The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

[Ntegrity]

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans in the face of Category-5 Katrina which was expected to make a direct strike on the city early Monday.

Nagin said that the predicted tidal surges and heavy rains could mean widespread flooding and power outages that could last for some time.

The order extends to everyone in the city of New Orleans with the following exceptions: Essential military and law enforcement personnel from the city and state, regulated utilities employees, essential members of the media, hospital employees and their patients, medical personnel, Criminal Sheriff's personnel and inmates and hotels and their patrons.

Nagin said the city could and would commandeer any property or vehicle it deemed necessary to provide safe shelter or transport for those in need.

He also opened the Louisiana Superdome as a shelter of last resort that would begin accepting people around Noon. He said the Dome would have few supplies and that people were expected to bring food and other necessary items. RTA buses were going to be sent to pick up those going to shelters at designated pickup points.

Nagin discouraged staying in the Superdome, saying that people would not have access to power and possibly plumbing.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL082705nagin.b7724856.html

 

[tipper]

I've also been wondering about the psychological effect on the various reporters. Shepard Smith and the one on CNN come to mind. The exhaustion, lack of ability to help, frustration must be taking its toll.

 

[Details]

The people with no car, and even no access to gas money (there were stories about people trying to bargain to get 20-40 dollars for gas money) - they probably don't have a lot of packaged food and water they can bring along to the Superdome - the only shelter within reach, whatever the mayor may have categorized it as.

 

[Ntegrity]

New Orleans has a lot of poor residents. Many people either couldn't afford or were too ill to escape. An estimated 35,000 were being sheltered at the Superdome, a giant, 70,000-seat stadium in the city. There are nine other shelters of last resort in the city.

People were told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last five days.

Source

 

[Ntegrity]

Nagin said the city's shelters should be used as a last resort and said that people who use them should bring enough food, water and supplies to last for several days. He said that the Superdome, the city's main shelter, "is not going to be a very comfortable place at some point in time."

"The shelters will end up probably without electricity or with minimum electricity from generators in the end," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. "There may be intense flooding that will be not in our control which would be ultimately the most dangerous situation that many of our people could face."

Source

 

[Details]

People can be told to fly too.

What I'm getting from this is that the mayor and governor knew the Superdome would need supplies after the first day.

Homeless people don't have any supplies, poor people don't have a nice easy to carry stock of bottled water at home - nor, at the end of the month right before payday, any money to go get it.

 

[tybee204]

For a family of 5, how much water would be required to survive 5 days in 100-120 degree temperatures? Im trying to figure out how anyone could carry that much water when they have no car.

 

[Ntegrity]

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin did not use hundreds of buses that were sitting in bus yards, some less than a mile from the Superdome, to evacuate citizens who were too poor to make their way out of the city. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco commented, "The buses could have saved an estimated 20,000 people if they had been used for emergency evacuations which President Bush had declared two days before Katrina hit." Thursday, after the storm, Blanco by executive order used school buses for evacuation.

The 2000 edition of the southeast Louisiana evacuation plan on page 13, paragraph 5 states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

Source

 

[Details]

Whichever buses were used and not - I know they had buses going out to all the poor neighborhoods and all over - heard about it before the hurricane. And heard about the people who refused to get on the bus. The buses were there. I've heard that there were some people who waited and it didn't come, but for most people they were there, and they were very well advertised - I heard about them out here.

 

[Mabel]

The people with no car, and even no access to gas money (there were stories about people trying to bargain to get 20-40 dollars for gas money) - they probably don't have a lot of packaged food and water they can bring along to the Superdome - the only shelter within reach, whatever the mayor may have categorized it as.

My understanding is that many of these people were totally without funds and were waiting for their government checks to come in the mail on the first of the month. People in such dire financial straits don't have 5 days worth of food on hand.

 

[Ntegrity]

The important thing was that they were told to bring water, food, medicine. I don't believe for a second they weren't capable of carrying enough water to survive until the cavalry arrived. Some of you want to throw personal responsibility out the window and blame the government for everything. I think that's bullchit.

 

[Details]

I wonder if that message is part of why so many refused transport - I was thinking about how I would get 3-5 days of water - I don't have anything I could carry it in here (and I'm not poor) - but if I stayed at home, I could fill up pans and dishes with water and have 3-5 days of water at home. If I was given that message - I could see deciding that Superdome with no water vs. Home with water - Home might be the choice that I'd decide, in a purely rational analysis, would give me my best chance at survival.

 

[Details]

The important thing was that they were told to bring water, food, medicine. I don't believe for a second they weren't capable of carrying enough water to survive until the cavalry arrived. Some of you want to throw personal responsibility out the window and blame the government for everything. I think that's bullchit.

How do they carry the water? What is it in? No bottled water - water comes out of the faucet. Not much in the line of food or groceries period - you do your grocery run after the check arrives.

Personal responsibility is fine - but you have to allow for what people have and don't. Asking for the impossible, then claiming a lack of personal responsibility when they don't do it is BS, and it seems that's what the government here is doing. Everyone should have evacuated... without cars, without anywhere to go. Or you can go to the Superdome - if you can bring enough to live on for several days - when you don't even have that at home (if you have a home - what is your scenario for how the homeless were supposed to handle this?).

Sure, it's best to keep a savings account - but some don't have enough money for that (welfare does what it should - only gives you enough money to survive - not extra for a savings account), some have one that has been destroyed by recent expenses, and some spend all their extra - and while that's irresponsible, it's not a reason to be condemned to death.

 

[tybee204]

The important thing was that they were told to bring water, food, medicine. I don't believe for a second they weren't capable of carrying enough water to survive until the cavalry arrived. Some of you want to throw personal responsibility out the window and blame the government for everything. I think that's bullchit.

This disaster was above and beyond the norm. The Government making sure food, water and medical supplies were provided for the thousands of men , women and children that were locked in the Superdome for a week should have been at the forfront of concern. Trucking in food and water supplies to the pockets of people whilst evacuation plans were put in place is the human thing to do. It is sustaining human life. It would have been the first step to insuring order.

 

[Ntegrity]

Nobody was going to starve to death within a few days. Dehydration was the biggest risk. I don't know about everyone else, but I've got plenty of containers that can be filled with water around my house. I bet even the poorest of the poor do too. To say people aren't responsible for taking care of their most basic needs for survival is just beyond my comprehension.

 

[Mabel]

This disaster was above and beyond the norm. The Government making sure food, water and medical supplies were provided for the thousands of men , women and children that were locked in the Superdome for a week should have been at the forfront of concern. Trucking in food and water supplies to the pockets of people whilst evacuation plans were put in place is the human thing to do. It is sustaining human life. It would have been the first step to insuring order.

So many private corporations immediately loaded up supplies and trucked them to New Orleans only to be turned away. There's no excuse for the government, who is supposed to be prepared for an emergency such as this, taking 4 or 5 days to do what private citizens did in one. Many people died. Much of the blood is on the hands of our government.

 

[Ntegrity]

Not much in the line of food or groceries period - you do your grocery run after the check arrives.

Do you honestly believe those people had NOTHING to eat in their homes? Nonsense. If that had been the case, I guess they would've starved to death while waiting for their check even if the storm hadn't hit.

 

[tybee204]

What is Newsmax?

 

[Details]

Nobody was going to starve to death within a few days. Dehydration was the biggest risk. I don't know about everyone else, but I've got plenty of containers that can be filled with water around my house. I bet even the poorest of the poor do too. To say people aren't responsible for taking care of their most basic needs for survival is just beyond my comprehension.

I can't think of any that I have - some tupperware - but that'd crack open if filled with water and put in a bag - but nothing else with a real top that would hold the water through being carried around (and 3 days of water is a lot - that's pretty heavy - especially if you are carrying it for a few kids - what do you have at your house that can hold this kind of water?)

And you still aren't adressing the homeless.

 

[Amraann]

The important thing was that they were told to bring water, food, medicine. I don't believe for a second they weren't capable of carrying enough water to survive until the cavalry arrived. Some of you want to throw personal responsibility out the window and blame the government for everything. I think that's bullchit.

I think you make a good point Ntegrity..

BUT the reality is there are people who are maybe disabled and must live off of 600$ per month.
We as a society have placed the financial burden on the government so I don't think its a far stretch to expect the same when tragedy occured.

We have created a society where people live on welfare (not everyone)

And honestly even those that do not live off of federal aide could still be in dire situations.
You have to make a hell of a lot more then the average HS graduate in order to feed a family of 4.