Hurricane Katrina
 

I hope everyone will say a prayer for those members and folks in the Gulf Coast area. Having been thru (2) cat. 3 storms last year, I know how these catastrophic events will effect their lives for many months to come.

May God bless you and your families.

Jim

Bless you for your thoughts of others Jim... I know an ARMY of folks already praying for this crowd that are in the path... Add me to this list... :)

I agree, talked to my sister in law, she is a Sergeant in the Baton Rouge PD, she said no time off, and no power, possibly next two weeks! My brother in law is sending her a generator, so we'll see!

Ed

I have never been through a Hurricane, but shook through many Earthquakes including the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 in SF. Just the thought of the uncertainty that went with the quake makes me pray for those people in the Great South.

Jack

Ditto on affecting lives. Our 1700 sq. ft. waterfront house was in the eye of Charley last year. Our street of well built houses was hit by 144 mph winds. Somehow we had no flooding--that would have finished us off. Tile roof and 4+ sheets of plywood pulled off in wind. 2 windows busted. Lots of water in house soaking insulation and ceiling drywall. Tons of mold in only 2 weeks of 150% humidity, 99 degree heat without power. Contractors scarce and lots of crooks around. It took 11 months for rebuild, the only things saved were block walls and trusses. After $150,000 repairs we had a new house. Sold it and moved inland. We're gluttons for punishment and will be returning to the coast next year.

Our ins. co. was great and our contractor was reliable--did a good job. We thank the Lord daily. We are also praying for those folks.

My Uncle, in Melbourne FL. last year, had a guy knock on his his door at the height of the storm (130 MPH) and said his tar paper, from the first hurricane was comming off. Said he would fix it for $20. He did it at the height of the storm. My big question is .. Who held the ladder? There are some good people out there . I hope these type people are responding Katrina's way. P.S. , Without this guys kindness, It would have been a total loss. I still wan't to know "Who Held The Ladder!!" I pray for Katrina's victims and refugees.

Two interesting items. My daughter works at an oil refinery.

Down time was scheduled "two years" ago for a section of the plant so that it could undergo maintenance. They received a call from the main office asking them to postpone it for at least six months. Even though it would not affect their output, it could be bad PC.

My daughter says that they have plenty of crude and are producing much gasoline. So they are going to sell it to Mexico. (Seems like their pipeline goes somewhere north of New Orleans and it is blocked. So the only place to get rid of it is to sell it in the south as they have no way to ship it elsewhere.)

I was in the middle of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and it seems that the destruction caused by Katrina will exceed that of Andrew. Although Andrew was a Category 5 storm when it hit land, the flooding and water damage caused by Katrina is worse. Homes and businesses which are affected by water cannot be saved. If I had to take a wild guess, the damage from Katrina will exceed $40 billion.

Albert

My Daughter called tonight from Metaire where her unit, the LA 528 Guard has been for the last several days. She said as bad as the news makes it look, it is worse from the ground. They had evacuated a nursing home today. She said the destruction is unfathomable and all-in-all she'd rather be back at firebase Solerno in Afghanistan.

Bless them all.....

I don't understand why the President didn't invoke martial law. I think this calls for it. I was a liberal (hippie). Until exposed to the real world. ( 20 yrs in Fire Rescue) This situation has too many elemants of danger to play PC. I think we should set up camps instead of trailer parks. Have you seen the prices that FEMA has been selling these expensive trailers off for?, and the damage that the tennants have done to them? I wan't a GSA , FEMA trailor that old people lived in for 8 grand. Some were great! Most were trash after use. This is what the floating peaple wan't. Lets just round people up and keep them safe. The others, give warning over loud speakers.

The president can't declare martial law, only a governor. I believe that the governor of Lousiana can't declare martial law because, unlike the other forty-nine states, Louisiana's constitution is based on the Napoleonic Code.

The Parish Governors can declare martial law and several Parishes are under martial law (a Louisiana parish is similiar to the rest of the country's counties). Many law enforcement personnel from other parts of the state have converged on these parishes to assist in restoring order in New Orleans, including supplying armored vehicles brissling with heavily armed officers to patrol the restless areas.
My daughter's unit is engineers. Their sister unit, MPs, is also there. They are based out of Monroe, a few hundred miles north, but all indications are units from as far away as Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas are going to be brought in. As many as 10,000 additional guardsmen will be there within a week.

I also know that many Law enforcement agencys from Florida are sending people to the area to help in whatever is needed.

The problem with sending other cops are most units are not self contained like the military and so the problem of feeding and housing them add to the problem.

I'l bet you'll find the crime rate in Texas is going to climb as a driect result of the refugees.

Wow "American refugees" sounds weird, brings back images of the boat people.

sad, very sad......

Jim

What irks me are these perfectly healthy folks standing around demanding assistance (most of them are 3rd, 4th, 5th generation welfare), when they can walk 5 to 7 miles to Kenner. I have great feeling for the truly needy, but I have no patience with these leaches. News shows them "digging through the rubble looking for something to eat" -- right? I don't think so.

Don't you know that they can't walk the 5 to 7 miles since they are disabled.

Just my opinion, and something to think about.

I'm not the Chicken Little type, BUT what if this had been a terrorist attack. Not a Dirty Bomb, which just speads radiation and not destruction, but a small nuclear detonation which would or could level an area in a city?

What if it there were two or three detonated in other cities simultaneously? Judging from the government response and reaction to this "natural disaster", that we had forewarning about and knew could happen. Where would we be then?? The whole country would be paralized.

I think majority of this "Homeland Security Preparedness" is nothing but lip service, and a crock of BS.

Also, concerning the comments above about people digging through the rubble.

I saw news footage of people lining a street covered with trash. Not "rubble" ,but just plain garbage.

It was taped from a slow moving vehicle. About every 10' there was some "I be cool Dude", flashing a gang sign. IMO, this reflects the basic mentality of , "Where's my free S**T Man!?

I cannot generate much sympathy for this kind of crap.

BTW, my wife insisted on sending a $50 donantion. I just hope it provides assisstance for some of the "truly needy" and not feeding some dead weight that I saw in the video.

Okay! My soapbox just threw a rod.


Ron

I'm going to get a lot of flak here, but I just can't help saying it, if this storm had hit Salt Lake City, there would be little if any of all this crap going on, folks with out food/water/baby food and so on...few if any lining the streets with nothing to do...waiting for the goverment to steep in and help. And Ron, after buy her a new car yesterday, and feeling really blessed, my wife sent a $100 to the church humanterian fund, where by the way there is NO overhead/adminastration cost, and we know all of the money well be spent where it is needed.....35 some years later still upset over red cross selling me a toothbrush when I reached the states on a streacher!....

Photo in todays Houston Chronicle. What appears to be a brand new Cadillac on a nice, dry street with two cops on each side holding weapons on the occupants who have their hands up. Caption states they were searched and released. Apparently, stealing new cars now rates with breaking into a grocery store for food and water. Something wrong with this picture and probably these guys when they get tired of looting the city dry will end up taking a bus over here to Houston. Lucky us.

All emergency planning and relief in this country is supposed to be locally based. From that point it spreads outward from municipality to county or state and then the federal government. The immediate responsibilities of the local (municipal) government in New Orleans were to evacuate, secure and then relieve or evacuate further. None of this was done. Stories coming out of NO seem to indicate that a large part of the municipal police force went AWOL. Some may have even been participating in the looting and mayhem.

Compare the situation with that of NYC during the horror of the attacks of Setember 11. As I recall there was no such insanity in NYC and NY actually lost scores of police and firemen.

Louisiana, since the time of Hewey Long, has been a text book example of what local and state-wide corruption can achieve. Philadelphia and the District of Columbia are two more. The situation in New Orleans is what it is because of a grossly corrupt city government. That corruption runs throughout the city government and is at its worst in the police force.

It will be interesting to see what our "blood hound" press report about this mess in the end.

Geroge said a mouthful there. I don't know about what was on the tube in other parts of the world but here in Utah one TV channel, I think the Fox channel, actually showed two cops, in uniform, in Wal Mart with a shopping cart looting along with the other criminals, those kind of people don't need help, they need a lesson.

Well George I am amazed that you did not mention Chicago as one of the most corrupt cities in the US! That's where our beloved govenor is:grr: . Dumb Daley said he would send some of Chicago's finest to help the NO police. Probably wanted them to get a fair chance at the lotted goods!:roflmao:

I learned a little bit about martial law, thank you. Yesterday, I saw huge carravans of supplies arriving. distroubution is up to the men on scene. I have full confidence that they will do thier best. 96 hours is darn good in my opinion!:cheers: My wife's building has allready donated more thn 4k and I would like to donate diapers and baby clothes, ect.
An accuantance Billy Taylor has rounded up a trailer in the local walmart and is accepting donations Christion Firefighters.
We wan't to send the baby clothes. ect. I will get them there.

It is time for an opinion from South Louisiana. Fellows, this a first for recorded disasters in the U.S., and certainly a first for our generation. My family has been through countless hurricanes, but nothing like this. It is time to stop and really take a good, long and hard look at what has happened and what people are saying. This has absolutely nothing to do with corrupt politics, democrats or republicans. This is the most immense natural disaster in U.S. history and its not over yet. Who can possibly judge reaction time -- good or bad, fast or slow, effective or useless -- if this horror is unprecedented? The best we can do now is send what ever you can in monetary donations and offer prayers. I have a good friend who volunteered to go out to New Orleans in his boat. He found and recovered several people from roof tops and elsewhere. But the chilling thing he told me was that along the way he tied human bodies to stop signs or whatever he could find to attach the bodies to. His superiors told him there was plenty of time later to count dead bodies; search and rescue was the primary goal. As far as comments regarding the "class of people" you see that are in the city, I can tell you why. When the mandatory evacuation order was given, a vast percentage of the population got of the city. They had the means, money and the ability to travel. The people who stayed were the poor, the homeless, and those in desperate need of medical attention. That is who you see on TV and it makes the nation think that is the entire New Orleans population. Yes, I know there was looting; but some of it was in desperation for food and water. As far as the "thugs" who did steal firearms, TV's, drugs, etc., I feel exactly the same as the rest of the country; they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Please realize that looting is not the only thing going on; there are tremendously good efforts happening in the city by so many brave and courageous people. Unfortunately, what the media does not show enough of is the thousands of volunteers and citizens of Louisiana who have risen to the call to help their neighbors in need. We are good people in Louisiana, and we appreciate the help of all the people in other states who have assisted in our time of crisis, and those who are continuing to do so daily. This is far from being over.

This is my first visit to a soap box.

Mike

Mike, this was a good place to stop the thread, I think most everything has been said, yours was from the heart and to the point.


Ed