Posted on 09/04/2005 6:52:12 PM PDT by Lorianne
AUSTRALIAN survivors of Hurricane Katrina told last night of their dramatic escape from New Orleans and the unfolding civil disaster in city.
The group, joyful at fleeing the nightmare of the Louisiana city, lauded one of its members as a hero. Bud Hopes, of Brisbane, was praised for saving dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome became a hellhole.
"I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Vanessa Cullington, 22, of Sydney, told the Sunday Herald Sun by mobile phone from a bus carrying 10 Australians to safety in Dallas, Texas.
"I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't got out. It's so great to be free."
News of the group's escape came as reports said as many as 10,000 people might have been killed by the hurricane and its aftermath, and President George Bush ordered more troops and an increased aid effort for the stricken Gulf of Mexico states.
As the Australians left the Superdome, food and water were almost non-existent and the stiflingly hot arena was filled with 25,000 people and the stench of human waste. Gangs stalked the tourists and women were threatened with rape.
"Bud took control. He was calm and kept it together the whole time," Ms Cullington said.
Mr Hopes, 32, said: "That was the worst place in the universe. Ninety-eight per cent of the people around the world are good. In that place, 98 per cent of the people were bad.
"Everyone brought their drugs, they brought guns, they brought knives. Soldiers were shot.
"It was like a refugee camp within a prison.
"It was full on. It was the worst thing I have seen in my life. I have never been so frightened."
Realising that foreigners were a target, Mr Hopes and the other Aussies gathered tourists from Europe, South America and elsewhere into one part of the building.
"There were 65 of us, so we were able to look after each other -- especially the girls who were being grabbed and threatened." Mr Hopes said.
He said they had organised escorts for the women when they had gone for food or to the toilet, and rosters to keep guard while others slept.
"We sat through the night just watching each other, not knowing if we would be alive in the morning."
John McNeil, 20, of Brisbane, said the worst point had come after two days when soldiers had told them the power in the dome was failing and there was only 10 minutes worth of gas left.
"I looked at Bud and said, 'That will be the end of us'," Mr McNeil said.
"The gangs . . . knew where we were. If the lights had gone out we would have been in deep trouble. We prayed for a miracle and the lights stayed on."
Mr Hopes said the Australians owed their lives to a National Guard Staff Sgt Garland Ogden, who had broken the rules to get the tourists out of the dome, with 60 people being evacuated to a medical centre.
"We did some shifts at the hospital to help nurse the sick to say thank you. It was a real Aussie thing," he said.
As the bus carrying the Australians crossed the Texan border, spirits were high.
"We've had hotdogs and chips and everyone is laughing," Mr Hopes said.
Later, the bus arrived at Dallas Convention Centre, where the Australians were processed.
Family and friends gathered at the Brisbane home of Mr McNeil's parents, Peter and Mary, where they were joined by Mr Hopes's sister, Debbie Browne.
Mrs McNeil broke down when she saw images of her son leaving New Orleans.
"There have been times during this past week when we didn't know if we would see him again," she said.
Mr McNeil said he could see a change in his son.
"They've been traumatised," he said. "I think they've witnessed several atrocities."
The other Australians on the bus were Emma Hardwick, of Sydney; Simon Wood, of Wyalkatchem, WA; Michael Ryan, of Lithgow, NSW; Yasmin Bright, of Newcastle; Michelle and Lisa van Grinsven, of Sydney; and Elise Sims, Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide.
Meanwhile, three Australian couples were safe in Los Angeles, awaiting flights home after being rescued from New Orleans by a Channel 7 news crew.
Tim and Joanne Miller, of Rockhampton, Garry and Cynthia Jones, of Brisbane, and Jack and Gloria Slinger, of Perth, crammed into a four-wheel-drive vehicle with reporter Mike Amor and two colleagues for the early morning dash.
The crew had arranged to pick up two couples from the building where they were holed up and found the Slingers on the streets.
"They were very wary about about coming out of the building. It was a pretty frightening scene -- bodies, shootings, looters," Amor said.
A phone call in the middle of the night gave hope to relatives of Brisbane's Fiona Seidel and her sister-in-law, Katie Maclean.
Mrs Maclean's husband, Andrew, was contacted by a New Orleans police officer who said he had seen the pair get on a bus.
They didn't say 98% were predators, they said 98% were bad. Where bad would include any who were indifferent to predators preying on the white folk
Isn't it, though? Also, I've read that N.O.'s crime rate is either 5 x or 10 x above national average. A good plan would have taken that into account and the Guard would have been brought in, ARMED. My understanding is that initially, even with all the widespread reports of looting/shootings, the Guard was sent in UNARMED. And that falls under the idiot negligent Gov. Blanco.
I just get furious with the government welfare system, allowing generations of people to stay on welfare. They have no work ethic nor any intention TO work. It's actually better for them if they don't. I heard yesterday of a woman who needed to get on welfare for four months. She could pay her bills but not her rent. Her husband was ill and couldn't go back to work until four months were up. They refused her because she was working. If she quit her job, they would pay for everything. This makes absolutely NO sense at all. There are times, yes, when people need help, but do they have to quit their jobs to get it? Argghhhh.
they were too busy stealing TV sets, computers, whiskey, jewelry to think of practical items. Can you imagine these thugs coming to a town near you? Shudder.
The whites who were caught alone and murdered on flooded streets or bridges or in the dark corners of NO will be buried and forgotten. Nobody will hear about the slit throats, those shot in the head, or the raped and disposed of.
Shows who the real racists in America are.
G'day, Mate, welcome to the Great Society!
It'll be worse than "getting away with it". By the time the dizzying spin is over, they will become noble testaments to triumph over over adversity. Anecdotal tales of individual self-sacrifice will be used to define the entirety. Rape and brutality will be pooh-poohed as abberations by an insignifantly small portion of the population. Anything to the contrary will be racism and Bush will be demonized in a new "single bullet theory", as if Nagin and Blanco did not exist.
please explain?
You said "black" culture not me. I don't consider it a black white thing, I consider it a culture of violence thing. You may think you have a monopoly on good experience with what you call the black culture. I have a lifetime of experience with black and white people getting along as friends, co-workers, co-worshippers, etc. I have worked for a lot of black people and have had them work for me. I have been and am close with a lot of black families. They no more identify with what is happening in NOLA than you or I do. Get off your high horse.
"We have plenty of Al Sharpton wanna-bes right here on FR."
We could do without the David Duke/Senator Byrd types.
Thanks for the advice. I thought about what you said before I posted and decided that the word bucks was race neutral. It first applied to Indians but later became common for any young, strong, male persons.
Regarding reports of violence against whites, I find it interesting that the only places I have read of such accounts have been in the foreign media. Australian and British media are reporting the horror stories related by frightened backpackers to their frantic parents back home.
I tried to explain to a friend of mine that after the sick and elderly it was logical to evacuate the white tourists next (as was done) because they were targets of violence and were creating a security problem that had to be dealt with. It would be the same thing if you had a group of black tourists amid thousands of "rednecks" or whatever term one might use to describe a group of white people, some of whom tend to be threatening toward blacks.
This is where the Union Corse (Corsican Union) was born. That's the predecessor to the Italian and Sicilian Mafia that came along two centuries later.
I know, it was home for Carlos Marcello also, but that is a whole different kind of crime. That is organized and for the most part out of sight. I was talking about the kind of crime we are seeing now, street crime, and that started as I said with the birth of the welfare state and political correctness. This is all part of the same socialists plan to take over.
Maybe they don't have to worry about being politically correct.
Ummmmm why yes, it is.
It's clear -- from your own words -- you need *regrooving*.
Apparently -- for reason or reason unknown -- the conditioning didn't work for you, eh?
Not to worry, Reverend.
...time's on their side. ;^)
Civilized behavior vs. uncivilized.
whatever....
2% of 30,000 sounds about right to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.