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.
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Their "solution" has been to abandon infested houses ~ which just about all anyone can do. Unfortunately, they did not have a vigorous program of removing them.
The result is that most New Orleans neighborhoods end up filled with abandoned houses. That, in turn, leads to the "Detroit Syndrome".
I looked all through their site and couldn't come up with anything about the picture.
You are aware, of course, that there are seriously injured folks down there ~ so without some additional information we really can't conclude the man had been beaten.
Here is the caption underneath the photo on the page I just linked.
Daily News photographer captures the horror outside Superdome as beaten man is carried away.
You are a friggin idiot.
Who knows? In this world, the just and unjust live side-by-side and die side-by-side. The suffering of the just is a mystery known to God alone. There are seldom surgical lightning strikes which remove miscreants and leave the just untouched.
The best I can do is to indicate the passage in the Gospels which deals with this and to point out that "bad" things happening to "good" people was a question which obviously troubled the first apostles and disciples.
In Luke's Gospel (13: 1-5) we read:
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Jesus says plainly that those who suffered and died in these disasters were not being punished because they were sinners. Probably in response to being asked by those present why they were killed in such a manner. Which raises the question of why they died so violently if they were not great sinners. Jesus doesn't say. However, He does issue a warning. Specifically, that similar disasters await the unrepentant.
This seems to me to indicate that it is known to God alone why these things occur but that both the guilty and just can perish in this way. Sometimes at the same time.
All we can do is to prepare as best we can, for we know not the day nor the hour.
Riverside?
No it's not strange. "Our women" is how it should be. Would someone tell "our women" to fetch me a cold drink and put a stool under my feet on her way to handing me the remote? Yeahh... Our women...
SLAP!
What's that honey? I was not day dreaming, you want the car keys and the credit card... right away, Ma'am!
Jesus was only kidding about that...
Yep
I worked for TEEX out there. Good people. Good luck!
There was a group of Vietnamese that self-organised for self-protection in the Dome. They told the Guard guys that they could wait and be on the last buses out! One of them is a former interpreter of an SF bud of mine.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Vacation of a lifetime!
That sounds like a place I would like to live.
They did not want to get their Arse shot at or stabbed.
I've heard it quite a bit: "young bucks," used to describe young, aggressive, testosterone-laden, males, and I live in a state that's only 5% black -- mostly I've heard it used to describe whites. Maybe it's military slang because many or most of my friends are vets.
I did think it was a poor choice of words in the original post, exactly because of the tertiary meaning that you note.
As I understand it, the exact reason that this word is offensive to black people is that it was the term used to describe black men in the slave markets. So IMHO reasonable blacks (and whites who respect them) can be expected to be discomfited by this word. Most people probably don't know the term's racialist history.
If the original poster had said, "young wolves", he'd have made his point with no undue offence to anyone -- in my opinion that would have been a better choice of words.
I am, of course, giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming that there was no intention of stirring things with the racialist connotation of "buck."
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I think every VN family in the USA is headed by "boat people" who know what real refugee suffering is. I'm postitive that they have raised their children to be extremely self-reliant in the face of disasters, natural or manmade.
It would be an honor to serve with someone like him.
Do you think he'd like to run for President in '08.
i know you are, but what an i?
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