Hurricane Katrina Disaster Updates

[tybee204]

My brother retired last year from the Oklahoma City Police Dept. He worked 4 straight days after the Murrow Building Bombing. He never fully recovered from the devastation and horror. Those in Louisana and Mississippi charged with rescue and with recovering the dead will carry it with them for the rest of their lives. This is a far reaching tragedy that will not end when the job is done.

 

[concernedperson]

The poor think they will be charged with a ticket to ride.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/scene.blog/index.html

 

[mysteriew]

The Yves St. Laurent and Tommy Hilfiger labels may be phony, but the thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims getting knockoff items seized by federal customs officials probably don't mind.

Displaced survivors in the Houston Astrodome can choose from counterfeit and abandoned clothing, toys, and even dog food.

More than 100,000 items were quickly taken from warehouses and more will follow, said Kristi Clemens, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection
division.

The agency has some 1 million items stored, and Customs officials are going through their inventory to see what else would be useful. While the initial shipment went to Texas, officials are looking toward a wider distribution, Clemens said.
http://www.wtlv.com/news/strange/news-article.aspx?storyid=43740

 

[vanillasky]

I think that is fantastic that they're using those seized counterfeit items to help these people out. Very informative article, thank you!!

That was excellent thinking on someone's part to get those items out of storage to be used.

 

[mysteriew]

President Bush conducted another partial tour of the region, though he again bypassed New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has refused to sign over National Guard control to the federal government and has turned to a Clinton administration official, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt, to help run relief efforts. Snip

Blanco, a Democrat, was not informed of the timing of Bush's visit, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. In fact, Blanco's office didn't know when Bush was coming until told by reporters.

Late yesterday, Blanco denied there was tension with Bush.

"We'd like to stop the voices out there trying to create a divide. There is no divide," she said.

New Orleans police urging people away

New Orleans Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley, in the department's first news conference since the storm, said one of the greatest current challenges is persuading thousands of remaining people to leave their homes in a city without any municipal services and no prospect of any for months.Snip

Law-enforcement caravan arrives

With almost a third of New Orleans' police force missing in action, a caravan of law-enforcement vehicles, emblazoned with emblems from across the nation and blue lights flashing, poured into the city to help establish order on the anarchic streets. Snip

Fake garments come in real handy

The Yves St. Laurent and Tommy Hilfiger labels may be phony, but the thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims getting knockoff items seized by federal customs officials probably don't mind.


Europe, Mexico sending relief aid

BRUSSELS, Belgium — European nations yesterday prepared aid teams, food rations, water pumps and even cruise ships to help U.S. regions hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Countries large and small have offered aid — from tiny Luxembourg's beds and blankets to 500,000 food rations from Germany and Britain.

Greece put on standby two cruise ships to house refugees, and Sweden has offered aircraft to help distribute aid shipments.

Norway was offering navy divers as well as 10,000 blankets. Latvia and France were preparing to send disaster-relief teams.

A Mexican ship loaded with supplies set sail yesterday from the Gulf Coast port of Tampico, and the country has set up consular offices in trailers around the disaster zone to help some of the estimated 140,000 Mexicans who live in the region.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002474644_katnotes06.html

 

[mysteriew]

Patricia Sauerwein is a paramedic who went to the Crescent City for a convention. Her husband, Roger, a Colerain township firefighter, went with her.

The Canal Street Hilton they were staying in had more than 4,000 people inside at one point after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The hotel is also connected to the Convention Center, where the many graphic scenes of violence and despair shown in national media were filmed.

But the Sauerweins helped make life a little easier for some of the suffering hurricane victims, helping to set up a makeshift hallway hospital on the fifth floor of the hotel.

"We had seizure patients, we had diabetic emergencies, minor injuries, heart failures, heart attacks," Patricia Sauerwein said.

They said they got help from firefighters, police and the National Guard. But they said FEMA was nowhere to be found.

"There were times I didn't think we would get home," Patricia Sauerwein said. "Destruction all over the place. We even had some shootings at our hotel."

The hotel arranged for two dozen buses. They evacuated 650 people in 45 minutes, at about 2:30 a.m.

"We were told no flashes, no lights," Roger Sauerwein said. "Buses were dark. There were still no street lights when we left."

Patricia Sauerwein said the precautions were in place so that the evacuees wouldn't draw attention to their buses.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4930668/detail.html

 

[concernedperson]

CNN reporting that authorities have found e. coli in the water in New Orleans. Also that reporters are coming down with eye infections, cuts and mosquito bites.

 

[concernedperson]

New Orleans' fouled water going into river, lake.

Priority of pumping out the city means no chance of cleaning water first.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9227493/

 

[kgeaux]

New Orleans' fouled water going into river, lake.

Priority of pumping out the city means no chance of cleaning water first.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9227493/

Poor ecology. I dread thinking of what this is going to do to the lake and the gulf.....all those chemicals! I know they don't have time to do anything else, but this is going to have a "forever" effect on our eco-system.

 

[DEPUTYDAWG]

Poor ecology. I dread thinking of what this is going to do to the lake and the gulf.....all those chemicals! I know they don't have time to do anything else, but this is going to have a "forever" effect on our eco-system.

I feel for you, who lives down there, and yes, everyone else as well, as you're right, the effect on the eco-system. Sad.

 

[marrigotti]

I read somewhere earlier today that they expect many fish to die...sounds like there may be a shortage of the wonderful seafood for which New Orleans is so famous.

 

[concernedperson]

I don't want to be a cynic but I would be negligent if I didn't point out that with this new contamination of the lower Mississippi and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico, we need to be very careful about eating seafood.Many foods at the supermarkets don't address the origin of the seafood. We all know that people will try to captilize and many fisheries have indigent workers without the language skills nor the understanding to know where the seafood comes from.

If you catch the seafood yourself in a nice clean lake.....go for it. But in the interim be circumspect about this potentially disastrous situation.

I have some frozen shrimp from before the hurricane that I will totally enjoy as that will be it for me for awhile.

 

[concernedperson]

Wow, CNN just reporting that the Super Dome will have to be torn down. Too much damage. On Anderson Cooper 360.

 

[shopper]

I read somewhere earlier today that they expect many fish to die...sounds like there may be a shortage of the wonderful seafood for which New Orleans is so famous.

And those of us in Mississippi depend on seafood too, I can't go a week without it!

 

[mysteriew]

I have been hearing reports today that they are now fearing fires and explosions in NO. Due to the oil in the water, combining with the gas spills from the service stations and the broken gas lines. There are some electric lines that still have power, and with the residents that stayed- they seem to be very concerned.
That would be so horrible. To be down there, survive the hurricane, survive the flood, and then die in an explosion.

 

[mysteriew]

One week ago, Lia Mittelstadt was a long way from her hometown of Randolph, Wisconsin. She was in the middle of a nightmare.

Lia, her seven-year-old daughter Cassidy, and two-year-old daughter Mackenzie were on vacation in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. They ended up trapped at the chaotic Superdome with thousands of other evacuees.

"There was so much violence, so much murder, so much rape, so much looting... I still smell dead people, but there's no dead people here," says Mittelstadt.

The place that was supposed to be a sanctuary after the storm, turned out to be a living hell for Mittelstadt and her girls. "People just went crazy trying to get food to feed their kids. It was just unbelievable."
http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/1819162.html

 

[Details]

Wow, CNN just reporting that the Super Dome will have to be torn down. Too much damage. On Anderson Cooper 360.

I can't imagine how they could decontaminate it, if that were the only damage done to it.


I've read a report that the mayor is planning on doing forced evacuations - I think that's the only choice there. Some people don't seem to believe in invisible dangers, like e.coli bacteria and explosive gas fumes until it's too late.

 

[mysteriew]

I can't imagine how they could decontaminate it, if that were the only damage done to it.


I've read a report that the mayor is planning on doing forced evacuations - I think that's the only choice there. Some people don't seem to believe in invisible dangers, like e.coli bacteria and explosive gas fumes until it's too late.

Many of them didn't believe that hurricanes could kill or the levee could break and flood the city either. I wonder what it will take to convince them?

 

[KrazyKollector]

Poor ecology. I dread thinking of what this is going to do to the lake and the gulf.....all those chemicals! I know they don't have time to do anything else, but this is going to have a "forever" effect on our eco-system.

It's going to be horrible. Between the direct dumping and the leeching, the area is not going to ever be close to normal. At least not for decades.

 

[MrsMush99]

Just heard on FoxNews that the mayor of NO authorized forced evacuations if necessary.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168644,00.html