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Posted on 08/31/2005 4:00:15 PM PDT by NautiNurse
President Bush: "We are dealing with one of the worst national disasters in our nation's history." Push has appropriated vast federal resources to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
78,000 people are currently in shelters. New Orleans evacuation continues. 10,000 additional National Guard troops have been called to service.
Hospitals are running low on supplies, and public health concerns include water borne disease, poor sanitation, food and drinking water contamination and shortages, mosquitoes, carbon monixide poisoning from electricity generators, lack of childcare, and the special needs of the elderly.
Links to various news, local and state government websites:
WLOX TV Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagula has link to locate family and friends (very slow load)
2theAdvocate - Baton Rouge Includes Slidell, St. John Parish, St. Bernard Parish updates, and other locations.
Inside Houma Today includes shelter and volunteer updates
WLBT.com Jackson MS
WALA Channel 4 Mobile, AL Includes links to distribution centers, Emergency Ops, etc.
Sun-Herald Gulfport MS Includes link to town by town reports
Mississippi updates via Jackson Ledger
St Bernard Local Government
Alabama Homeland Security Volunteers can sign up online
Alabama DOT
Alabama.gov
Louisiana Homeland Security
Louisiana State Police road closure info
State of Mississippi Website has traffic alerts, emergency contact numbers
Streaming Video:
WWL-TV: http://www.khou.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad
WDSU-TV: http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx"
WPMI-TV: http://www.wpmi.com/mediacenter/default.aspx?videoId=113739
WKRG-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518
WTOK-TV (follow the link on the home page): http://www.wtok.com/
WJTV-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95563
Gulf Coast Storm Network (radio): http://www.stormalert.net/main.html#
Related FR Threads:
FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread
Discussion Thread - Hurricane Katrina - What Went Wrong?!?
Post Hurricane Katrina IMAGES Here
Martial Law Declared in New Orleans
Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.
www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Part XI
Katrina Live Thread, Part X
Katrina Live Thread, Part IX
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12
72 kids in the seats on a hot day. But at least 50+ adults if it meant escape from danger?
How many school buses are there in the whole LA fleet. There should have been a plan in place to evacuate the people to schools in the northern part of state. There is blood on the hand of those responsible for planning.
That film and narrative by Willie Wilson was heartbreaking. Thank goodness I was alone at work; I was in tears.
FEMA already owns nearly a THOUSAND Indiana-built "Road-Railers", a semi-trailer that can be hauled as a train car, and takes about 90 seconds to go from Trailer-to Car...
They have these filled and prepositioned in many places, but it still takes TIME to get them, arrange transport, havee trucks (with Fuel) meet them on the other end, and someplace to stage and unload them!
Aaron Brown makes me want to throw something at my TV so I switched him off. I cannot stand that smug, arrogant, know it all.
Okay. I may have misunderstood the exchange. I was thinking more of a plan to use the buses to get people out of the city.
I can't say I'll have much empathy for them when they start to suffer.
See post #937. Another freeper responded to my question regarding trains, but expounded on the usage. Excellent idea and I have no idea why cities couldn't use this in emergency disaster relief. As a matter of fact, people placed on the trains could be taken to pre-designated assigned locations, which would eliminate the confusion of missing family members, etc.
People are continuing to stream into Alexandria and Pineville today. See this link:
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050831/NEWS01/508310324/1002
You can tell who the "refugees" (this what they call themselves now, not "evacuees") are because, for one thing, they have much better driving etiquette than the "me-first" Rapides Parish locals, who tend to operate their pick-ups as if they're mobile middle fingers.
When it was announced that the SuperDome refugees were being redirected to the Houston AstroDome, a collective sigh of relief was breathed throughout Alexandria.
In the beginning, it may have seemed like a vacation to some of the people who headed North, but enough time has passed that the novelty has worn off and reality has set in. The families who originally checked into the LaQuinta and went out to dinner at Applebee's are now camped in shelters and standing in line to use the coin laundries. Nobody's crowing any more about tourism dollars bringing a boost to the local economy, because things are about to take a nosedive in terms of the bigger picture.
The refugees won't be going home any time soon. Except for a few stubborn fools who refused to stay safely put and tried to return to their submerged homes, these families have nowhere to go. They're going to have to find jobs and apartments here whether they want to or not, which is going to drastically alter the dynamics of Alexandria's labor and housing markets. There are indeed companies relocating to this area bringing hundreds of jobs, but unfortunately no one will be hired to fill those positions until sometime in 2006. Meanwhile, the low-income families who were on welfare and food stamps in their home parishes will be jamming the hallways at the Office of Family Support, LA Works (the unemployment office) and (child) Support Enforcement Services to file changes of address and related paperwork. Alongside them will be the newly impoverished refugees who will be filing for assistance for the first time because they're out of money and food, have no jobs to return to, and no way of retrieving monthly checks that may have been sent to them by mail at their former home addresses. This unanticipated crush will undoubtedly create a domino effect that will likely prevent our own local residents from gaining access to their already-overloaded caseworkers. Competition for jobs and housing will drive wages down and rents up, and that will also hurt the local residents, many of whom are minimum wage earners to begin with (yes, there really are people living in the United States who only make $5.15 per hour, and this is the place where it happens in abundance, sigh...).
What I'm afraid of is that, if we don't keep banging the drum about this situation, the relief effort will shift away from the people who need it the most and toward whatever new sensational story grabs the headlines next. Meanwhile, the refugees will continue to languish indefinitely here in poverty, possibly taking their hosts down with them.
We've got to get help to Central Louisiana's refugee community as it continues to mushroom. In later posts, I'll give you more details about specific things you can do which will be a lot more useful to these desperately needy families than just mailing a check to a charity.
Thanks for your interest!
So very glad you checked in, and that you are safe. Losing the radio must have been horrific.
I feel selfish- the coast and NO are far worse; I can't imagine now what it must have been like
Unfortunately, your state of shock and guilt are very normal. Right now, you need to take care of you. Take your time, and get your strength back, then you will begin the clean up. Please keep us updated.
pre storm people were screaming at mayor Ray and Gov Blanco to get those people out. It was obvious where this thing was headed and how powerful it was. All they could do is say, it's gonna be bad. Pray for us. You might want to get out of the city.
Then Bush calls them. Ok, you must get out of the city, but we don't ahve a plan even though we know this city is a major risk.
I want to know WHERE THE PLAN was for New Orleans. They obviously did not have one. WHY? Who are the city managers and civil engineers responsible? Why did the Mayor have no power? I heard it was LAWYERS holding him back until Bush called him. Why?
A leader gives a rat frick about Lawyers when he has a CAT5 bearing down on him. He gives them the finger and he enacts a PLAN that should have been known. WHERE did all the Homeland Security dolalrs go that we gave them for Emergency Preparedness?
Somebody told me yesterday that her mother was involved in something to do with NO evacuation plans 40 years ago, and they included trains. It's pretty obvious that NO didn't have trains in their mix this time.
I'm guessing that a lot of people haven't given much thought to trains these days, having never been around when riding the train was the common man's version of taking a plane.
And did you get a laptop?
Were you first in line?
Did you have to knock over a little old lady to get that last one? LOL!
I grew up near there, BTW. Highland Springs/Sandston area. Once upon a time it was a the best place to be a kid-especially out in the country near the swamp.
Seems to me the entire governmental structure of Louisiana has been shockingly inept, and I'm including both the Dem and Rep U.S. senators, Landrieu and Vitter. The New Orleans mayor is pathetic. There appears to have been zero pre-planning even for a relatively garden-variety disaster, let alone one of such staggering magnitude.
The stupid and/or drunk/high mayor first says looting is a low priority because they have to rescue the living. Then today he orders all New Orleans police officers to stop rescue operations and work on the looting.
New Orleans is not the only devastated locality in Louisiana, yet that weak, pathetic governor doesn't seem to have a clue, let alone anything resembling a plan of action.
She was dithering about whether or not to order a mandatory evacuation before Katrina hit until President Bush called and...ummm..."suggested" it. But when she finally did order one, apparently "mandatory" didn't really mean mandatory. They didn't send city, county and state police out to force people to leave. They didn't organize municipal busses to take out people who couldn't leave on their own for whatever reason. They didn't have any real solid plan as to where to send or bring people. They didn't have any emergency staging areas for cops and other first responders. The list goes on and on.
Now, of course, it's "all Bush's fault." Makes me want to throw up. Literally.
There is no excuse for this.
None. Nada.
Anyone who tries to make one needs the hook and a loud buncha boos.
A puff of dry air from the Midwest hit Katrina and she took a turn as a result and then she resumed her originally projected path./
I think you are seeing the results of a welfare society, people walking around who can't make a decision on their own behalf. I saw one guy lamenting that nobody was around to tell him what to do or feed him or give him water. Seems like these people have lost the ability to think or act for themselves.
It's very obvious they had NO (zero, nada, zilch) real plan or planning capability.
Not to this native. It's more "par for the course."
You know, I can almost smell it coming.
Check out P-J Commix threads in bloggers and personals.
The blame-game started at DU on Monday.
A lot of them forgot, once again, to take their meds. It's hilarious!
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