Hurricane Katrina..yikes!

Some people have bowell and urinary problems, all ages included.

 

I have returned!

I'm truly blessed as me and my family are fine. We got our power,etc restored a few hours ago. As I work for a municipality (water and sewer) I have been working a lot.

Let me say that this situation is just unbelievible. There is no way to describe it. The Mobile area is pretty good but many folks lost houses and property. No casualties in Alabama yet.

Mississippi Gulf Coast is almost unrecognisable. Ships and barges are on highways, large building are just skeletons, some small communties are just gone.

New Orleans is a wasteland. What else can be said. This is like a nightmare.

Now let me say that the folks in these areas have lost EVERYTHING! They lost homes, property, jobs, businesses, friends and family. Some don't even have a town anymore.

Now I'm seeing all of the political rats coming out of the woods. All of these bastards who are pointing out all the bad so they can further their political agendas. These scumbags are blaming everybody from the President to the New Orleans mayor for the catastrophe. NOBODY knew it was going to be this bad and nobody knew where the storm was going to end up.

I'm really pissed that anyone would try to use a situation like this as an opportunity. These folks don't need any stupid politics. They don't need name calling, blame laying, bashing, or finger pointing. They need HELP and right frickin' now! :angry:

Sorry for the rant. Bad situation, lots of work and little sleep.

Please give to any huricane relief organizations such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way, etc.

I hope and pray that Greig and the other are doing well.

 

Thank God you are okay. I'm glad to see you made it out of that mess in one piece, as well as your belongings.

Yes, this political aim towards Katrina is really, really pathetic. But they are politicians, its to be expected.

What amazes me is how everyone across the country is pulling in together to help these people out. The Mayors of Detroit and Chicago offered to bring those people to their cities and let them stay in the hotels. For once people as a whole (save the anarchists in New Orleans) seem to be acting civil, its about time.

 

I'm glad and relieved to see you back here, JCalhoun! And to hear that you got off "lightly". We get nothing but increasingly terrible tidings from the area. Here's hoping that Grieg can tell us a similar story as you, soon.

Your rant, IMO, is completely justified. Politicians, this is not a time to think about your image or your party, this is a time to help people! If you read the article Stonewall posted about the Dutch reaction to the flood in 1953, you'll probably find it a good example of what America should do now - get to work!

We're noticing the effects of the disaster even over here, by the way. Since Europe is busily sending fuel to the United States to relieve the shortage caused by the hurricane, prices of car fuel are rising to new heights. Just yesterday one of the largest Dutch oil companies announced a new gas price of 1.51 € per liter (that's roughly 7.20 $ per gallon).

 

I hear Canada is ending four naval ships to the area overloaded with water, instant meal rations and medical supplies.

 

i'm glad to hear from you jcalhon!!!!!
right now the situation is like a war zone, and as it been ponted befroe some will try to take advantaje of this situation, but just remember that you are a lucky one, just look for your family now.
if you need any help do not hesitate ,i'll try me best

 

Thanks a lot fellas.

 

good to hear you guys are safe

 

Simon and I are really pleased to hear that you are O.K and its great to have you back on the forum.

 

does anybody knows anything about grieg?

 

Sorry, haven't heard anything. If he is still in Louisiana it could be a long time before he can post again.

 

i just hope that he and his family is ok, let wait and see, for any news from him.

 

He should be okay, he said he was in Baton Rouge. Their biggest problem is probably trying to deal with refugees from New Orleans. I haven't heard of major power outages or other problems there.

 

Baton Rogue is about 100 miles or so northwest of New Orleans. They were on the west side (less powerful) of the storm but still very close to it.

 

Here is a list of sites where you can make donations.
http://media.mgnetwork.com/breaking/katrinarelief.html

 

Good to see you safe JCalhoun.
And good to hear that Grieg is probably ok. Here's hoping...

 

You fellas are too kind!

 

I'm alive and well also. Thank you all for your concern.
I just got my cable/internet back up today. We were without power for 4 days (in +100 degree Farenheit ) :cry: My water comes from a well which requires electricity also so we had no water, lights or air conditioning and it was miserable. However compared to the people I know in New Orleans and Mississippi who lost everything we were quite fortunate. Winds here reached about 90 mph in gusts and many trees and limbs were blown down however the storm surge and flood waters were far away. Unfortunately the Clinic I worked for in New Orleans is only open for emergencies and it may be months before I return to my job full time. I'm fortunate that I have savings and unused vacation time so I will be okay.
The magnitude of the damage was not anticipated and so the relief was somewhat slow in coming. If anyone is to blame it is the local and state government IMO for not being prepared rather than the federal government.
The local and state officials know far better than the Feds how vulnerable our area is to flood damage and contingency plans should have been in place for years. Instead they stood back and expected the federal government to instantly mobilize massive relief efforts. That was eventually done however it takes time and the needs must be communicated to the feds before they can begin to respond.
I think too many people are playing politics and trying to grab the spotlight for their own aggrandizement. We have seen Jesse Jackson. Oprah Winfrey, Sean Penn, John Travolta and other in the last few days all over the television. It's great that people wish to help those that need it but I don't see why they cannot help without trying to point the finger of blame (mostly at Bush) and grabbing the spotlight.
Bush has apologized for the slow response by FEMA and Homeland Security and has stated to local officials that they will get whatever assistance they need and that the bureacratic red tape will be cut so that it can be done as quicly as possible. I don't see what more he could have done under the circumstances.
In fact, if not for Bush the death toll might have been unthinkable. Nearly 1 million people evacuated New Orleans prior to the hurricane. Bush called and spoke with the Governor (Blanco) and the mayor of N.O. (Nagin) 2 days before the hurricane made landfall and he advised them to evacuate the city forthwith and not wait to see where it would strike. They did so and as a result there were maybe 200,000 people still in N.O. (who refused to leave) rather than the 1.2 million that are normally in the greater N.O. area.
Anyway..the saga continues. I'm sure there will be enough blame to go around for everyone before it's over.
Thanks again for your concern

 

Its good to see you are back Grieg! I'm glad to hear that you came out relatively unscathed as well.

Yeah, the people need someone to blame I guess, but it is rather unfair to accuse Bush of this mess. It was not him that slammed the hurricane into the gulf anyways!

 

nice to hear that you are ok, after all !!!!