teams have observed that most houses have major damage to their roofs and officials said they expect roofing to be a huge mission. Communications also continues to be a major issue, they said.

Corps teams forward in the area have been unable to contact all parish emergency officials and determine pump station conditions. They are currently contacting Levee Boards to determine local capabilities for assistance in filling breeches, evaluating the extent of damage, etc., and are coordinating with the Louisiana Emergency Operations Center, officials reported.

The Corps has also maintained close communication with the U.S. Geological Service regarding water stage data in Louisiana. Gage data for Lake Pontchartrain indicates that the lake is slowly draining, officials said. Based on the present rate of fall observed for the last eight hours, they said the lake level should return to normal level in about 36 hours.

As recovery efforts continue to gather momentum, numerous U.S. Army Corps of Engineers personnel from across the nation are arriving in the region to help tackle the mission ahead.

Other military efforts in the area incude:

• Defense Coordinating Officers and Defense Coordinating Elements, known as DCEs, are on site in Clanton, Ala., Baton Rouge, La., and Jackson, Miss., to liaison between U.S. Northern Command, FEMA and the Department of Defense.

• Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., Barksdale Air Force Base, La., Alexandria, La., and Ft. Polk, La., have been designated as federal operational staging areas to expedite the movement of relief supplies and emergency personnel to affected areas.

• U.S. Transportation Command is flying 8 swift water rescue teams from Calfornia to Lafayette, La. These California-based teams provide about 14 personnel with vehicles and small rigid hulled boats who are highly trained and capable of rescuing stranded citizens from flooded areas.

• The hospital ship, USNS Comfort, is departing Baltimore to bring its medical assistance to the Gulf region. The Comfort should reach the area in seven days, officials said.

• Three Army helicopters from III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, are in Baton Rouge and two more in Mississippi to assist with search and rescue and damage assessment.

• USNORTHCOM established Joint Task Force Katrina to be the military’s on-scene commander in support of FEMA. Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, commander of First Army at Fort Gillem, Ga., is the JTF commander. JTF-Katrina will be based out of Camp Shelby, Miss.

• JTF-Civil Support is providing a joint planning augmentation cell.

• U.S. Northern Command’s Joint Operations Center is on 24-hour duty in Colorado Springs, Colo., to facilitate any additional requests for assistance that may come from FEMA representatives.

(Editor’s note: Information taken from Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Northern Command news releases.)

800 posted on 08/31/2005 7:01:38 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- Allen in 2008)

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794