Riding Out Katrina

[kamui]

While reading some heart warming stories about the help provided by ordinary Americans to flood victims yesterday, I thought, now the positive stories will overtake, like after the Tsunami. But I was wrong, it still can get worse:

 

Racism, resources blamed for bridge incident

Evacuees say they were turned back by police

 

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As the heart of a hurricane-ravaged New Orleans filled with sewage-tainted floodwaters and corpses, Mayor Ray Nagin urged people to cross a bridge leading to the dry lands of the city's suburban west bank.

 

But some evacuees who tried that route told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and "News Night with Aaron Brown" that they were met by police with shotguns who refused to allow them into Gretna, a nearby town on the other side.

 

The evacuees blamed the incident on racism, but Gretna's police chief said his town was in lockdown and was no better equipped to handle evacuees than New Orleans.

 

With food and water dwindling at the Louisiana Superdome and the city's convention center and the promise of buses unrealized, New Orleans police directed one group across the bridge toward the city's west bank -- and Gretna, said Larry Bradshaw, one of the evacuees.

 

"We were told by the commander at the police command post ... that we should cross that bridge, and there would be buses waiting to take us out," he said on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

 

"We walked, probably 200 people, about a two-hour trek," Tim Sheer, another evacuee, told CNN's "News Night with Aaron Brown." "We got to the top of the bridge. They stopped us with shotguns.

 

"We had people in wheelchairs, we had people in strollers, people on crutches, so we were a slow-moving group," said Bradshaw. "And we didn't think anything when we saw the deputies there. Then all of a sudden we heard shooting."

 

Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson, who was interviewed on CNN before Bradshaw, Sheer and another evacuee, Lorrie Beth Slonsky, said that to his knowledge, no officers fired shots near the crowd.

 

"We certainly will look into it," he said, "once this is over with, and we get back to a level that we can investigate it."

 

But the evacuees said they were very disturbed by what the officers told them about why they wouldn't be allowed to cross the bridge.

 

"What we were told by the deputies is that they were not going to allow another New Orleans, and they weren't going to allow a Superdome to go into their side of the bridge, Gretna," said Slonsky.

 

"So to us, that reeks absolute racism, since our group that was trying to cross over was women, children, predominantly African-American," she said.

 

Lawson said his officers did stop the group from crossing but insisted racism had no part in the decision.

 

"We had no preparations," he said. "You know, we're a small city on the west bank of the river. We had people being told to come over here, that we were going to have buses, we were going to have food, we were going to have water, and we were going to have shelter. And we had none.

 

"Our people had left. Our city was locked down and secured, for the sake of the citizens that left their valuables here to be protected by us."

 

The chief said he had not spoken with any of the officers involved in the incident.

 

More than 56 percent of Gretna's population is white, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and under 36 percent are black.

 

Some evacuees said police took food and water from a group that had camped out on the bridge.

 

Slonsky said the group that camped on the bridge had some food and water and felt relatively safe. But fellow evacuee Larry Bradshaw said, the police came back at dusk.

 

"Jumped out of his car with the gun aimed at us, screaming and cursing and yelling at us to get the blank-blank away," he said "And just, just so rabidly angry. And we tried to reason, we tried to talk. And he was just putting his gun in the face of young children and families. It said Gretna on the police car."

 

Asked why Gretna authorities did not allow the group into town and call for buses, Lawson said, "Who were we going to call?"

 

"We had no radios. We had no phones. We had no communications, as I just told you," he said. "We had not spoken to the city of New Orleans prior to or during this event. Who were we going to call? What were we going to do with thousands of people without enough water to sustain them, without enough food to sustain them, or without any shelter?"

 

Reports of a similar incident involving busloads of evacuees from Algiers, in Orleans Parish on the west bank, and Jefferson Parish deputies have not been confirmed by CNN.

[..]

Flashermac said:

Help is on the way!

Monday, Sept. 12, 2005

 

John Kerry's Katrina Aid Arrives Late

...It's not clear what, if anything, Sen. Kerry paid for.

But the guy who rightfully should be President just quietly does good, and keeps his mouth shut about it. THAT is a quality human being!

 

Regards,

SD

 

++++++++++++++++

 

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 3:54 p.m. EDT

 

Al Gore Helps Airlift Hurricane Katrina Victims

 

Al Gore helped airlift some 270 Katrina evacuees on two private charters from New Orleans, acting at the urging of a doctor who saved the life of the former vice president's son.

 

Gore criticized the Bush administration's slow response to Katrina in a speech Friday in San Francisco, but refused to be interviewed about the mercy missions he financed and flew on Sept. 3 and 4.

 

However, Dr. Anderson Spickard, who is Gore's personal physician and accompanied him on the flights, said: "Gore told me he wanted to do this because like all of us he wanted to seize the opportunity to do what one guy can do, given the assets that he has."

 

An account of the flights was posted this week on a democratic party Web page. It was written by Greg Simon, president of the Washington-based activist group FasterCures. Simon, who helped put together the mission, also declined an interview.

 

On Sept. 1, three days after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Simon learned that Dr. David Kline, a neurosurgeon who operated on Gore's son, Albert, after a life-threatening auto accident in 1989, was trying to get in touch with Gore. Kline was stranded with patients at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

 

"The situation was dire and becoming worse by the minute - food and water running out, no power, 4 feet of water surrounding the hospital and ... corpses outside," Simon wrote.

 

Gore responded immediately, telephoning Kline and agreeing to underwrite the $50,000 each for the two flights, although Larry Flax, founder of California Pizza Kitchens, later pledged to pay for one of them.

 

"None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews," Simon wrote of the American Airlines flights. "One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."

 

He also recruited two doctors, Spickard and Gore's cousin, retired Col. Dar LaFon, a specialist in internal medicine who once ran the military hospital in Baghdad.

 

Most critically, Gore worked to cut through government red tape, personally calling Gov. Phil Bredesen to get Tennessee's support and U.S. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to secure landing rights in New Orleans.

 

About 140 people, many of them sick, landed in Knoxville on Sept. 3. The second flight, with 130 evacuees, landed the next day in Chattanooga.

 

© 2005 The Associated Press

[Flashermac]

Wonder if Al is planning another run. I doubt it, even though he's better than anyone else the Dems have right now. Al has probably had enough of politics. Besides, he has his place in the history books -- a footnote that he got the most votes ... and lost. (Not that he is the only presidential candidate that has happened to.) He may well be thanking himself that he is not in the White House these days!

[gummigut]

BelgianBoy said:Authorities were helping the SAME day in Thailand. The army and the red cross were there and helping people.

You do a search on this.

As for Porntip she complained about the lack of help of forensics

 

Here is Fly's words with regards to Phangna:

 

"basically - we were left alone by the authorities and the world for three days. arriving rescue teams were held up in phuket to clean up there while in phang na we had nothing. not enough people, no equipment, no organisation whatsoever."

 

That sounds like it was "pretty under control quickly".

 

<<burp>>

[chuckwoww]

Chertoff's turn?

 

Chertoff delayed federal response, memo shows

 

By Jonathan S. Landay, Alison Young and Shannon McCaffrey

 

Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

WASHINGTON - The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show.

 

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm.

 

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12637172.htm

[..]

Neat website by a doctor on the ground in NOLA: http://otterside.blogspot.com

 

Worth a read!

 

Chers,

SD

[Pom Michael]

New Orleans vs Mumbai

 

Inches of rain in New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina... 18"

Inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1"

 

population of New Orleans... 484,674

population of Mumbai.... 12,622,500

 

deaths in New Orleans within 48 hours of Katrina...100

deaths in Mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37.

 

number of people to be evacuated in New Orleans... entire city..wohh

number of people evacuated in Mumbai...10,000

 

Cases of shooting and violence in New Orleans...Countless

Cases of shooting and violence in Mumbai.. NONE

 

Time taken for US army to reach New Orleans... 48hours

Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach Mumbai...12hours

 

status 48hours later...New Orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricity

status 48hours later... Mumbai is back on its feet and is business as usual

 

USA is the world's most developed nation ?

India is a 'developing ' country ?

=========================

 

Funny read, but that is about it.

 

I saw a video made by some English tourist who were staying in a high rise hotel in New Orleans during the storm. Lots of wind damage to the building, no electricity or water as would be expected. But it wasn't until the next day that the water from the canals came. Their videos showed a beautiful sunny morning, dry streets that slowly became canals under 8 feet of standing water.

[Flashermac]

Simple solution ... move all of the folks in N. O. to Mumbai!

[Evel_Penivel]

Very interesting from the blog of a guy who says he's "not rich, not white:"

 

Question for "Mayor" Nagin...how's your new house in Dallas?

 

 

My favorite "mayor", Ray Nagin of Dallas has himself a new home. Notice I said of Dallas? That's right folks. Ole Ray bought himself a house in Dallas, moved his family there and put his daughter in school.

 

Mayor says everyone did great but Bush while enjoying his new house in DALLAS...

 

What happened to the mayor that cared? Remember how Bush was Mr. Insensitive for not getting down there fast enough (of course when he did go they called it a "photo op")? How insensitive is it for the MAYOR of the city to move his residence all the way to Dallas along with his family? Louisiana didn't have any other place he could move to? He BOUGHT a house. He didn't even rent, which would give the appearance of being temporary. He hadn't even been in New Orleans for at least five days, not returning until Bush came down. NOW who's doing the photo ops, eh Mr. "Mayor?"

 

Oh, and in case you still aren't sure about media bias, consider this. Every network and major paper ran story after story about how Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went shoe shopping "while New Orleans drowned, etc. etc." even though the Secretary of State has absolutely no domestic role whatsoever. So far, no one has accused Nagin of appearing insensitive, or sending the wrong message, or even why he left his city for at least five days while the governor was yelling about the lack of speed recovering bodies. Shouldn't he be supervising that? Still not convinced. He was on Meet The Press this last Sunday.

 

It never came up.

 

http://csc5502dsays.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/09/question_for_ma.html

 

I guess Nagin doesn't plan on running for elective office again. Also, an exert from a mainstream site:

 

"But do all of Bush?s critics really believe that the federal government is the only culpable party in blowing rescue and relief efforts in New Orleans? What about the city and county governments? What about state officials in Louisiana?

 

In a testy letter to Bush, editors of the New Orleans Times-Picayune said that there were plenty of folks going into and out of the city after Katrina hit trying to provide relief and rescue. Why should anyone at FEMA know better than folks in and around New Orleans how to get in and out of the city?

 

This is an example of folks relying way too much on the federal government. If we didn?t know it before Katrina we surely know it now, so I?ll say it: If you wait for the federal government to rescue you during a disaster, you?re probably going to die. Or, at the very least, go through what those poor souls who ended up in the Superdome went through.

 

Black folks in New Orleans? Uptown community didn?t wait for city, county, state or federal government officials to help them. Before Katrina hit, they gathered up food, water, clothing and other supplies. Then they headed to Samuel J. Green Charter School to take refuge.

 

They were led by a man named Allen Smith, who was 15 when Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965 and flooded the neighborhood. Black folks took refuge in the same school. Smith knew it would be safe and that the top floors wouldn?t flood.

 

In other words, it?s folks like Smith who know far more than Bush, FEMA, or any government official about what to do when an emergency like a hurricane hits. It was his memory of what happened 40 years ago that spared the black folks of New Orleans? Uptown community the indignity and horror of what happened to those who sought refuge in the Superdome.

 

?[Government officials] all know we did a better job than the shelters did,? Smith told a newspaper reporter doing a story on the black folks who took refuge at Samuel J. Green Charter School.

 

That?s probably because they didn?t have time to be victims. They only had time enough to survive."

 

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/gkane915

[Steve]

Pom Michael said:

Cases of shooting and violence in New Orleans...Countless

Cases of shooting and violence in Mumbai.. NONE

 

 

Not that I don't think there were any violence in N.O. in the aftermath, I'm sure there has to be some but I'm still waiting on a 'credible' first hand, news report of widespread raping and attacks by citizens on fellow citizens or relief workers.

 

If there are 'countless' there should be at the very minimum a handful of rape victims or victims of attacks that have been reported on by the press, right?