katrina

[uproar]

thise didnt work

[SCRAWBURRY]

Officials throw up hands as looters ransack city

8/31/2005, 10:39 a.m. CT

By KEVIN McGILL

The Associated Press

 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officials watched helplessly as looters around the city ransacked stores for food, clothing, appliances and guns.

 

"We don't like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday.

 

In the city's Carrollton section, which is on relatively high ground, looters commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break the glass of a Rite-Aid pharmacy. The crowd stormed the store, carrying out so much ice, water and food that it dropped from their arms as they ran. The street was littered with packages of ramen noodles and other items.

 

New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are gangs of armed men moving around the city.

 

The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the gun section at a new Wal-Mart in the Lower Garden District had been cleaned out by looters.

 

Gunshots were heard throughout the night in Carrollton.

 

Police spokesman Marlon Defilo said an officer and a looter were wounded in a shootout. Defilo had no word on their condition. Three or four others were also arrested, he said.

 

One looter shot and wounded a fellow looter, who was taken to a hospital and survived.

 

Staff members at Children's Hospital huddled with sick youngsters and waited in vain for help to arrive as looters tried to break through the locked door, Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher told the newspaper. Neither the police nor the National Guard arrived.

 

Authorities planned to send more than 70 additional officers and an armed personnel carrier into the city.

 

On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting was in full view of police and National Guardsmen.

 

The historic French Quarter appeared to have been spared the worst flooding, but its stores were getting the worst of human nature.

 

"The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked," Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson said. "We're using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue while we still have people on rooftops."

 

Sen. Mary Landrieu's helicopter was taking off Tuesday for a flyover of the devastation and she watched as a group of people smashed a window at a gas-station convenience store and jumped in.

 

At a drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers.

[Tyler Durden]

Originally posted by saraday@Aug 31 2005, 10:28 AM

this shit's just WRONG..

 

Children's Hospital under seige

Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.

 

Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.

 

Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.

 

The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.

 

Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.

 

Quoted post

 

 

 

If youre looting shit in the wake of this, you are human scum. Stealing a loaf of bread to eat is one thing, but youve got that one dude stealing cases of beer, and now this shit. Thats not feeding your family. Mayyyyyyyybe certain people need to get some fucking priorities?

[SCRAWBURRY]

[SCRAWBURRY]

CENTRAL CITY: Items are removed from the from Coleman's Retail Store at 4001 Earhart Blvd. People braved a steady rain and infrequent tropical storm wind gusts to tote boxes of clothing and shoes from the store.

 

Ted Jackson/Times-Picayune

 

CENTRAL CITY: Coleman’s merchandise goes out the door Monday. Another group was seen riding in the back of a pickup truck, honking the horn and cheering.

 

Ted Jackson/Times-Picayune

 

 

CENTRAL CITY: People walk away with bags of clothing from Coleman's Retail Store and furniture from Universal Furniture on Earhart Boulevard during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

 

Kathy Anderson/Times-Picayune

[Dirty_habiT]

LOOT IT UP PEOPLE.

 

I'd probably be looting if I was there... I know that's shitty, but I probably would.

 

edit: and I'm white... yes, I'd be LOOTING, not finding...

[SCRAWBURRY]

[SCRAWBURRY]

 

 

[nozaki]

i'd be bombing highway spots

[SCRAWBURRY]

 

 

[Overtime]

I think we can all agree that, yes, this is horrible. But, we will rebuild, there is no doubt about that, and then we will do what we do best, we will forget about all this. Hurricane Katrina's name and memory will only come up in news stories years to come when a bigger storm comes in "this is bigger than hurricane katrina in 2005". We've forgotten about the tusnami in december already, and that was less than a year ago, 10's of thousands died, not hundreds.

 

The looting that is going on, regardless if the people are black or white, probably, has nothing to do with necessitites, and if it does, it is for a lost cause, and I feel sorry for the "nigga's" who are gettin shot to get diapers and milk for their kids. People are gonna loot whenever a chance comes up like this, riots, storms, the power outtage in new york a while back, it has nothing to do with how "hood" they are, or how poverty ridden they are, it has to do with how much morals they have. People who are gonna steal when part of the country is in martial law and a horrible state are gonna steal from walmart and Macy's when there are people running around in the store without a storm, thats part of why they are labelled as "hood". Not becuase they live somewhere, but becuase they dont care about other people, just themselves. Fuck looters, theives steal, whenever, you cant say it is ok because of this problem, they dont need a case of beer or gucci anything at anypoint in their lives. fuck that.

 

My sympathies go to the family members who lost people and houses though, this storm is horrible.

[2 blaazed]

NIGGAS IN NOLIA ARE GONNA BE FLOSSIN G!!

[Overtime]

Fuck, i got gas last night at 2.49, today, i just went by a pump, fuckin 3.09 for gas, and its gonna go up....shit....

[ILOTSMYBRAIN]

[Overtime]

30 bucks for less than ten gallons, shit....

[SF1]

Yall act like you never racked paint in your life. "Oh, it's wrong" You'd be doing the same shit if you were there. And like I said before... It's all gonna be washed out or written off anyways so who gives a fuck? it was all abandoned to the flood. How dare the cops even wast their time trying to stop it when there's still people stranded on roofs with rising water that need to be rescued. This is an state of emergency with people dieing and they're woried about busting looters???

 

 

And Scrawberry you still aint tell me who you are. Keep talking shit pussy you're to scared to back it up with your name. :shook:

[!@#$%]

now you guys are just repeating the same shit over and over.

 

we get it.

 

enough with the judgement

they are looting, it's fucked up. and lots of people still do it anyway.

whatever.

shit'll prolly just be destroyed in the next major hurricane anyway.

 

they are worried about busting looters because when law and order breaks down, chaos ensues.

if people think they are living in a state of anarchy

(as evidenced by people looting)

than shit could spin further and further out of control.

 

i'm not saying it's right or wrong,

it just is

please let's just get on with some well wishing,

donatiing, or anything that is not so fucking negative.

 

http://www.redcross.org

[sarcasm]

my deepest condolences. i was watching the news last night, and i saw some reporter interviewing some guy who lost his wife. he was holding her hand, and he couldn't hold on anymore, and she got swept away or some fucked up shit like that. this is truley sad. my best wishes go out to the people affected by this hurricane.

 

i heard that the hurricane swept up graves and coffins in graveyards.... that shit is just wrong

[saraday]

i saw they posted the redcross ad & link on the 12oz homepage. that makes me happy...

 

symbols has a great attitude and i appreciate that. i have 2 friends (a married couple) that decided to ride out the storm. no one has heard from them since monday morning. i just hope they are alive.

[saraday]

Originally posted by sarcasm@Aug 31 2005, 03:18 PM

my deepest condolences. i was watching the news last night, and i saw some reporter interviewing some guy who lost his wife. he was holding her hand, and he couldn't hold on anymore, and she got swept away or some fucked up shit like that. this is truley sad. my best wishes go out to the people affected by this hurricane.

 

i heard that the hurricane swept up graves and coffins in graveyards.... that shit is just wrong

Quoted post

 

that interview stirred up a lot of emotions for me. it was one of the saddest things i've ever seen in my life.

[fatalist]

^my friend just told me about that same interview, dude is hardcore and he was in tears.

[saraday]

four days ago i started this thread not knowing what to expect... never in my wildest nightmares did i think things would be almost exactly as they had predicted from that first article that i posted. i dont think anyone did.

 

first article i posted:

Big Easy' a bowl of trouble in hurricanes

 

By James West, USATODAY.com

 

With the 2000 hurricane season entering its most fierce stage, should the "Big Easy" change its nickname to the "Big Worry"? Officials there who plan for hurricanes think so.

 

The last time a major hurricane – with winds over 111 mph – came close to New Orleans was Hurricane Camille in 1969, says Paul Trotter, chief of the National Weather Service office in nearby Slidell, La. That storm came ashore about 55 miles east of New Orleans in Mississippi. Trotter says that there have been 12 or 13 major storms to hit within 85 miles of New Orleans in the last 120 years, or an average of one major hurricane occurring once a decade.

 

"With Camille hitting over 30 years ago, we are well overdue for a major one," Trotter says.

 

New Orleans, a city of nearly 1.4 million people, sits below sea level, as much as 8 feet lower than water in nearby Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River and its delta, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. This in effect creates a "bowl" that floodwaters can settle into, like water headed for a stopped-up drain.

 

To combat this unique problem, a system of levees surrounds the city to hold back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south, says Joseph Suhayda, director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The levee that holds back Lake Pontchartrain is 15 feet high while the one guarding against the Mississippi River is 20 feet tall.

 

Suhayda says the 15-foot levee will protect the city from a minimum hurricane of Category 1 or 2 intensity and at best a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale.

 

"A slow-moving Category 3 or any Category 4 or 5 hurricane passing within 20 or 30 miles of New Orleans would be devastating," Suhayda says.

 

The storm surge — water pushed into a mound by hurricane winds — would pour over the Pontchartrain levee and flood the city. A severe hurricane could push floodwaters inside the New Orleans bowl as high as 20-30 feet, covering most homes and the first three or four stories of buildings in the city, he says. "This brings a great risk of casualties."

 

In this type of scenario the metro area could be submerged for more than 10 weeks, says Walter S. Maestri, Director of Emergency Management for Jefferson Parish, which encompasses more than half of the city. In those 10 weeks, residents would need drinking water, food and a dry place to live.

 

Besides the major problems flooding would bring, there is also concern about a potentially explosive and deadly problem. Suhayda says flooding of the whole city could easily mix industrial and household chemicals into a toxic and volatile mix. Coupled with an estimated 100,000 tons of sediment, a cleanup could take several months. In the worst case scenario, the mix of toxic chemicals could make some areas of the city uninhabitable. "It could take several years for the city to recover fully, economically, from a strong hurricane," says Suhayda.

 

To make residents aware of the dangers New Orleans faces, Maestri and his staff visit churches, professional organizations and social clubs almost every week of the year to discuss the risks. They distribute videos to schools, libraries and even to video stores for free distribution to the public. They also provide information to the commercial mass media to make the public aware.

 

Maestri says that the public knows and understands the threat they face if a major hurricane was to strike near New Orleans. For instance, when Hurricane Georges threatened the Gulf Coast in 1998, an estimated 60 percent of the New Orleans population evacuated the city, Maestri says. It was the largest evacuation in U.S. history at the time, according to the National Weather Service. Even then, not everyone could get out, and the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans was used as a shelter for the first time. Fortunately for the city, Hurricane Georges, a Category 2 hurricane with winds near 110 mph, landed to the east in Biloxi, Miss.

 

Despite the difficulty in getting everyone out, Maestri says evacuation is the best policy for a city under sea level and not fully protected from storm surge and flooding. But he is concerned that he still might not have enough advance warning to evacuate all of New Orleans. Improvements in hurricane predictions during the last 30 years have made it possible for the National Hurricane Center to issue hurricane warnings 24 hours ahead of when a storm hits. But, Maestri says it takes nearly 72 hours to fully evacuate New Orleans. This means that an evacuation order must be issued using a forecast that could have an error of 150 miles. While Maestri and his team are busy evacuating the city, the storm could be heading for Alabama and Mississippi to the east or the bayous of western Louisiana instead of New Orleans.

 

An evacuation could create a ghost town unnecessarily and make people more complacent when the next hurricane nears the Gulf Coast. Maestri is also concerned that he could be placing evacuees in the path of danger if a storm struck along the evacuation routes instead of New Orleans.

 

Besides getting everybody out, Suhayda says there are two alternate solutions that would protect people from potential flooding if a category 4 or 5 hurricane were to hit the city. The first would be to raise the levees, especially the one bordering Lake Pontchartrain. Raising the lake levee to the 20-foot height of the Mississippi River levee should give enough protection for the city. Another solution, the so-called "haven plan" by Suhayda, would involve building an internal levee that would protect the city's core; hospitals, government buildings and transportation as well as the electrical and water infrastructure would be safe from the ravages of a flood.

 

But the two plans involving the building of new levees are massive and expensive public works projects, Suhayda says. They would take more than a decade to plan and build, he concludes, leaving the city with no improvement to its hurricane problem in the near future.

 

"Residents will have to deal with a threat of flooding for at least the next 10-15 years."

 

Contributing: Chris Vaccaro, USATODAY.com

[!@#$%]

yes, sadly, this has reminded me a lot of tsunami disaster stories.

 

people sleeping in their hotels and suddenly water ripped them out of bed, some of them never to be seen again.

 

and here i thought i'd never live to see anything even close to that magnitude of disaster again.

 

i've done so much travelling i nthe u.s., always wanted to go to NO, now i realize i'll never see it as it was..i do believe in human resiliance though, if people survived it, they will rebuild.

 

i do know though, this has at least a little link to global warming, and people need to understand that unless we start preparing more for this shit, we're fucked.

 

 

my dad told me last night, the army corp of engineers wanted to review the levee and pump system in new orleans in january 05 to gauge it's integrity.

 

PRESIDENT BUSH CUT THEIR BUDGET AND ENDED THE LEVEE PROJECT

 

fuck these dumb ass reporters for showing us horror after horror and not reporting on that shit.

[!@#$%]

Originally posted by symbols@Aug 31 2005, 04:27 PM

my dad told me last night, the army corp of engineers wanted to review the levee and pump system in new orleans in january 05 to gauge it's integrity.

 

PRESIDENT BUSH CUT THEIR BUDGET AND ENDED THE LEVEE PROJECT

 

fuck these dumb ass reporters for showing us horror after horror and not reporting on that shit.

Quoted post

 

 

i'm driving this one home.

[saraday]

yep, it's true.

 

i was told that the NOLA pumping system is one of the most sophisticated in the world, but somehow i dont think that's true.

 

even when we'd get a heavy downpour (non-hurricane related) parts of the city would flood for an hour or so.... shit, my car got flooded last may and took 3 months to dry out.

[Poop Man Bob]

Originally posted by saraday+Aug 31 2005, 03:22 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (saraday - Aug 31 2005, 03:22 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-sarcasm@Aug 31 2005, 03:18 PM

my deepest condolences.  i was watching the news last night, and i saw some reporter interviewing some guy who lost his wife.  he was holding her hand, and he couldn't hold on anymore, and she got swept away or some fucked up shit like that.  this is truley sad.  my best wishes go out to the people affected by this hurricane.

 

i heard that the hurricane swept up graves and coffins in graveyards.... that shit is just wrong

Quoted post

 

that interview stirred up a lot of emotions for me. it was one of the saddest things i've ever seen in my life.

Quoted post

[/b]

 

I watched that too when they replayed it on CNN. Shit was hardcore. I spent a good part of my downtime yesterday thinking about that guy and his future. He lost everything, as did so many others. Fuck.

[Overtime]

Is the storm over now? Is LA just dealing with the horrible aftermath?

 

It's horrible regardless, and the looting situation is a moot point now. Too bad we dont have a president who will step up and do what needs to be done, or at least, i dont think we do.

 

I went to the gas station about an hour ago, prices have gone up fifty-cents (not the rapper, real money, real life) since yesterday, and they are going up more. People are gettin nutty there. People are linning up all down the block, cops directing people. Atlanta gets their gas from New Orleans, so were gonna be out of gas for a little while I assume.

[ODS-1]

Originally posted by Poop Man Bob+Aug 31 2005, 03:32 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Poop Man Bob - Aug 31 2005, 03:32 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>

Originally posted by saraday@Aug 31 2005, 03:22 PM

<!--QuoteBegin-sarcasm@Aug 31 2005, 03:18 PM

my deepest condolences. i was watching the news last night, and i saw some reporter interviewing some guy who lost his wife. he was holding her hand, and he couldn't hold on anymore, and she got swept away or some fucked up shit like that. this is truley sad. my best wishes go out to the people affected by this hurricane.

 

i heard that the hurricane swept up graves and coffins in graveyards.... that shit is just wrong

Quoted post

 

that interview stirred up a lot of emotions for me. it was one of the saddest things i've ever seen in my life.

Quoted post

 

I watched that too when they replayed it on CNN. Shit was hardcore. I spent a good part of my downtime yesterday thinking about that guy and his future. He lost everything, as did so many others. Fuck.

Quoted post

[/b]

 

I keep hearing that too and I can't even describe how it makes me feel.

 

How much are gas prices going up in the south? I've seen that jet fuel at the NO airport is $4.75 per gallon. Gas is has actually gone over 3 a gallon where I live, and I'm probably 600 miles away.

Everyone down there stay safe.

[dumy]

Originally posted by symbols+Aug 31 2005, 03:29 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (symbols - Aug 31 2005, 03:29 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-symbols@Aug 31 2005, 04:27 PM

my dad told me last night, the army corp of engineers wanted to review the levee and pump system in new orleans in january 05 to gauge it's integrity.

 

PRESIDENT BUSH CUT THEIR BUDGET AND ENDED THE LEVEE PROJECT

 

fuck these dumb ass reporters for showing us horror after horror and not reporting on that shit.

Quoted post

 

 

i'm driving this one home.

Quoted post

[/b]

 

EXACTLY, at least he cut his vacation two days short to survey the damage...geez, give me a fucking break...

[nomadawhat]

Originally posted by symbols@Aug 31 2005, 12:27 PM

 

my dad told me last night, the army corp of engineers wanted to review the levee and pump system in new orleans in january 05 to gauge it's integrity.

 

PRESIDENT BUSH CUT THEIR BUDGET AND ENDED THE LEVEE PROJECT

 

fuck these dumb ass reporters for showing us horror after horror and not reporting on that shit.

Quoted post

 

this is shitty. but truth be told even with a budget, as far as they would have got, MAYBE, would of been to determine that the levee lacked integrity. Projects like that take years upon years to test let alone repair, replace or reinforce..