Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII

Various ^ | 1 September 2005 | Various

[NautiNurse]

28,000 National Guard troops are deployed to the disaster areas in Mississippi, Alabama, and to Louisiana, where SWAT teams are working to combat the looters and shooters in New Orleans. Additional 1400 National Guard troops are being deployed daily.

Shootings reported at a New Orleans hospital, rescue boats, and a military helicopter, while conditions continue to deteriorate at the SuperDome amid refugee deaths and chaos. Evacuation of New Orleans continues.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has voiced serious doubts about rebuilding New Orleans with federal funds, while assuring the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that the United States Congress stands ready to help them in their time of need. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS."

Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, "We have been trying to call the mayor's office, we have been trying to call the governor's office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us," said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the largest of two public hospitals.

The Port of New Orleans is now open to shallow draft vessels. Congress is reconvening in an emergency session. International offers to assist the U.S. have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States.

Jesse Jackson has arrived in Louisiana...

Links to various news, local and state government websites:

WLOX TV Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagula has link to locate family and friends
2theAdvocate - Baton Rouge Includes Slidell, St. John Parish, St. Bernard Parish updates, and other locations.
NOLA.com
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
Gulfport News via Topix.net
WAFB Baton Rouge
Mobile Register via al.com
Mississippi updates via Jackson Ledger
Lafayette LA Daily Advertiser
Pensacola News Journal
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 (via CBS): WWLTV via CBS
WWL-TV Now via WFAA Dallas **NEW LINK**: http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/bi/video/makeadplaylist.pl?title=beloint_wfaa&live=yes
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 Temporarily Not Live Streaming (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
Louisiana Statewide Katrina Network (WJBO-AM Baton Rouge): http://ccri.eonstreams.com/ccri_la_batonrouge_wjbo_am.asf
Gulf Coast Storm Network (radio): http://www.stormalert.net/main.html#
Louisiana Scanner

Related FR Threads:

FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread FReeper Check In thread
Discussion Thread - Hurricane Katrina - What Went Wrong?!?
Post Hurricane Katrina IMAGES Here
Looting Begins In New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina HOUSING Thread
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, and lines are busy
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.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/

Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Party XII
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

[MarMema]

and talk about how Bush had to ask for the evacuation order of NO.

Blanco herself supported Bush to the media after her press conference ( video is on WWL site), and said he was the one who told her to begin the mandatory evacuation.

These people in charge locally were apparently completely clueless from the get-go.

[MMkennedy]

"Right, whatever you say Kennedy."

Glad you see the light

[DouglasKC]

You people need to chill out. I saw this lady on TV that you are all trash talking and she was just a sweet talking, nice old lady about 85 years old who was just talking like any old grandmother...please. God help us.

The lady I'm talking about was a thirty something old white lady in Mississippi complaining that Haley Barbour should do something and that George Bush should get out of the White House and come down and do something.

[BurbankKarl]

Dear Governor Blanco,

Hurricane Katrina refugees are shown at the Reunion Arena shelter in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005. After opening the Astrodome in Houston on Wednesday to accommodate up to 23,000 hurricane survivors, the state agreed Thursday to house up to 25,000 more in San Antonio and an additional 25,000 in Dallas

[milagro]

Aaron Brown just interviewed a young lady who said she was scared by the hurricane. Assuming an attitude dripping with compassion, Aaron asked what scared her. She said it was not being able to continue her education.

Entitlement mentality for sure!

[nwctwx]

Report from Inside the Astrodome, Red Cross Relief

[livius]

Great find! Blanco obviously has a track record of not taking things seriously.

This is one of those "laugh till you cry" things. It's amazing how overconfident people get - normally, this only affects the idiot in question, but if you're Governor of a state, it affects all the millions of people who have the misfortune to be under your "care."

[WoodstockCat]

thank you...this should be a wake-up call for our push-button society about what things are important, what things you can leave behind and when it it is time to get out of dodge.

Those pictures of Marine Life in Gulfport just leave me speechless..this is like 300 F3 tornadoes on the ground at one place at once.

[mabelkitty]

I'm hearing it on local radio every day.
Bad timing, I agree, but the talk started yesterday about "bailing out a city that never should have been".
I posted about it yesterday.
I thought it was pretty tacky.

[XEHRpa]

But this is really opening my eyes to how soft we are as a people. Cut off the electricity and water for three days in one area of the country and we descend into chaos.

This is why humanity is doomed to repeat its mistakes. Because when organized society takes it on the chin, the element that rises to the fore is that which takes civilization back thousands of years (i.e., the law of the jungle).

[fedupjohn]

The police could not communicate with the firefighters on 911 IIRC..I believe one problem is not having compatible equipment..

Well what did they do with all the monies allocated by HSD for common communication. I'm OEM over here in NJ and all our communication is common. If they do not have adequate equipment then the money was wasted or used to buy votes.

[CFC__VRWC]

I think even the Democrats are beginning to realize that this is a disaster of immense proportions, one that's going to dwarf the 9/11 attacks, in scope and maybe even the impact it's going to have on all our normal daily lives.

The word "catastrophic" gets tossed around so much that it has become a cliche and has pretty much lost it's meaning, but this is a truly catastrophic event. I was one of those who believed (quietly) that the media was over-hyping the potential for death and destruction just to pump up their ratings, and I based this on their over-hyping of the aftermath of the three hurricanes that I lived through last year, storms that were like a little afternoon shower compared to this thing. To be fair, I think even the media didn't really believe it was going to be as bad as they said it was going to be. Well, it was much, much worse, and I was as wrong as wrong could be.

To put it bluntly, I don't know if there really is any practical way that anyone, Republican or Democrat, could have adequately prepared for something as catastrophic as this. For all the things we can do, for all the power we think we have, we're still just puny little things when compared to nature, and nature just loves to remind us of just how little we are when we start to swagger.

This has gone way beyond the finger-pointing and name-calling we love to indulge in, and I think our elected leaders are starting to get this, and are realizing that digging out and putting things right again is going to take huge amounts of time and effort. And as such, right now we cannot afford the petty partisan bickering. All we can do is roll up our sleeves and do the best we can.

I am certainly not so naive that I think this will last forever - we'll be back to the sniping and the name-calling and the blame-laying before we know it. But for now, we're beginning to realize we really do have to work together, even if just for a while, and I am very relieved to see it.

[MEG33]

I am tending to 3 adult cats and 5 kittens while my daughter and SIL are out of town to attend my grandson's graduation from his first stint as a Navy Seaman Recruit..

I adore my animals..I really grieve when they die or are sick ..I helped feed these kittens in 2 hour shifts when their stray mother abandoned them at one week in the compost pile...but priorities have to be made. People first, animals when possible.

May God protect the rescuers and comfort the suffering..

[livius]

Maybe she's in shock. Or terminally dumb?

[Arizona Carolyn]

I watched the people that were grabbing the bottles of water from the military and told my husband, just wait... they will turn around and sell it to the people who really need it.

[metmom]

Re: 1541 Unbelievable. What is it? "Gee. I've always wanted a free ride in a helicopter."

[madison10]

Some of those links on the side of the website are very interesting.

Apparently there was discussion in Congress & Senate about $$$ needed for upgrading LA's coast. Even if the $$$ were granted, the article is dated July 22, 2005. There certainly would not have been time to make improvements to the levee or coastal area near New Orleans. It would have taken years, not a month and a half.

[jeffers]

NBC live, Dateline Special on Katrina, now.

[nascaryankee]

The problem I see is that the media heads are being morons about the feds responsibility to disasters. They are responsible to support the state and local gov't. In other words, provide the funds for the state and local to do their job. The feds don't send the supplies and aid, the state and local do. And people crying foul about Bush doing this and that in Iraq and not here don't seem to comprehend that the feds don't actually do the hard work.

The National Guard is not under the President's control for domestic issue. It is under the Governor's control. It is the Governors of LA, AL, and Miss. to ask for help from other states and for those Governors to send their Guard.

FEMA/Homeland Security need to educate the media and people that they only provide aid in the form of money and planning.

[Ovation_girl]

Two sources of help for Snowball:
http://www.noahswish.org/

I posted this earlier today regarding their work:
9:14 a.m.: Volunteers Head to La. To Look For Lost Pets
A Madison County, Ill., prosecutor is leaving this week for the Gulf Coast to offer assistance to some lower profile hurricane victims -- family pets.

Amy Maher is a coordinator for a national organization called Noah's Wish, which works to save as many pets as possible during such catastrophes. The group expects more than 100 Noah's Wish volunteers to arrive in Louisiana Thursday.

The volunteers will provide temporary shelter for animals whose owners are unable to care for them in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If they can't be reunited with their original owners, some of the rescued animals could also be brought back to Illinois and put up for adoption. -- Associated Press

Per their web site, they reached Slidell today...

and from Houston for animals needing shelter:
http://www.spcahouston.org/spcahouston/Default.asp