Posted on 09/02/2005 12:58:04 AM PDT by BenLurkin
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - First the federal government took the buses they had hired to evacuate them. Then their hotels turned them out onto the desolate streets.
They trudged for blocks to walk over a bridge, but officers wouldn't let them cross - and fired a few warning shots over their heads to convince them.
And the night was coming down.
Despairing, dozens of trapped tourists huddled on a downtown street corner and waited for dark.
"I grew up in an upper-middle class family. Street life is foreign to me," said Larry Mitzel, 53, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive."
The fate of tourists in dozens of hotels here was caught up in the days of chaos and confusion that came after Hurricane Katrina's 145 mph winds.
Many smaller hotels shut down. The largest housed hundreds and hundreds of guests and took in refugees from the storm. How many remained Thursday was unclear.
Tourists and hotel managers alike condemned government officials for ignoring them.
"The tourists are an afterthought here," said Bill Hedrick of Houston, who came to town on business and was trapped with his wife and elderly mother-in-law.
"We're appalled," said Jill Johnson, 53, of Saskatoon. "This city is built on tourism and we're their last priority."
Peter Ambros, general manager of the Astor Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter, said, "Guests who bring business to the hotels are treated 10 times worse than the people at the Superdome."
He helped arrange the hiring of 10 buses to evacuate 500 guests from his and a nearby hotel - at a cost of $25,000.
Then the Federal Emergency Management Agency commandeered the buses and police told the guests to go to the nearby convention center, where a crowd left without food, water or security was growing angry.
Instead, the tourists - dragging their rolling luggage through broken glass, smashed bricks and trash - tried to cross a huge bridge blocks away.
They were turned back when another group trying to cross began to threaten the officers, said Whit Herndon, 32, of Jonesboro, Ark.
As night approached, the tourists stuck close together on a corner of the downtown waterfront and within sight of a police gathering point.
Officers brought them food and water and promised buses would come for them. Most prepared to sleep, sheltered by a concrete overhang.
The tourists put on a game face and prepared to sleep.
Ann Robertson, a 50-year-old vocational counselor from Nashville, Tenn., looked on the bright side. They had food, there was safety in numbers - but then she looked at the sky.
"I don't know," she said, "I never slept on the street before."
Jill, respectfully ma'am -- its (American) citizens are the city's first priority.
Sad....these poor people.
The Roaming Knome has some 'splainin' to do.
how can the buses be taken away from the hotels? they're also shipping people out of New Orleans... what difference does it make? someone please explain rationale of FEMA... :(
When you have guests in your house, you take care of them.
Jill, were you too stupid to realize you have no vested in interest in New Orleans and LEAVE?
Frankly, I wouldn't put too much credence in any given AP report.
It's not FEMA - it's the LA State Patrol or NOLA PD that did the bus hijacking...and they have the authority to do it under the emergency declaration.
Some tourists were trapped, legit.
It is kind of surprising that there were any tourists left at all.
You're right; they should have ORDERED the tourists to leave Friday night.
Sure, FEMA's rationale is that its leader is being embarrassed on TV for not knowing the convention center people are there- thus the buses go to the convention center.
Just to note that we still don't know all the facts.
It is sad what happened to these people. They should've been allowed the buses they'd hired on the condition that they carry extra people out with them.
This part sounds fishy to me
Why would they shot warning shoots over their heads?
Instead, the tourists - blah blah - tried to cross a huge bridge blocks away.
Not that I would find myself in the same spot, but.
Tourists had the means to get out. They didn't. Then when told to go somewhere, they assumed they didn't have to, and went somewhere else.
My sympathy isn't the greatest, and it makes me wonder about the cops and the fact when you have tens of thousands of people to feed and house, why someone thinks they are more important than others.
But then, I guess no one thought what a force five hurricane would do.. They were turned back when another group trying to cross began to threaten the officers, said Whit Herndon, 32, of Jonesboro, Ark.
What are you talking about?
You should have left when you were told to leave... now you can just wait like everybody else. You had money and means so I have little sympathy for you staying when a MANDATORY EVACUATION is called! Idiots.
With all due respect, Ma'am. It's going to be a very long time before they're going to be able to have any tourism anyway, so that's not a good selling point at this time.
Tonight the squeaky wheel gets the oil. :o)
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