Katrina Live Threads, Part XV

Various ^ | 4 September 2005 | Various

[NautiNurse]

U.S. commercial air carriers continue transporting tens of thousands of evacuees from the New Orleans airport to destinations throughout the nation.

Rooftop air rescue efforts continue. One rescue chopper crashed late today. Crew members are reported safe. Gunmen who fired upon bridge repair contractors were killed by law enforcement.

To date, an estimated 70 countries and U.S. businesses have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, supplies, food and equipment to assist the United States' efforts in Katrina's aftermath. Lt. General Honore described the damage to Mississippi today, "all infrastructure south of Jackson, MS is either damaged or destroyed." Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited the devastated areas, and attended Sunday church services in Mobile, Alabama.

Elsewhere, Sean Penn's rescue boat, sans plug and full of his personal entourage,reportedly sank during launch in New Orleans. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) threatened to punch President Bush, and Jefferson Parish President Broussard decried that the bureaucracy of FEMA has committed murder.

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

New Orleans Emergency Operations Center - is now open:
504-463-1000
504-463-1001
504-463-1002

Streaming Video:

All information is subject to change. Many stations are relying on their corporate parents to configure and maintain Internet streaming. Because of the intense interest in the feeds, they may be unavailable at times because of network congestion or a problem feeding the video to the streaming servers.

WWL-TV New Orleans - WWL-TV is operating from studios at Louisiana Public Broadcasting. CBS has a relay during the morning and afternoon. When available, use the CBS relay first as they have greater streaming capacity. They have a secondary stream from Yahoo. WWL-TV is also offering a special low-bandwidth audio-only stream for dial-up users.

WDSU-TV New Orleans - The news staff has started to return to temporary news studios near New Orleans. However, expect evening coverage from Hearst-Argyle sister stations WAPT Jackson and WESH Orlando when the New Orleans staff needs to take a break.

WGNO-TV New Orleans - New Orleans' ABC affiliate has returned to the air with WBRZ-TV and launched video streaming with continuous Katrina coverage.

WPMI-TV Mobile, AL - WPMI is webcasting from 5:30am - 10:30pm CDT. When off air, you can view pre-recorded reports on demand. This feed is often unreliable.

WKRG-TV Mobile, AL - This station is providing good coverage of the situation to the east in Mississippi and Alabama. However, the station is now signing off at around 10:30pm CDT like WWL and WPMI.

WJTV-TV Jackson, MS - The CBS affiliate in Jackson is providing live coverage for both the Jackson area and south Mississippi (knowing a lot of media in that area is off the air).

WFAA-TV Dallas, TX - WFAA-TV is here because Dallas is one of the evacuation cities.

United Radio From New Orleans: WWL-AM, WNOE-FM, "KISS-FM," WRNO-FM, WYLD-FM, and WJBO-AM (Clear Channel & Entercom) who have joined forces as United Radio From New Orleans, and they are streaming.

Gulf Coast Storm Network (Clear Channel Radio) - Clear Channel offers radio listeners across the gulf coast access to a simulcast emergency radio service. This service seems primarily focused on Alabama and Mississippi, but does cover Louisiana to some degree.

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
Katrina Link Archives Nice work by backhoe
Mary Landrieu-"I'll Punch Bush"
Sean Penn's Rescue Bid Sinks
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/ Southern Baptist: NAMB - http://www.namb.net/
Samaritan's Purse - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Part XIV
Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII
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

[A Citizen Reporter]

I'm so happy to hear that Tony will be back tomorrow.

[tiredoflaundry]

bump

[RasterMaster]

I read earlier that Oklahoma has 2000 and another 3000 coming. The Blue staters know that their "little man" mantra is phoney baloney.

[Miss Marple]

I know. It has to be humiliating for them.

I am off to bed. I will check in tomorrow.

[LdSentinal]

November, February, May, and July are the sweep months.

September is just when the fall season begins.

[cgk]

Prayers answered! You gave many of us a serious scare when you signed off that night the way you did before Katrina hit... "pray for us."

If you or yours need anything at all, there is a FReeper housing thread (that's the title), with lots of good FReepers opening their homes to you and others down in NO and Miss.

I am so very sorry for your city. Hang tight. And thank you for what you wrote - it is wonderful to hear things are turning around.

God Bless. :)

[gpapa]

I'll give it a shot.

1. Why didn't the mayor follow the Louisiana Evacuation plan?

Because he failed to follow his own emergency evacuation plans, which called for the use of public transportation equipment to get people out. Abt. 2,000 city buses and school buses could have taken abt. 60,000 people out in one trip. See 6b.

2. Why were there so few National Guardsmen at the Superdome?

Ask the Governor. She is the CIC of the Lousiana National Guard. Ask her how many NG Troops she requested from other States. Ask the Mayor if he asked for NG Troops, how many and when?

3. Why were there no porta-johns taken to the Superdome?

Beats me. They might have been stored in the same area where those buses were under water. I doubt they were stored in the French Quarter. Find suppliers and ask them where they are.

4. Why did the New Orleans police department have only one working boat?

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1878012005
[Jefferson Parish]
For miles along Highway 10, which leads to Baton Rouge, 50 miles to the west, buses are arriving in convoy. Hundreds of volunteers with small boats wait in a line stretching at least a mile for the word to get on to the water to rescue people, but they are being turned back after the first boat was shot at."

"For now, we are holding the boats back until we know it is safe to send more out there. We are trying to do our job here but we can't if they are shooting at us," said Major Joey Broussard of the Louisiana State Fisheries and Wildlife Division. Some of his team are now wearing body armour.

Ken Dunnen and his fellow volunteers from the Ville Platte Fire Department are out on a cutter and report surreal scenes. "Houses are totalled, animals are dead and floating in the water. We are riding level with the tops of the street lamps. There are cars under the water and you can just about see their roofs in places," says Mr Dunnen.

"It's one hell of a mess - one hell of a mess."

5. Why was the New Orleans police department so poorly equipped that officers had to buy their own guns?

See this story: New Orleans, Boston, Detroit and Alameda County, Calif., are suing gun manufacturers and dealers for distributing what they deem a dangerous product -- and then turning around and selling guns themselves.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/07/13/guns/print.html

5b. Where did all the FEMA money in Louisiana go? How much was taken by James Lee Witt and Wesley Clark, and why is Witt now being hired to review the same plan?

Go to this link for the goods on Mr. Witt. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477043/posts?page=596#596

6. Where did the money the levee board had go? Did it fund a casino?

Four months before its lease with the Orleans Levee Board expires, Bally's Casino New Orleans' financially troubled lakefront casino is seeking a renegotiated deal that would slash future payments to the flood control agency by nearly $900,000 a year.
-- NOLA - Tuesday July 1, 2003
http://www.politicsla.com/archives/2003/July.htm

6b. How come those buses never went to pick people up?

See Number 3. And this. http://www.loep.state.la.us/evacinfo/no_contraflow.htm

7. Why won't Governor Banco cede authority? What is she trying to hide?

Hide?? Here are the major actions she has taken to date. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476864/posts?page=160#160

[spanalot]

Control of the police dept is not a big issue when you have thousands dying in a disaster.

[Cboldt]

It was not until terrible reports of rapes and violence, videos of looting, and reports of shoots being fired at rescue workers did Governor Blanco relinquish any claim of control on an out-of-control city.

The refenced order gives up no control. It keeps control. The only thing it does is formally waive state law to permit the governor to control people who do not posess the credentials necessary under state law.

Date: 9/1/2005 Contact:Denise Bottcher or Roderick Hawkins at 225-342-9037
Governor Blanco Announces Executive Orders

Baton Rouge, LA-- Governor Blanco today announced the following Executive Orders: Executive Order NO. KBB 2005-23- Suspends the bonding requirement of persons issued a special officer's commission by the superintendent of state police. This will facilitate immediate activation and incorporation of out-of-state troopers and out-of-jurisdiction Louisiana law enforcement officers into law enforcement efforts in the disaster area.

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=994

[Arizona Carolyn]

Thank you.... He IS a Democrat and has made a concerted effort to keep politics out of all his reporting in Iraq as well as this disaster. So, he's a drama king.... he's a kind man.

[Arizona Carolyn]

O'Reilly mail coming back undeliverable today.

[185JHP]

If you could turn those photos into posters, or bumper stickers, you could sell a lot of them. You wouldn't even need any pithy comments - the thing speaks for itself. Real useful for Campaign 06.

[Cedar]

I'm not up on official language, so I'm glad it's being explained here at FR!

I just said on a similar thread -- can't imagine who advised her, I know she had advisors. Many regrets now.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Hate to say it... probably a good idea. You guys have some serious problems brewing (I watch your local news)...

[Cedar]

Thanks for the explanation.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Send THAT question to CNN.

[DrewsMum]

Funny to me---the refugees that i talked to today---were all wanting to go to church---they said they "needed" that right now,,,,

[Arizona Carolyn]

Did you see how that guy was DRAGGING Dusty!

[Cboldt]

See also 569 just above. It shows who had control. The state had (has) control of the orders given to the "Guard-acting as police."

[TexKat]

Why the h_ _ _ _ does Nagin have so much free time that he can give all these interviews while others are out trying to rescue his citizens. I was refraining from criticizing but this is getting to be a bit much.

He needs to grab himself a boat and go out from door to door like others that have gone from out of state to rescue his citizens.

Hes crying on the broadcast side of cable now because he knows that his a$$ is grass and he is on his way back to being a cable guy.