Riding Out Katrina

[BelgianBoy]

yfsman said:

chuckwoww said:

BadaBing said:

 

 

GWB may have said no thanks to Gov to Gov help , If the idiot had half a brain , he would have said " the american people thank you for your kind consideration for helping us during this crisis , the American Red Cross would truly appreciate any and all donations made on your behalf " but who am I to tell the chief how to think or speak ?

 

Bada Bing

 

Don't be too hard on Dubya. He's stuck in tough self-reliant mode.

 

 

YAI (Yet AnotherIdiot)

How Typical ! when faced with lack of arguments, one has to use insults to come across......

[kamui]

The more I hear, the more I am shocked.

This are just the latest reports from the CNN homepage

 

Officials: We can't save everyone

 

Medical help held up by red tape

 

Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist

 

Editorial blasts federal response

 

Just to make it clear: this is not meant as US bashing. I am just shocked that something is happening which I thought would/could not happen to the USA. The grade of incompetence is absolutely unbelievable.

- This is not a Tsunami which hit without notice. The drowning of N. O. was on the list of the three worst disaster scenarios of the US government.

- The first 72 hours are most important after a catastrophy and we see live on tv rescue unfold in slow motion or no rescue at all for the first days.

 

This time the people pay with their own lifes for every mistake an US official makes or has made in the recent years. It's absolutely unbelievable.

[pattaya127]

I am just shocked that something is happening which I thought would/could not happen to the USA. The grade of incompetence is absolutely unbelievable.

--------------------------------------

 

this nation needs to look at itself in the mirror. There has been way too much chest-thumping in the last 20 years. People are losing the thread. I don't believe it will happen, but if any good could come out of this, that would be to start realizing the immense insularity, self-deniyng, and unquestionning torpor the medias and administrations have instilled. Bush is a fucking disgrace. That he got re-elected shows we are going way backward, our collective head up our ass.

[Flashermac]

The Times

September 05, 2005

 

Our terrifying ordeal

 

By Sean O'Neil and Joanna Bale

 

 

TWO words on the boarding pass that secured Will Nelson a club-class seat on a flight from Dallas to Gatwick tell everything about the last week of his summer in America.

 

Alongside the flight details is stamped: ?Hurricane Evacuee?.

 

Mr Nelson, and other Britons returning from New Orleans yesterday, will keep the boarding passes as souvenirs of the most frightening experience of their lives, being trapped in the city?s Superdome stadium.

 

As the first Britons caught by Hurricane Katrina returned home, the US authorities said that all 240,000 residents of New Orleans would have to leave before it could be rebuilt.

 

The death toll is likely to run into thousands and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that 131 Britons were still unaccounted for. However it emphasised that many are likely to be safe and could have left the disaster area days ago.

 

During seemingly endless days and sleepless nights, the British survivors? fear of the hurricane?s destructive force was transformed into terror of the other survivors.

 

Mr Nelson, 21, and Jane Wheeldon, 20, told The Times how they and some 50 other foreigners ? many of them British backpackers ? were ordered by the US Army to gather together to protect themselves from resentful locals.

 

?The army told us to stick in a group and for the women to sit in the middle with the men around the outside and to be ready to defend ourselves,? Mr Nelson, from Epsom, Surrey, said. ?Their urgency scared us. I sat on the outside, really scared by this point, sitting waiting for God knows what. We waited and waited, I didn?t sleep. A lot of the girls had been groped.?

 

Miss Wheeldon, from Carmarthen, South Wales, said that being inside the Superdome was terrifying and that she had been sexually harassed.

 

?The atmosphere was extremely intimidating,? the Lancaster University student said. ?People stared at us all the time and men would come up to me and stroke my stomach and bottom. They would also say horrible, suggestive things. The worst time came when there was a rumour that a white man had raped a black woman. We were scared that we would be raped, robbed, or both. People were arguing, fighting and being arrested all the time.?

 

The ?internationals?, as the army labelled the stranded tourists, were among the few white people in the stadium. Marked out by their skin colour and unfamiliar accents, they were verbally abused, while their luggage made them targets for robbery.

 

Mr Nelson said that local people also noticed that they received preferential treatment from the guards who gave them ration packs and water to help them to avoid food queues.

 

Mr Nelson, who graduated from Loughborough University in June, said: ?The queues for the rations got more and more crazy. People were desperate.

 

?The physical conditions were horrible. It was stiflingly hot, you were sweating constantly. The smell was awful, a mix of sweat, faeces, urine ? just a horrible, horrible smell.

 

When the water stopped and the toilets packed up, it just got worse and worse. I can still smell it; it makes me gag.?

Miss Wheeldon said: ?The sights we saw you wouldn?t want anyone to see. The filth and smell were unbelievable.? The threat came from a minor-ity ? mainly young men. ?The majority of the people of New Orleans are absolutely lovely,? she said. ?Some families were ready to give us their food even though they had nothing.?

 

One of the most dangerous periods came on Wednesday when the military decided that the internationals should be removed for their own safety.

 

Officers told them to organise themselves in groups of five and make their way to an exit. The leaders were given a blue wristband and made accountable for the others. Mr Nelson?s was still on his arm yesterday.

 

He said: ?The people around us were suspicious and resentful. They asked where we were going and we lied. We said that we were going to sit somewhere else. I walked off, head down, tunnel vision, I didn?t stop to think. I felt guilty but there was also a tremendous sense of relief that I was getting out of there.?

 

The tourists were taken to an emergency medical centre where many volunteered to help. ?There were very few medics and we were able to help with feeding people, carrying stretchers and just talking to people who had lost their whole lives,? said Mr Nelson. ?That night we saw a soldier brought in from the dome who had been shot in the leg.?

 

The Britons were taken on to Dallas the following day, seeing for the first time the full devastation caused by the hurricane.

 

Mr Nelson said: ?I knew I was going home eventually, I knew I had a family home to go to and I knew where my family was and that they were safe. I realised just how lucky I was compared to many of the people we had left behind.?

 

Mr Nelson had been working as a lifeguard with Camp America, which organised his flight home. But during nine hours in the air, he could not sleep. ?I couldn?t wait to get home, to see my parents, my sisters and my friends and be back somewhere I knew I would be safe.?

 

At Gatwick, Mr Nelson and Miss Wheeldon had tearful reunions with their families. Other survivors are expected back in Britain today.

[Flashermac]

The Times (cont.)

 

 

FOUR DAYS INSIDE: Will Nelson?s journal

 

 

Sunday 28th, Entering the Superdome:

 

?I was in a bit of a state and rang home to tell them what was happening . . . the electricity was set to go off.?

 

Monday 29th, The storm hits:

 

?I began shaking as everyone around us was screaming and running up the stairs . . . I thought that the dome would flood and we would all die in it like a big fish bowl.?

 

Tuesday 30th:

 

?We heard stories of girls being raped and people getting stabbed . . . A few of us ventured up to the next level in desperate search of a toilet. It really was like walking through a neighbourhood, all the different camps. We kept our eyes to the ground.?

 

 

The Army advises ?internationals? to sit together:

 

?Their urgency scared us senseless.?

 

Wednesday 31st: The ?internationals? are moved out of the dome:

 

?As we walked out the locals shouted insults at us and began causing trouble. I kept my eyes down.?

[HIGH_THAIED]

Hi all,

 

Just a couple of thoughts here.

 

At first, I was embarrassed to be American, at what the press was reporting. But then I saw what was being carried out of the stores. Diapers, food, and other essentials. Not too many people running around with big screen plasma TV's on their backs.

 

It's an outrageously desperate situation for many down there, and that has to factored into the situation. Many places are below sea level. Very much different than a tsunami which comes and goes, in a matter of minutes.

 

I would just caution that thinking just a few rival gangs down there are up against themselves, and that that is the tolitarian situation there. They are a very minor blip on the radar, which the news reporting agency's have hyped up to the max.

 

The reality is that this not at all unlike the tsunami in Asia. It was the same thing then. We all had pics and information here right away on Nanaplaza.com, but was days before a single word was put out on CNN, and 5 days before they even sent a single reporter there.

 

Is there something wrong with that picture? Sure there is, but not any different than in the past. It's clear we have to rework emergency response times to world disasters. Mother nature is not going to stop throwing the world curve balls.

 

But how we respond, depends totally in who we put in charge.

 

So as a call to all American's.........Think more carefully before going to your polling place next time. What were you thinking in the first place?? Let hope this can be a wake-up call.

 

HT

[Flashermac]

I don't think the problem lies in the polling place. It is more in the candidates we get to choose from -- Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.

[chuckwoww]

Flashermac said:

I don't think the problem lies in the polling place. It is more in the candidates we get to choose from -- Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.

 

Seems to me the real selection of candidates goes on behind closed doors years before the actual election. But I don't know how you're ever going to change that.

[Flashermac]

Remember how Dean was the front runner for the Dem nomination -- until the press jumped on him for some statement that allegedly showed he was hotheaded or irresponsible? While Dean was defending himself against that accusation, Kerry moved into the lead and eventually looked sure to clinch the nomination. Only then did the press start saying they had been too hard on Dean and he wasn't really hotheaded after all.

 

So just what was THAT all about? And who was behind it???

 

 

 

 

::

[kamui]

An email from a person we waited to hear from since a few days. He stayed at his place in N.O. the whole time:

 

Just got out last night. I could have stayed , my supplies would have lasted for seven more days

 

BUt, the fires have started.

 

The reports of looting downtown are exaggerated. Yes, they broke into the grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, for food, etc. Canal street had a few hours of thugs doing sports shops, but all other shops and the ENTIRE FRench Quarter is safe and untouched. The storm did glass and roof damage and trees

 

UPTOWN> Just needs to be swept. Looks LESS dirty than a typical Mardi Gras day.

 

I was never threatened. 99.9% of our people are heroic, stoic, and human beings of great quality.

 

THE FLOOD did NOT get into the Fr. QTR> and along the river to AUDUBON PARK>

 

I stayed and helped and photographed and bicycled these areas every day.

 

NO shooters, some idiots, but everyone doing the best to get along and survive. Other flooded areas, it is very desperate and there are some battles going on, but very isolated.

 

From Monday to late yesterday there were NO military, red cross, fema, or anyone with supplies

DOWNTOWN>

Even the N.O. Police and Fire Dept were largely absent.

 

I stayed in the Qtr at A Gallery. The building and contents is presently fine.

I will be going back soon to help the other people

 

The Amazing people of NEw Orleans will survive and rebuild.

 

The media stayed on Canal Street and are missing the real story.

 

Unfortunately, the "looting" story is all they had downtown and its repetitous playing of that footage has setback recovery. IT FALSELY scared off the rescuers, I guess.

 

Too many rumors reported without eyewitness verification.

 

Bad business, needs to change.

 

Please spread the word.

 

Bush and his people have been bad to us. Every hour matters to the remaining people

 

THe surrrounding region is overwhelmed with recovery. Baton Rouge has 200,000 people to help

 

LSU is a triage center.

 

EVERYONE is pitching in.

 

The entire situation is complex and difficult for everyone. Many shortages , gasoline especially.

 

BY the way, Since early Tuesday , access into New Orleans via the downtown Miss. River Bridge has been clear to Baton Rouge. Everyone else got in that way, why not the military?

 

Four hours away by CAR is Fort Polk, one of the largest bases around.

 

Bring the boys home, especially the National Guard.

 

New Orleans needs your love and positive thoughts.

 

Email and spread the word. Contact your leadership in Washington and keep the pressure on.

 

Especially today and tomorrow.

 

Remember that these people are the heart and soul of the New Orleans everyone loves.

 

See you soon

 

J.