PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA
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For those who died in Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath: (Statue of the Virgin Mary still standing by a destroyed home.)
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This has a new update from the MS coast. I posted this info on a thread I started, but thought it might be helpful for others here too:
General News Update
By Perry Hicks- Filed 9/1/05
Updated 9/3/05 Keith Burton
Keith Burton reports from Biloxi that a massive relief effort is underway to arrive in Coast are by this weekend.
Highway 49- open
Pass Road- Open
Highway 90- impassible at any point in Harrison and Hancock Counties. Open in Jackson County.
Interstate 110 bridge- open
Travel Note: Due to the high number of debris along the Coast's roads, tire failures are very possible. All travel to the beach and areas south of the railroad tracks is restricted or prohibited. I-10 is open east to Mobile. Highway 49 is open to areas north.
Utilities - Power is out coastwide and telephones service is intermittent or non-existent to many homes due to trees on lines. Phone service is improving daily but calling into the Coast area is expected to be difficult, calling out sometimes works. Service for cell phones is also improving since the storm but calls within the area and long distance are inconsistent. Water service is at a bare minimum and the is not drinkable anywhere on the Coast. The pressure is very low due to the open pipes from destroyed homes and businesses. Sewage facilities non-functioning due to low water pressure, no power and proximity to the heavily damaged shoreline. Raw sewage is entering the surrounding Coast waters. Lift stations to pump sewage is offline due to flooding damages and lack of electrical power.
Local area gasoline currently not available.
Biloxi/Gulfport - Catastrophic damages to entire beachfront. Entire Point Cadet area from around Lee Street east leveled. Back Bay shoreline homes and businesses destroyed or severely damaged on both the Biloxi peninsula and along Back Bay. Numerous buildings well inland destroyed or severely damaged. Gulfport port leveled. All casinos severely damaged. Numerous apartments damaged from wind. Neighborhoods throughout the Coast that didn't suffer from the storm surge experienced very heavy damages from wind and falling trees. Beachfront hotels, restaurants, shops, homes...gone. Highway 90, the beachfront highway. Severely washed out and unpassable. Popps Ferry Bridge in Biloxi unusable. Highway 90 Bridge from Biloxi to Ocean Springs destroyed. I-110 bridge ok.
D'Iberville - Homes and businesses immediately along the Back Bay destroyed by storm surge. The destruction follows a line east and west from the I-110 exit to D'Iberville.
Long Beach- Beachfront and business district through Jefferson Davis Avenue largely destroyed. K-Mart destroyed.
Bay Saint Louis- Old town and beach front homes heavily damaged or destroyed from storm surge and high winds. Interior neighborhoods severely damaged from high winds and fallen tree. Highway 90 Bay St. Louis Bridge from Pass Christian destroyed.
Picayune- Heavy wind and tree damage
Popularville- Heavy wind and tree damage
Pascagoula- Interior in pretty good shape and city trying to restore services. Coastal areas heavily damaged by storm surge. Downtown was flooded, but waters have receded.
Gautier - Destruction of homes and businesses south of Highway 90 near a large section of low-lying land along the shore. Heavy wind and tree damage.
Ocean Springs - Destruction of beachfront and bayou area homes and apartments, heavy wind damages,
Pass Christian - Severe damages from storm surge and winds. Beachfront homes destroyed or severely damaged. Downtown area in ruins. Homes along bayous floods and severely damaged or destroyed.
Wiggins - Heavy wind and tree damages. Power failure from winds and fallen trees.
Hattiesburg - Heavy wind and tree damages.
GCN will update as information is available.
Ray Nagin for president???
Someone on CNN just suggested this.
I wonder if the Superdome folks would vote for him.
National Hurricane director had to call Mayor Nagin on Friday at home to beg him to order a mandatory evacuation. Knight Ridder article.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1476538/posts?page=2
I've been following the blog of a guy in a high-rise in downtown NO. His company provides ISP services of some sort and they've kept their networks up via generators.
He just reported that police have told him that two fellow officers have commited suicide.
Are you able to name your meds?
Amazing that "Our Gulf Coast Neighbors" are on life sustaining medication yet can't remember the name of the med or the amount they have to take in order to get a new prescription.
While assessing the needs of "Our Gulf Coast Neighbors" (and frisking them for weapons such as disposable shaving razors,) would it be terribly wrong to assess their literacy levels or adminster tests for illegal drugs?
American Red Cross shelters:
-- Louisiana: 127 shelters; 51,480 people
-- Mississippi: 102 shelters; 13,510 people
-- Texas: 49 shelters; 23,850 people
-- Alabama: 47 shelters; 3,760 people
-- Georgia: 17 shelters; 880 occupants
-- Tennessee: 9 shelters; 70 occupants
-- Florida: 8 shelters; 1,380 occupants
-- Arkansas: 1 shelter; 1,250 occupants
-- Missouri: 1 shelter; 0 occupants
Good job Red Cross
CNN Headline News: 2/3 NOPD abandoned their posts.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476864/posts
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4054083,00.html
Wednesday, AUGUST 31
Faced with widespread rooting in New Orleans, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco is asking residents of the hurricane-ravaged city to spend today in prayer.
Blanco says, "That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors." She added, "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild."
Some of the looting is taking place in full view of police and National Guardsmen. New Orleans Police say one officer was shot in the head by a looter, but was expected to recover.
On Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores.
Looters at a Wal-Mart brazenly loaded up shopping carts with items including microwaves, coolers and knife sets. Others walked out of a sporting goods store on Canal Street with armfuls of shoes and football jerseys.
http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3786929&nav=EyB0dxCY
Lots of vehicular traffic on the directnic webcam in the CBD. Most by far that I've seen. Looks like operations are truly in full swing win the city itself today.
Of course, I'm totally expecting a wreck at that intersection.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/002593.html
This is long, but an excellent read. Here's a quote:
"In today's modern, increasingly socialist democracies, nanny-state legislation (if it saves one life!) and cradle-to-grave "social safety nets" are the opiate of the middle class, while the politics of race and identity, envy, and "social justice" are the stock and trade of the economic underclass.
The net result is a society of entitlement that absolves the individual of personal responsibility and creates an illusion that consequences are made to be avoided. There is always "failure of society", a previous generation, or corporate dynasty at whose feet the blame for personal failure lies, always someone else with more "ability to pay" to pick up the tab.
"They owe you" .
Consider a city built, unwisely, below sea level, protected by massive levies and powerful pumps provided by the state, maintained by the state, with all the apparent permanence of the state.
In the unthinkable event that those fail, experts and engineers plot strategies for worst case scenerios. They conduct disaster drills, with fake victims and fake blood. The state provides modern highways and mass transit, and communications systems and weather satellites.
Then, when the day comes that the unthinkable becomes possible, the planning and technology move into high gear. Government officials, with the assistance of private and public media, warn of a tremendous hurricane as it grows in strength. The images are available world wide as satellites track its path, and local TV records the destruction of those it has already battered.
Government officials and elected leaders urge the citizens to evacuate to save their lives. They warn of the scope of the impending storm and the potential of devastation. They mobilize and priorize. Hospital staff stay on duty to care for the sick and infirm. The doors to the largest facility available that may withstand the storm are opened in hopes that those who had no way of escaping, or somehow learned of them too late, can find refuge.
And tens of thousands ignore them and remain in their homes.
Many of them have cars parked in their driveways. Many who don't are able-bodied and capable of walking. They ignore the warning and simply remain where they are, though they have children and elderly in their care.
With the storm passed, the waters rising faster than the heat, electricity failed and supplies running out, when the truth begins to dawn on the survivors - that the state is not all-powerful, that the mere human beings charged with coming to their aid,are, in fact, mere human beings who cannot come sweeping to their rescue like the cavalry over a Hollywood hill, that there are so many to rescue, because like they, so many have ignored the warnings - do they pool their resources? "
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slightclutter/
Check out this guy's photos from Houston. Very moving pictures, including of the renegade bus, in which most of the passengers were teens or younger.
NO refugees unboarding airplane now in Lubbock, Texas on Fox News. Lubbock LE troopers there on ground to assist.
PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA
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For those who died in Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath: (Statue of the Virgin Mary still standing by a destroyed home.)
|
From his profile page:
Retired Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy, 26 years Active Duty. Vietnam Veteran. Enlisted in 1967 as an E-1, went up through the Enlisted ranks, completed OCS, and retired as an Officer (O-4), that's where the handle "Mustang" comes from.
Proud to be among the original members of the Florida Free Republic Chapter...
Thread, posted by his son, is here.
I contacted some family members in Mobile and found out that it was hit harder there than I thought. The first floor of the downtown convention center was flooded and it was starting to flood on the second.
Both my relatives had trees fall on their houses and suffered structural damage. Electicity was turned on yesterday for one of them. The other gota few days earlier. I heard the battleship was moved off it's moorings. I'm trying to get a better feel for the damage in that area. My relatives from New Orleans are in Mobile. I imagine their home was flooded.
