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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 1:34 pm
It is just getting worse and worse. Yesterday morning, when I saw the first pictures, I have to admit I thought, "This is horrible, but it's not as bad as it could have been." And now today, it's just getting worse and worse. So sad...
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Jewels
Member
09-23-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 1:47 pm
I have been out of town all weekend, just got home last night. I found out this morning that my husbands cousin, wife and two small children that were living in Biloxi evacuated to Georgia and have since found out that their house is gone. A neighbor who stayed and is hanging out in the second floor of their house could only see the roof of my dh's cousins house. They just moved there this summer. Cousin joined the army after graduating from dental school to help with the tuition. Wife and two small kids (ages 2 and 6 months) just moved down in July. They have lost everything. They have no flood insurance. They took enough clothes for 5 days, a few pictures, their dog and computer. Just last week they e-mailed pictures home of them unpacking in their house, pictures from the park in Ocean Springs and the bay in Biloxi. We are waiting to find out where they are going to go before sending things out. The whole family is ready to help, we just don't know how yet. It is hard having them so far away.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 1:47 pm
Louisiana Gov. Blanco (?) just said in a news conference on CNN: COMPLETE evacuation of NO, folks. This is not good. Here's and ABC link...
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Darrellh
Member
07-21-2004
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 1:52 pm
My folks live just outside of Meridian MS. They left for safety, but came back today. (I told them not to do it) LARGE tree is now in their bedroom, but the rest of the house is ok. Many large trees over their driveway and all power lines down. Reports say the entire area is without any power. It's also going to be in the 90's all week. At least they are ok. Sending prayers and positive thoughts to those not as well off.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:27 pm
I'm like Yankee. After yesterday I thought this wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. Now I think it is every bit as bad as they were warning and worse. Photos of houses flattened, Coast Guard reports they have rescued 1200 people from rooftops in New Orleans alone. Police going house to house in Biloxi to look for bodies (!). People screaming from inside their attics, and workers have to take axes to the roofs to get them out. Even the evacuation centers in NO are now being evacuated! So doing the right thing and going to a center wasn't enough. There must be tens of thousands of homes under water, and more water coming in the NO area. 80% of NO is under water. Bodies floating in the water. It's all so heartbreaking.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:36 pm
I wonder how the cemetary is affected. It is such a landmark.
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:41 pm
Tishala, I was watching CNN, the two women speaking (I thought one was the Lt Gov?) both were very organized, and methodic in answering questions, every now and again the one voice would crack, but she quickly regained control... I got the impression when pressed about the superdome, she talked of that is where the roof rescued were taken, that they were getting shipments of water and MRI's in, she was pressed about getting the generators functioning, she replied that it wasnt possible due to the water levels, and went into an explanation of the air needed, and the 4ft of water... she was further pressed, and again stated that the hospitals werent an option, that they were treating, and evacuating hospitals to neighboring states, etc, but due to the roads being impassible... again, pressing does this mean that everyone in NO must evacuate... at that point I thought she just shrugged... so I was under the impression that if the priorities were met, the first was rescue, the 2nd the levy repairs, then 3 water levels subside, that they could re assess the superdome, but if the levies couldnt be shored up that they knew they had to evacuate the superdome, again, the impression I got was that they needed time - and luck! Also earlier in the day a report said the conditions were horrific and someone may have jumped or fallen... I havent heard that again so dont know if that was some of that made up journalism or not! I thought they werent going to allow cameras for thier privacy...
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:42 pm
Oh my heck. CNN just showed hundreds of prisoners stranded outside a jail in New Orleans parish. Moved out of the jail, in their orange jumpsuits, sitting on a road with no place to go. Armed guards standing over them.
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Kstme
Member
08-14-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:48 pm
My heart bleeds for everyone involved. I have been to NO and along the coast as far as Tampa. It is such an unbelievably horrid situation. Butter, thanks for posting the numbers. I don't think the news stations are putting them up often enough.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:49 pm
I am horrified and saddened.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 2:55 pm
Back to the prisoners: Their familes are out there. They have no way to contact them to find out the situations, if they are safe, if their homes have been destroyed, and now, they are treated as last priority, sitting on the side of the road like cattle.
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:03 pm
Here's a link to the blog spot mentioned on CNN earlier today. These two guys are in Biloxi and reporting out on what they're seeing. It started as a lark and has turned very, very serious in tone. The New Orleans Craigslist has become a resource for folks offering assistance/housing/clothing to hurricane victims and as a place folks are posting trying to find news of family members and friends. The pictures of people swimming to rooftops and being pulled into Coast Guard helicopters are heartbreaking. SOme have their pets with them. Some are being pulled out of attic windows where they were waiting for help with water up to their chests. I don't know how they're going to get everyone out of NO. How the heck do you transport thousands of people out of a place when the transportation infrastructure is so broken? On CNN, they were posing the question, what do you do with folks who refuse to leave even if the government mandates the entire city be evacuated? The easy answer is, you take them out forcibly, if needed. However, the logistics of even getting the people who WANT to leave out of the place are just overwhelming. I just feel so bad for everyone in the entire Katrina-affected area and I feel so helpless to do anything to help.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:04 pm
I just can't fathom all this. I grew up going to NO all the time....my dad built there and we had family there, and my dh and I used to go there all the time. The hotel where we like to stay looks like a bomb went off. A wonderful aquarium in Gulfport that we loved to take our kids to is just gone. We were regular customers of the Beau Rivage.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:10 pm
I feel the same way Max. ((Texannie)) Using that link above to Craigs List, I clicked on Lost and Found: Warning this will make you cry. Can you imagine these poor people looking for family??? http://neworleans.craigslist.org/laf/
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:17 pm
My church is going to serve lunch starting tomorrow to the people stranded here in hotels along I10. I called my manager at Starbucks and they are going to donate coffee. At least I can pour coffee and serve food....I just feel so helpless.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:18 pm
You have to hear Jeanne Meserve's report from NO last night on CNN. She's very emotional and it's just horrifying. LINK Reader, IIRC those women were Gov. Blanco and Sen. Mary Landrieu...but all the news organizations are saying complete evacuation of NO now. It's unfathomable.
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Max
Moderator
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:20 pm
As bad as NO has been hit, Mississippi is really devastated by the storm surge. Homes are literally just GONE hundreds of feet back from the shoreline. It's very much the same as the tidal wave stories from Thailand, but in a more densely populated area. In some of the footage they're showing, it seems amazing that anyone who was there when the surge hit is still alive. Rob Marciano is in Biloxi and looks so tired and sad. I wonder if he's wishing he had stayed here in Portland!
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:21 pm
I heard that Biloxi was hit with an over 20' wave!
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:24 pm
Texannie, I wish I could be right there with you to help out. I am sure there are things I can do from here. I am a hands on type of gal and would rather volunteer my time than anything else.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:24 pm
Oh God Twiggyish. That Craigslist link is devastating.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:27 pm
I hear canal street is actually a canal.
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Abby7
Member
07-17-2002
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:38 pm
i'm wondering about this: let's say EVERYONE did evacuate at the time they were first warned. i'm wondering if they would have gotten out in time. how would the highways handle such traffic? also wonder where everyone is going to go now? i guess shelters in other states will be provided. this is truly horrific.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:44 pm
If you can't do anything else, send money to the Red Cross. They will be providing food and shelter to these folks for months and months. Also, my church's relief organization is collecting health kits and flood buckets for distribution to victims. These kits can be sent directly to their distribution site in Louisiana, and contain every day items like toothpaste (health kits) and clean up supplies for after the flood (flood buckets). A report from Long Beach noted that everything 3-4 blocks from the ocean was completely flattened, churches, businesses, houses, completely gone.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:44 pm
Escapee, I am sure there will be opportunities for you too, but it is such a helpless feeling to just sit by and watch! Abby, I am on the westside of Houston and the hotels here are all mostly filled with LA residents...guess they just kept driving west looking for a vacancy. That's really how my church decided to host the lunch. One of the ministers lives even farther west and noticed all the LA plates in the hotel parking lots on I10 as he was driving in. I guess none of us realized how far west they would all have to go. One of the commentators on a local talk radio program said it will be interesting to see if the Hollywood crowd jumps on the bandwagon here to raise money like they did with Tsunami.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 3:46 pm
Seeing the hundreds of people walking out of the city reminded me of refugees leaving a war.
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