Rita Damage to SW Louisiana worse than being reported

Lake Charles.com Photos ^ | September 25, 2005

[Comstock1]

The damage that has hit SW Louisiana and SE Texas is much worse than is being reported by the MSM. While there is very little in the way of a body count, houses and businesses by the hundreds have been destroyed. Entire communities in Cameron Parish have more than likely been erased from the map.

Here is link for some images from SW LA. You'll have to scroll down.

http://forum.lakecharles.com/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/14/t/000023

[CajunConservative]

Holly Beach was more of a summer camp/winter duck hunting community. After Hurricane Audrey wiped it out the people did not rebuild it with beauty in mind. It was simply functional camps where you could get out of the sun, sleep, shower and have a fridge to keep the beer cold for the most part. Half of those buildings were hole in the wall bars. It was only in the last few years that people actually started building really nice summer houses there. Let's just say it's called the Cajun Riviera. It was a redneck vacation paradise.

[laz]

Cameron isn't a major population center, though.

So that makes it less tragic to lose it? I'm sure the people that lived there don't think so. You are too pragmatic for your own good, or anyone else's. And you sound just like the MSM, elevating NOLA above everyone and everything else.

And don't split hairs about floodwaters. Everyone here knows that NOLA would have survived flooding had state and local authorities spent the money on upkeep of levees instead of other stuff, Katrina notwithstanding. Katrina didn't flood NOLA. Corrupt and inept leaders did nothing to prevent her from doing so. And there's a difference, which you cannot see.

[cgk]

Prayers being sent for all affected.

[Rennes Templar]

Rita was a white hurricane, of no use to the MSM against W.

[Flux Capacitor]

----So that makes it less tragic to lose it?----

Didn't say that.

----You are too pragmatic for your own good, or anyone else's. And you sound just like the MSM, elevating NOLA above everyone and everything else.----

Never did that, either. I pointed out the reason why Rita was much less destructive than Katrina and why the media coverage of N.O. is justified.

-Dan

[Flux Capacitor]

Yep, which gives me all the more confidence it will be back. :)

-Dan

[laz]

One overflight along the coast by private aircraft would get a true picture of the coastal community damages. They already likely have that footage. They are just deciding which way the Democrat wind needs to blow before editing the film footage, and added twisted scripting for broadcasters.

Absolutely. So far, they haven't figured out how to make the footage of use to them. But the footage has existed for at least a day, shot by Coast Guard choppers. And AP has had photos from the footage online for at least a day. Why nothing on the tube? Because MSM wasn't aware? MSM is aware of EVERYTHING going on, constantly on the prowl for something they can use to advance the agenda. When they don't show something, it's not because they're unaware, it's because they won't use it.

[laz]

I suppose to you, if a tree falls in the forest but nobody hears it, then no tree fell, or it doesn't matter, even though it did, in fact, fall. Oh, well...

[laz]

Bless the reporter who was on just now on FNC on Geraldo's show, pointed to a completely destroyed house in Beaumont, and said of the owners, "Tell THEM that they dodged a bullet."

Yes, MSM, please do. Tell the owners of all destroyed and devastated structures in TX and LA that they dodged a bullet, just because there are other structures that are still intact. And tell everybody in Cameron, Holly Beach, etc., the same thing as well while you're at it. Miserable, foolish, immature, clueless brats, with the attention span of a mosquito and a compassion that is paper-thin.

[ArmyBratsMom]

Thanks for taking time to explain, backhoe. I've printed your post for future reference.

[Dan Nunn]

True. One thing to know about that, however, is that a "new" window isn't being created, a window with the name "new" is being created. This means, if two people use target=new, each link will be opened up in the window named "new." Thus, the second click will circumvent the first link and load the page over whatever the user was reading.

"_blank" is the special name in HTML that opens up a new window, every time. Of course, "new" or naming it whatever is handy if you actually do want to change the location of the other page. There are a couple other special HTML page names, used mostly for frames. "_top," I think, loads the page requested and gets rid of all the frames in the window.

Not nitpicking, just dispensing the trivia! Have a great day :)

[backhoe]

I've printed your post for future reference.

I knew I was forgetting something- printing it out. For some reason, I have trouble following directions on screen, but the same info, printed, makes sense. Dyslexic? Wacko? Need more iced tea? Who knows? Just know it's easier to follow, for me, on paper.

[Smartaleck]

"Racial thing indeed!"

I couldn't have said it better.

Amelia, check out this story.
"Rita's Victims Wealthier Than Katrina's (Mega-Barf Alert)"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1490622/posts?page=1

[ArmyBratsMom]

Just know it's easier to follow, for me, on paper.

Ditto :o)

[Comstock1]

Dan

The people of Cameron Parish will rebuild--this isn't their first go around and more than most other Americans they are pretty self-reliant. But the anger and frustration that is being caused right now by the new media for all this "dodged a bullet" crap is nothing short of infuriating.

Louisiana is a very provincial state in the plainest sense of the phrase. New Orleans is very vital to the economy of the state and is the hub of so much that goes on in the state, but, truth be told, most Louisianians don't give a rat's ass about NO. Most treat it as the brother with the felony record that you have to put up with. And take to the occassional Saint's game.

It's sad but it's true.

Rita affected more of the state physically than Katrina. Rita has probably casued mroe damage to the physical coastline in LA than Katrina--which unleashed most of her wrath on the eastern Gulf Coast. The yardstick by which everything weatherwise in SW Louisiana was measured was Hurricane Audrey. All the old timers from Sabine Pass to Erath talk about it like it was the Rapture. That's over. It will be Rita that they will describe with terrible sadness.

Economically, we did dodge a bullet with Rita. It could have been 100 times worse. Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Sulphur, Abbeville, etc. could have been wiped out or their industrial bases destroyed. It ddin't happen. In New Orleans the bill for the levees alone is going to be 10 -20 billion if Blanco is to be believed. You and I and everyone who reads this will be footing the bill on this one for years. But I think Rita will alter life south of I-10 in fundamental ways that haven't been accounted for yet.

There's a lot of outrage that a fairly large city like Lake Charles and the rest of SW LA is being treated like it's problems aren't real and their only impact is that they are just getting in the way of dealing with Katrina.

My Dad and I are gonna go to Sulphur today to try and see what damage has been done to mom's house and to my in-laws' house. We might be able to get down to Hackberry to see what happened to the house there, but I have heard that there is still bayou flooding on the only road into town as of two hours ago. We might try anyway.

[topher]

The military should take advantage of the muddy grounds (for training purposes) to see what manuevering in such conditions would be like.

I believe troops should learn different conditions in case they have to face them in combat.

Some instructors in the military drill people hard so that they will survive in combat (and other conditions).

Getting around in water is almost the rule these days for being deployed in New Orleans...

[LikeLight]

Ask yourself how breathlessly the MSM would be reporting if several small towns along the New Jersey coast were completely wiped off the face the earth by a hurricane . . . let's say Wildwood, Avalon and Cape May . . .

And then ask why the utter destruction of several coastal Lousiana towns with comparable populations is treated like a mere passing curiosity . . .

Exasperating . . .

[RDTF]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092500335.html?sub=AR

(go to link for full story)

THE GULF HURRICANES
Rita Spares Cities, Devastates Rural Areas
Loss of Power, Flooding Keep Many From Returning

By Doug Struck and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 26, 2005; Page A01

BEAUMONT, Tex., Sept. 25 -- Hurricane Rita's floodwaters receded Sunday along the Texas-Louisiana coastline, revealing devastated rural communities but lighter-than-expected damage to major population centers and to vital energy facilities in the area.

After the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina, which since it struck in late August has killed more than 1,000, displaced hundreds of thousands and is forecast to cost the federal government alone about $200 billion, Rita's impact was closer to that of other major hurricanes. Most of the more than 3 million people who evacuated in advance of the storm were preparing to return home. Costs were put in the low billions of dollars and only two deaths were attributed to the storm.


Hurricane Katrina brought unprecedented destruction to the Gulf Coast. View the Post's multimedia coverage of the disaster. (Ricky Carioti - The Washington Post)

Still, hundreds of thousands of people were told they could not return to their homes in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana because water, power, sewage and emergency services will not be restored for weeks, authorities said. Police blocked exits off interstate highways leading to Beaumont, which once held 110,000 people but is now largely a ghost town.

Rita hit the United States early Saturday with winds of 120 mph, bringing up to a foot of rain and a 15-foot storm surge. It caused the greatest harm in less-populated areas of Louisiana and Texas, near this city and Port Arthur. About 2 million people overall lost power.

In a speech on Sunday, Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Rita's "effects appear to be relatively modest" on economic growth. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said the storm was "not anywhere near as bad as we thought it was going to be." Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," he said oil platforms and refineries in the area are "in relatively good shape."

Perry, on CNN's "Late Edition," put the damage in his state at about $8 billion; that would rank Rita far behind Katrina in impact but still among the most damaging storms to hit the United States.
Rita may also lead to changes in government policy. Officials are reviewing urban evacuation plans after suffocating traffic blocked departures from Houston. President Bush suggested that Congress examine whether the military should play a larger role in reacting to domestic disasters.

At the edges of the storm, rainfall and high water worsened problems in New Orleans, where repairs to a temporary levee could not prevent parts of the city from flooding again. The Army Corps of Engineers dropped sandbags to plug the gap as officials tried to pump the latest floodwaters from the city. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who is leading the federal government's Katrina recovery efforts, said it could take until June to rebuild the levees.

In Baton Rouge, La., Bush was given what he called an "optimistic appraisal" of the New Orleans flood-control system. The president, who is expected to travel to the region on Tuesday for the seventh time since Katrina struck, cautioned people in Louisiana and Texas to heed state leaders' advice on when it was safe to return home. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said the city will reopen to business owners and residents of the Algiers neighborhood starting Monday.

Houston, spared Rita's full wrath, slowly began to return to life on Sunday, as some of its 2 million residents returned. Perry urged an "orderly migration" back to Houston, after the enormous traffic jams that marred the evacuation of that city before the storm.

Officials attributed Rita's lesser impact to several factors. The storm did not produce the rainfall that had been predicted, and it missed urban areas such as Houston and Galveston, Tex. Also, residents in the stricken areas, with images of Katrina's devastation fresh in their minds, evacuated in large numbers; government agencies at all levels, anxious not to repeat the slow response to Katrina, quickly rescued the stranded and delivered relief supplies using airlifts and trucks.

R. David Paulison, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said there was "absolutely phenomenal" coordination and preparation. He said many preparations went unneeded. Texas received 3.8 million liters of water, 193 truckloads of ice and 320,000 military meal rations, but "we've had minimal requests for some of those commodities," Paulison said. He said FEMA would move more water and ice to Louisiana.

[handy]

I always thought you picked that name because you are so good at digging up links to stuff. I imagine you with all sorts of totally organized folders with links to everything and the ability to find stuff @ a moments notice. My wife always said you probably work for google or something like that.

[texas booster]

Bolivar is not on a traditional grid, but rather a single high tension line in from Beaumont that comes down through High Island. When that line came down, the whole peninsula went dark.

The peninsula is on septic tanks, so sewer will need to be inspected as well. Down towards Port Bolivar it appears not too bad, but there could be some problems up toward High Island.