Katrina Visits "big Easy"

[Declan]

True, but you also have to question the city's administration's preperation as well. How come there wasn't any plan to get those without their own transportation out of the city before the hurricane hit?

[cheesemonster2005]

True, but you also have to question the city's administration's preperation as well. How come there wasn't any plan to get those without their own transportation out of the city before the hurricane hit?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, fair enough but in many cases in the past the National Guard and other authorities have been supplied by the Feds. In this case they were unprepared and most didn't expect the storm to be as big as it was although of course they should have prepared for the worst. I'm not sure what powers the city mayor has - I think the state governor may be more directly responsible for things like evacuations. Does anyone else know?

[SugarBee]

The Mayor of NOLA ordered mandatory evacuations of many parishes in the low-lying areas and martial law was ordered. Also, the Mayor also encouraged people of other parishes to evacuate, although it was not mandatory. Many people of NOLA CHOSE to stay in their homes and refused to leave. Under martial law, the Gov has to provide assistance and transportation to those who could not afford to leave or did not have any transportation and did this. Many of the hotels in New Orleans provided busses to their guests before the storm so they could get to the airport. But, under Marital Law, the police and soldiers can commandeer anything they choose to aid them in their duties. Consequently, the busses ordered by hotels for their guests were taken by the army and used to transport the NOLA citizens out of town before the storm (and after). The people that stayed are the ones that ended up in the SuperDome and were stranded on the highway. Many others stayed in town as they saw a big opportunity to loot the stores and evacuated homes --

 

I have heard that the entire French Quarter will be evacuated as well as many other areas of New Orleans as it will take at least 80 days to pump out the water, and until the water is gone, the clean up cannot take place. Many neighborhoods (parishes) were entirely wiped out. The death toll will reach into the thousands. I cannot imagine what the people there have gone through and will have to go through.

 

As for the Mayor and his remarks, who can blame him under the pressure he's under.

 

And, once again, carping about who's to blame never helps. And, also, as I have always said, what you hear on TV and read in the newspapers is not always accurate nor does it tell the full story.

[Mr. Sausages]

I wonder if this will prompt a comeback for Katrina and the Waves?

[cheesemonster2005]

The Deputy Police Chief for New Orleans has just advised anyone remaining to leave. He said there are no jobs (except for his). He said the city was completely destroyed.

 

What's the population of this city and has an event like this ever totally ruined a city in the US before?

[Gladys]

From what I have seen on the TV although the damage is severe, the city is not completely destroyed. Apparently, the old French area (including the famous Bourbon Street) is relatively unscathed.

 

It is frightening though when you think that the world's last remaining superpower has been brought to its knees by this event. I just wonder how robust our own (UK & IOM) emergency/disaster reponse plans are?

[ans]

Were the English ever daft enough to build major towns below sea level and then fail to spend the money maintaining the levees that protect them?

[SugarBee]

New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718/

[Mr. Sausages]

Yeah, but that was before hurricanes were invented, FYI. And they don't live there anymore.

[Lonan3]

New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No wonder they sold Louisiana! $15m must have seemed a bargain.

[Amadeus]

The Deputy Police Chief for New Orleans has just advised anyone remaining to leave.  He said there are no jobs (except for his).  He said the city was completely destroyed.

 

What's the population of this city and has an event like this ever totally ruined a city in the US before?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Population: 484,674 (city proper), 1,337,726 (metropolitan area)

 

I guess, at least to a certain extent, that would explain why any evacuation and subsequently any rescue efforts were so slow in the beginning - rescuing, transporting and supplying half a million people with no preparation time is a logistical task so big, that even the yanks can't do it....

 

This is what get's me:

 

NYtimes:

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 4 - New Orleans police officers yesterday shot and killed four people and wounded two others who had fired at officers escorting a convoy of contractors across a bridge, the authorities said.

 

Washington Times:

The looters are helping themselves to DVD and MP3 players, beer, flat-screen TVs, clothing, booze, guns, candy and sporting goods. Some simply loaded up shopping carts with all they could hold and boldly pushed them out the doors and down the sodden streets.

 

And countless other headlines, reporting from rescue helicopters being shot at (wtf?) to an attacker shooting at people outside the superdome..

 

Even in desperate situations like this, the yanks don't seize to amaze and have nothing better to do than shooting around and taking electronic goods from stores..

 

I mean, where's he gonna put that new telly and dvd if the f****g house is gone?

[cheesemonster2005]

This is what get's me:

Washington Times:

The looters are helping themselves to DVD and MP3 players, beer, flat-screen TVs, clothing, booze, guns, candy and sporting goods. Some simply loaded up shopping carts with all they could hold and boldly pushed them out the doors and down the sodden streets.

I mean, where's he gonna put that new telly and dvd if the f****g house is gone? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I guess the DVD player would be pretty useless but many who resorted to looting were doing it to feed themselves and their family. Yet, the Americans had the nerve to create a 'shoot to kill' policy against looters which basically made so many people a target of the trigger-happy authorities. Pretty shameful!

[SugarBee]

The following places on land have elevations below mean sea level.

 

(all figures are number of meters below sea level)

 

1. The Dead Sea (417 m)

2. Lac Assal, Djibouti (155 m)

3. Turpan Pendi, China (154 m)

4. Qattara Depression, Egypt (133 m)

5. Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan (132 m)

6. Denakil Depression, Ethiopia (125 m)

7. Laguna del Carbon, Argentina (105 m)

8. Death Valley, USA (86 m)

9. Sebkha Tah, Morocco (55 m)

10. Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, Libya (47 m)

11. Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic (46 m)

12. Chott Melrhir, Algeria (40 m)

13. Shatt al Gharsah, Tunisia (17 m)

14. Lake Eyre, Australia (15 m)

15. Laguna Salada, Mexico (10 m)

16. Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands (7 m)

17. Lammefjord, Denmark (7 m)

18. Sebkhet Te-n-Dghamcha, Mauritania (5 m)

19. The Fens, United Kingdom (4 m)

20. Hachiro-gata, Japan (4 m)

21. Neuendorf bei Wilster, Germany (3.5)

22. Kuttinad, Kerala, India (2.2 m)

23. Rhone River delta, France (2 m)

24. unnamed place in Suriname (2 m)

25. Żuławy Wiślane, Poland (1,8 m)

[Lonan3]

Even accepting that it's 'only' an opinion piece, there's a lot of food for thought to be found in this article from today's Times:

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,21...1766253,00.html

[GD4ELI]

I wonder what the Manx police would do in emergency - 2 months of stress-related leave and let the Wimmin's Institute get on with things?