Hurricane Katrina

[Chisoxfn]

Here's what I want to know...why the hell can't they fix the levy's. Why not take cars and just start dumping them all over this areas to slow down the water. Get the naval construction crew out there (the ones that build all the bridges and such) and get them working. Hell, for christ sake crash a barge in the areas where the levy's have opened. Do whatever it takes. Maybe its not as easy as it sounds, but I'd think considering you know a lot is going to get destroyed if they don't fix them (and it did) That you'd be very destructive and would just dump everything freaking possible on the areas to try and protect the levy's.

[Texsox]

And didn't name her Katrina

 

Woman Gives Birth While Fleeing Katrina

Aug 31 12:18 PM US/Eastern

 

 

CULLMAN, Ala.

 

A New Orleans woman has given birth while fleeing Hurricane Katrina. Donyelle Jean Jacques left New Orleans Saturday morning, one of 49 members of her family trying to flee. When the family is finally able to return, there will be 50.

 

As the family drove north in an eight-car caravan in Alabama on Interstate 65, Jacques, who was pregnant and past her due date, started having labor pains. Her boyfriend, Wilbert Joseph, said he was scared as he drove the car that Jacques was in.

 

He said he kept turning on the car's caution lights to try to let other family members know what was going on.

 

"I didn't know what to do," Joseph told The Cullman Times.

 

Jacques' mother, Michelle Jean Jacques, said by the time the line of cars pulled off at a motel in Cullman in north Alabama, they had called ahead for an ambulance that arrived shortly after they did and took her daughter to the hospital.

 

At 4:07 p.m. Monday, Jacques gave birth to an 8 pound, 10 ounce girl, Jade Leshelle Joseph,

 

Much more than this at the link

[Texsox]

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. - A runaway oil drilling platform that beached at Dauphin Island was carried more than 60 miles during Hurricane Katrina from its original location, according to its Texas-based owner.

 

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., a contract driller based in Houston, said no one was on board the rig when the hurricane broke it loose early Monday from a site 12 miles off the Louisiana coast and about 66 miles southwest of Dauphin Island.

 

Aerial photographs Tuesday showed the huge rig, the Ocean Warwick, stuck in sand in shallow waters near a few beach homes on the sparsely populated west end of the island.

 

The company said it was not immediately able to get people to the rig to assess the damage.

 

Dauphin Island, a vacation and weekend retreat off the Mobile County coast, has a population of about 1,200 and was mostly deserted during the hurricane.

 

[WilliamTell]

All I can say is it's amazing what Mother Nature can do to civilization......Making our country look like a 3rd world country with everything being destroyed and food needed and all the stealing going on. I wish I could do down there and help, but I'm a college student.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Here's what I want to know...why the hell can't they fix the levy's.  Why not take cars and just start dumping them all over this areas to slow down the water.  Get the naval construction crew out there (the ones that build all the bridges and such) and get them working.  Hell, for christ sake crash a barge in the areas where the levy's have opened.  Do whatever it takes.  Maybe its not as easy as it sounds, but I'd think considering you know a lot is going to get destroyed if they don't fix them (and it did) That you'd be very destructive and would just dump everything freaking possible on the areas to try and protect the levy's.

They think they're going to be able to do it with concrete jersey-barriers and huge (20,000 lb sandbags).

 

Until the water in the lake equilibrated with the water in the city (which is supposedly happening now), it would have been very tough to patch the breaches. Plusm if the breaches were not caused by the big slug of storm surge comeing up the river, but just by water pressure from too much volume to hold bac, patching one breach successfully may just have vorced the water to find the next weakest part of teh levee and cause that to fail.

 

Optimistically, if they can patch and get power to the pumps, they can pump an inch a day out of the city. That still means 30 days to pump it out in some places. Also, Pontchartrain has to recede, which it supposedly is starting to do.

[Texsox]

All I can say is it's amazing what Mother Nature can do to civilization......Making our country look like a 3rd world country with everything being destroyed and food needed and all the stealing going on. I wish I could do down there and help, but I'm a college student.

 

Wish I could do something but I have a family and bills to pay . . .

 

I wonder who does do something? Old people? Shutins? The unemployed? Cubs Fans?

[FlaSoxxJim]

Wish I could do something but I have a family and bills to pay . . .

 

I wonder who does do something? Old people? Shutins? The unemployed? Cubs Fans?

The truth is, unless you have a specialized skill set (EMT, rescue, medical...) they don't want us now. But they do want and need our donations.

[Texsox]

Optimistically, if they can patch and get power to the pumps, they can pump an inch a day out of the city.  That still means 30 days to pump it out in some places.  Also, Pontchartrain has to recede, which it supposedly is starting to do.

 

How many times does Nature have to explain we cannot stop water? We have tried to tame the Mississippi and we always fail. Nothing man made last forever or works perfectly.

 

Going to hell for this one, but has anyone else found themselves thinking Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks?

 

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break,

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break,

When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,

Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,

Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,

Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don’t it make you feel bad

When you’re tryin’ to find your way home,

You don’t know which way to go?

If you’re goin’ down south

They go no work to do,

If you don’t know about chicago.

Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,

Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,

When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,

Thinkin’ ’bout me baby and my happy home.

Going, go’n’ to chicago,

Go’n’ to chicago,

Sorry but I can’t take you.

Going down, going down now, going down.

[farmteam]

The truth is, unless you have a specialized skill set (EMT, rescue, medical...) they don't want us now.  But they do want and need our donations.   

 

Just be careful who you donate to. There will be heartless scum who are just looking to scam you in wake of Katrina.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Going to hell for this one, but has anyone else found themselves thinking Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks?

 

Yes. And there is another eben more poignent Aaron Neville song along the same lines that one of the news channels played along with a photo montage on Monday night that was really emotional. I don't know the name of the sone, but I need to find it.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Just be careful who you donate to.  There will be heartless scum who are just looking to scam you in wake of Katrina.

For sure. Stick with Red Cross.

Edited August 31, 2005 by FlaSoxxJim

[hi8is]

just a little reminder, even red cross has been caught stealing funds

[Soxy]

Yankees and NFL each donate $1mill in aid.

[Soxy]

I just realized that a lot of people who lost people in the flood also probably lost everything else. So, they won't have pictures of loved ones, or any souviners (in the true meaning of the word) of them.

 

How horrible.

[kapkomet]

I just realized that a lot of people who lost people in the flood also probably lost everything else. So, they won't have pictures of loved ones, or any souviners (in the true meaning of the word) of them.

 

How horrible.

Being from here, I know a lot of people from my wife's work and my work that have relatives there. My cousin's from where Mississippi and Alabama meet right on the gulf. No one has heard from him for days.

 

The stuff that is coming out of there just crushes me, the things I'm hearing.

 

I am seriously thinking of going to the shelters here (there are a LOT of people here) this weekend and spending some time with these people.

[Rex Hudler]

Being from here, I know a lot of people from my wife's work and my work that have relatives there.  My cousin's from where Mississippi and Alabama meet right on the gulf.  No one has heard from him for days.

 

The stuff that is coming out of there just crushes me, the things I'm hearing.

 

I am seriously thinking of going to the shelters here (there are a LOT of people here) this weekend and spending some time with these people.

 

kap, this may apply more to the New Orleans situation, but there are two web sites that I know of (I'm sure there are more) that are posting message boards and blogs allowing people to post messages either looking for people or those that are safe trying to communicate with others. The web sites are:

 

NOLA

 

WWL

 

The in-laws of one of the guys at our office live in Pascagoula, which is right near where you are referring. They last heard from them after the hurricane started saying that there was already a foot of water in their house. They haven't been heard from since. I know that area was hit real hard with the storm surge.

 

I was told by someone today that you can get into that area on Hwy 90 coming in from Alabama, in case you try and go look for them. That route may be closed off soon, but it is kind of a back way in.

 

Hope they are all okay.

[Rex Hudler]

A couple of tidbits I heard today....

 

-- in the Biloxi area, as they go through the areas looking for people still alive, they are marking areas with red paint where they find dead bodies. They can't do anything with them yet, and they are focused on trying to find those still alive, so they are just leaving them there for now.

 

-- New Orleans rescue workers are completely ignoring the dead bodies floating in the water, in hopes of finding more people alive. At least hundreds of bodies are floating in the waters.

 

-- Residents of St. Charles parrish which is just west of New Orleans were allowed back into the area today (with proper ID) to assess damage and gather belongings. They are allowed in for a day and then they must leave. They won't be allowed back in for at least a month.

[Queen Prawn]

I didn't see this posted here, thought it should be (sorry if it is a repeat):

 

Packers' team plane also carried supplies to South

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The Green Bay Packers flew to Nashville on Wednesday for their final preseason game -- but only after loading the team airplane with generators and other emergency supplies to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

 

Quarterback Brett Favre was among the Packers with relatives and friends in the Gulf Coast region that has been devastated by the hurricane.

 

Favre had the blessing of coach Mike Sherman to drive a truck with supplies to Hattiesburg, Miss., where his wife and children were at home, after the team got to Nashville. But with many of the roads in Mississippi impassable and the airports closed, Favre reconsidered.

 

For now, ``what I've done is try to get the word out,'' he said.

 

Favre, with the help of equipment manager Red Batty, rounded up supplies, including generators, food and water, that were loaded onto the chartered plane.

 

``When we get to Nashville, there's going to be a guy who drives (the supplies) to Hattiesburg,'' Favre said after the team has a workout in the Don Hutson Center. ``From there, hopefully, we can disperse this even further south.''

 

``To think that we're going to try to play football and enjoy it, it's difficult.

 

Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair teamed up with Favre and arranged to fill a tractor-trailer with relief supplies.

 

The co-MVP of 2003, who has a home near that of Favre, also is offering to swap an autographed photo in exchange for each minimum donation of $100 to his foundation. Those funds will be distributed to victims in rural Mississippi such as his hometown of Mount Olive, Miss.

 

McNair's personal manager, Raymond White, said the news coverage has concentrated directly on the Gulf, such as Gulfport and Biloxi, which is where the first emergency relief trucks are headed.

 

``You still have others ... that've been hit, too,'' White said. ``That's what Steve is trying to do is hit some of those rural areas where there might be only one gas station around, to help out people.''

 

White said McNair and Favre worked out the details by telephone for tractor-trailer that was filled with water, canned foods, generators and other supplies.

 

Favre's childhood home in the Gulf Coast town of Kiln, Miss., was destroyed by the storm.

 

Wide receiver Javon Walker also was among the players profoundly affected by the disaster.

 

He said he received a phone call Wednesday morning from his mother. She informed him that his grandparents and two uncles can't be found in Moss Point, Miss., which is just outside Biloxi.

 

Walker's parents drove from their home in Texas to search for Lucille and Paul Goldsmith, both of whom are in their 80s, and their sons, Paul and Earl Goldsmith.

 

``Obviously, dealing with what they're going through, it puts a lot of things in perspective for me, as far as family and friends,'' Walker said. ``I just want them to be safe because sometimes, you take for granted what our grandparents do for us.

 

``I'm just going to pray for them and hope that everything is OK.''

 

With lines of communication wiped out, Packers linebacker Ray Thompson isn't sure how many of his family members are holding up.

 

Thompson's mother, grandmother and a number of aunts and cousins reside in various parts of battered New Orleans.

 

``I just can't watch the news. Everything is just bad news,'' Thompson said.

 

Updated on Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 9:47 pm EDT

[SnB]

everyone needs a little laugh every once in awhile

[FlaSoxxJim]

SnB, you hit it on the head. Sadly.

[SnB]

SnB, you hit it on the head.  Sadly.

what exactly do you mean? i haven't been exactly following it very closely the past few days, is this kind of "journalism" going on?

 

I just stole the pic from a friend's away message, thought it was a cheap laugh.

[Soxy]

what exactly do you mean?  i haven't been exactly following it very closely the past few days, is this kind of "journalism" going on?

 

I just stole the pic from a friend's away message, thought it was a cheap laugh.

A cheap laugh but a good reflection of the institutional racism in this country. (I'm being serious, fwiw)

[SnB]

A cheap laugh but a good reflection of the institutional racism in this country. (I'm being serious, fwiw)

i think i unintennionaly may have opened up a can of worms

[Texsox]

Wow, just wow. That's almost as sad as the physical destruction. :headshake

[Texsox]

As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot. A hurricane cannot rob a great city of its spirit, but a vicious citizenry can. A bad time with Mother Nature can leave you digging out for a long time, but a bad turn in human behavior frays and tears all the ties that truly bind human being--trust, confidence, mutual regard, belief in the essential goodness of one's fellow citizens.

 

There seems to be some confusion in terms of terminology on TV. People with no food and water who are walking into supermarkets and taking food and water off the shelves are not criminal, they are sane. They are not looters, they are people who are attempting to survive; they are taking the basics of survival off shelves in stores where there isn't even anyone at the cash register.

 

Looters are not looking to survive; they're looking to take advantage of the weakness of others. They are predators. They're taking not what they need but what they want. They are breaking into stores in New Orleans and elsewhere and stealing flat screen TVs and jewelry, guns and CD players. They are breaking into homes and taking what those who have fled trustingly left behind. In Biloxi, Miss., looters went from shop to shop. "People are just casually walking in and filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus," the owner of a Super 8 Motel told the London Times. On CNN, producer Kim Siegel reported in the middle of the afternoon from Canal Street in New Orleans that looters were taking "everything they can."

 

If this part of the story grows--if cities on the gulf come to seem like some combination of Dodge and the Barbarian invasion--it's going to be bad for our country. One of the things that keeps us together, and that lets this great lumbering nation move forward each day, is the sense that we will be decent and brave in times of crisis, that the fabric holds, that under duress it is American heroism and altruism that take hold and not base instincts born of irresponsibility, immaturity and greed.

 

We had a bad time in the 1960s, and in the New York blackout in the '70s, and in the Los Angeles riots in the '90s. But the whole story of our last national crisis, 9/11, was courage--among the passersby, among the firemen, among those who walked down there stairs slowly to help a less able colleague, among those who fought their way past the flames in the Pentagon to get people out. And it gave us quite a sense of who we are as a people. It gave us a lot of renewed pride.

 

If New Orleans damages that sense, it's going to be painful to face. It's going to be damaging to the national spirit. More damaging even than a hurricane, even than the worst in decades.

 

I wonder if the cruel and stupid young people who are doing the looting know the power they have to damage their country. I wonder, if they knew, if they'd stop it.

 

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "A Heart, a Cross, and a Flag" (Wall Street Journal Books/Simon & Schuster), a collection of post-Sept. 11 columns, which you can buy from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Thursdays.

 

More excellent commentary at link