msnbc
people are already on roofs
And now the Post-Katrina like debacle begins...
If people are stuck on roofs (this is why I keep talking about keeping and ax in the attic), in the face of the on coming storm, in homes on city streets, it could be suicide for any emergency responders to attempt any rescue in the face of the approaching storm with a boat, depending on how bad conditions are.
This is why General Honere was asking how many high clearance trucks FEMA had ready to go. But there is nothing you can drive into the face of a 13 foot storm surge!
During H. Katrina, the Ocean Springs Police Department in Mississippi survived the storm by clinging to a bush in front of their headquarters on the coast, for the worst of the storm, when their building could no longer be safely occupied.
So, while it is possible to survive a hurricane in the open, there will be deaths. Like in Slidell, La where storm surge washed the bodies into Lake Pontchatrain, there are bodies that never will be found, washed out to sea.
During the worst of the flooding in New Orleans, the phone service was wonkey. Many could not make a local call, but you could make 1-800 calls. In Memphis, I could listen to people calling into WWL radio via their 1-800 talk show line. People were on the air, on a 50,000 watt clear channel AM radio station at night. I could hear them in Memphis begging for rescue as their attics were filling with water, and NOPD and NOFD could not reach or find them at the peak of the storm, as the MRGO channeled storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico into St. Bernard Parish, the Lower 9th Ward and Eastern Gentilly on Monday night.
Tuesday night the canals walls would fail and flood Lakeview, more of Western Gentilly, and other areas of the city. 8 feet of flood water in some parts of Gentilly, to houses overtoped closer to the lake.
There will be deaths from this storm, and the toll has only just begun. Hopefully, the people in charge will get on with the business of rescue when it is safe to do so. I am sure that the people on the ground will, and not be distracted by the finger pointing going on over their heads!
God please help and deliver them all!
