it take stime to coordinate efforts for something that no one really expected to happen (levy breakage?).

we are in dallas and everyone i know here has spent the past 4 days donating all of their time, needed items, and money and are working on taking in families for 90 days.

how about everyone just stop wasting time looking for someone to place blame on and go out and help.

ther is so much everyone can do to help aven if you don't live anywhere near where things happened.

__________________

First of all I have donated money and time, but that doesn't mean I am not outraged about this horrible situation.

You are wrong...this WAS predicted! A year ago FEMA held a 5 day drill in which they staged what would happen if a cat. 4 hurricane hit Louisiana, levy breakage, many citizens not evacuated. This was the subject of a drill for God sakes...how much more prepared can you freakin be??? Not to mention they had 3 days to get ready for what they knew would happen. People have been warning about hurricanes hitting LA for years, and the levys were built to only withstand a Cat. 3 hurricane. The Army's Corp. of Engineers was supposed to have been working on rebuilding the levy system, but they have been rebuilding Iraq. Funding has been cut to LA continuously and before Sept. 11th a report detailed that one of the greatest disasters our country could face was a Cat. 3+ hurricane hitting LA.

The assumption that the survivors who were/are stranded in New Orleans are somehow responsible for their fate due to a connection to them needing Gov. assistance is absolutely ludicrous. Or that they are pissed because they have to wait for something they usually get handed to them??? They were watching people die!! Infants, children, elderly died there because it took over 3 days to get any humanitarian aid to them. And yeah, the majority of them were incredibly poor already...so that means we don't regard them as human beings???

Yeah..."these people" are all killing and looting??? These are isolated incidents! The majority of the stranded were peaceful people trying to survive... I would like to say a lot more, but it isn't appropriate for this forum.

The reality of the situtaion is forget race, forget poverty, it took too long for necessary supplies to be delivered. This is a disgrace that the entire world is witnessing and I will never forget it. With outrage comes the pointing of fingers and our leaders better damn well be held accountable!

__________________

hmmm... I do not think that this situation was handleded well AT ALL... First of all they saw this sucker coming and new that is was going to hit LA by 1:00 am central time. a air craft carrier could have been deployed with black hawk heliocopters, and amphibious vehicles and could have been launched from Norfolk or one of the other coastal military bases as soon as it was confirmed that the hurricane was going to hit us... They could have come up the backside of the hurricane, kept themselves safe and been there sooner. I do not think that Bush handled the situation well at all, the guard should have been deployed to the guilf coast region before the hurricane hit, down in texas or some place that was out of the danger zone but still nearby. The guard wasn;t mobilized until the next day, and then the guard still had to get down there. It is rediculous that those people went for so many days without food and water, and the reporters have pissed me off most of all.. The other night I was watching one of the news channels, when a woman cam staggering up to the reporter out of exhaustion with about a six to eight week old baby in her arms, with a diaper that was sagging from being overly full. The baby was very limp and looking dehydrated, the mother asked the reporter for some water for her baby, and the woman looked at her, and said "No, if I give you water I will be surrounded by people and I do not have enough water myself to give anyone..." WTF, she was taking her happy *** out of there on a chopper that night to go to a hotel, she could have very well given that girl her water. In that situation I would have given water... Hell i would have dropped some out of the choppers on my way in as i was able to get in and out those people were not.

About the whole welfare comment, I do not think that was a very good assumption. After all New Orleans is one of the poorest communties in the south east. There is little to no education in some of those areas, and those people are so poor. It does not have a damn thing to do with the fact that the government hands everything to do them. Those people did as they were told. Most of them did not have a way out. They don;t own a vehicle, even if they did it probably still could not make it out. Down in New orleans a good many of its residents are elderly, infirm, veterans, and a good number of those remaining are starving artists and muscians. Which the whole culture down there is what makes new orleans what it is. New orleans was more than just a city it was a heartbeat of America, it is the perfect example of our melting pot. Furthermore, those people did as they were told, those who could did anyways, they went to the superdome, and after that they were stranded. The hospitals were not even evacuated. (you gonna blame that on people getting government assistance as well) There are more than just black that are trapped in New Orleans. There are still students of the universities roaming around out there.

As far as the looting goes. I would loot to, shoes, clothes, water, diapers, baby formula etc. But I am with everyone else as far as the tvs go... WTF I mean they have no power, no cable, no anything... It isn;t like they can sell those tvs on the black market for money to buy water etc... I mean cmon. I would be one of the ones looting the guns though, I would want me and mine protected which is probably what a good many people were thinking as welll... I may be wrong but I remember hearing a report that they were releasing prisoners down there as well...

It is times like these, that the survival of the fittest comes into play. Kill or be killed, you have to claw your way up to make it. I would definately do the same thing to survive. The rape that happened come down to a psychological need for control or dominance, unfortunate but it is a side of human nature. Plus we also need to remember that a good portion of New Orleans people on disability etc are mentally ill, and those people are going mad (mentally losing it) from being without food and water, and medicine for so long. Everything begins to shut down after you have been without for so long. And if I remember correctly the brain will also begin to shut down function in parts of the brain to save function for things that are bsolutely necessary for survival so some of these people may be missing the part for a conscience.

I am not making excuses for anyone but all sides need to be looked out before harsh judgement passed. And being a hard working american family I do not like to pay for lazy people to sit on their behinds and not work. I do think that it is in predjudice when people who see the people in new orleans are black and automatically assume that they were on welfare and were used to having everything handed to them. the Person making the remark wheter a professor or a cashier at walmart must have never been to new orlean except to maybe burbon street. As many times as my family went to new orleans, my dad always took us in a not so good area, so that we could see how others lived but yet staying out of danger ourselves... A lot of those people were ill and bedridden, the others worked dead end jobs, and then played music or danced for pennies in the quarter at night to try and make ends meet. Down here in the south there are few jobs, and the jobs that the average person with out a college degree can get are extremly limited. and let us face it, most of those people could not afford college even with scholorships and loans. So you nor anyone else can not group new orleans and see that just because they are poor they are on welfare. That is not a really fair assumption and besides when you assume ( you make an A$$ of you and me.)

As far as relief we are being looked down upon right now by other super powers in the world. they are looking at us and wondering why in the world it took us so long. This is twice between two presidents and that other countries have shook their head at us and said shame on you. I am embarrassed that nothing was done sooner. So much could have been done and quicker. the levee thing is kind of pomp and circumstance because a years notice of the levee thing is not enough time to plan and fix that so I am not even going there. However busses could have been brough in to take people out as well as cruise ships, and airlines... Everyone was kind of out for themself. Furthermore when they saw it was to hit new orleans water should have been brought in before hand. Last but not least the government can not find places for these refugess... I have the perfect idea... How many military bases have closed but are still in decent condition??? They have everything thing they need right there.... re equip the mess hall, give the refugees a wage to help fix food for everyone. They have showers, they have bunk houses etc... How hard would it be to house them on a base. Not to mention that alot of bases have base houses as well, into which families could move. It makes sense to me, but maybe i am just weird or no one else has taken the time to consider options better than temporary ones. Something else that concerns me is the fact that they are still trying to find ways to fix new orlean... what in the world, if I was president I would say we have people still stranded we will worry about fixing it later. My main concern would be evacuating. Especially children 12 and under, their mothers ( i do not think that they should be seperated. take the children take a parent, and send them to the same freaking place, families that is... don;t take a child to baton rouge, and send one parent to houston and the other to dallas...) that shows poor planning... Not to mention these people could have been getting processed into the astro dome... Get a shower, clean clothes, give you info, hot meal, get a cot and a blanket... within 24 hours people chould be able to see your info on a website, and they should be able to tell you about your family as well. with pres bush;s public opinion being down due to the war in Iraq (which to me is looking more confusing like vietnam was) this could have been his time to really shine. But he and others I feel kind of dragged their feet.

Last thought and opinion... they could have gotten more people out sooner if they would have sent military to maintain order (a huge force of troops0 and sent in troops to do search and rescue. I do not think that they should have had the majority of people out harrassing looters, those who stole the gins probably had them already, and things escalated as people became panicked and no aid was coming to them. These stores will recover from looters, 9-10 of them has already cut their losses number one... second of all isn;t that why people have insurance... HELLO??? besides walmart and other major retailers aren;t going to go out of business due to this... and nothing could have been salvaged anyways...

__________________

Waiting Patiently, I couldn't agree with you more. This has been a disaster waiting to happen. Both my husband (who grew up in Lafayette, LA) and I (from Houston) remember hearing about the possiblility of the levies breaking way back in the 70s and nobody has done anything in the inteverning 30+ years. There has been plenty of time (decades!) to fix up the levies, which might not have completely resolved the flooding, but would've kept it from the catastrophic consequences we are seeing today. My husband's best man lived in the shadow of the Superdome and a couple of blocks off St. Charles when we got married and I remember how that neighborhood was - poor, mostly black, but full of industrious, hard-working people along with the lazy, just like most communities.

The wealthy were able to get out of the city if they wished because the commandeered and controlled the resources available, be it SUVs, busses, etc. The poor were simply no able to leave, and so many of them had so little it was hard to leave what little they owned in this world, especially without any support from their government. They Mayor of NO is justifiably upset over the federal government's response, but he also is accountable for not organizing what resources he had early enough to get more of his residents out of town.

I, too, would've taken what I needed to survive in that situation, and that would include any weaponry I could find. I would shoot to kill anybody who tried to harm me or my family especially in the face of total anarchy and lack of an able/competent/present police force. My life and that of my family is more important to me than any body who wishes to rape and/or murder us. Harsh, yes, but that is the situation and that is how I would respond - to survive.

I live so far away now in California and I am 31 weeks pregnant and can't go down and help but I did donate to the Red Cross and my thoughts and heart go out to all who are impacted and suffering their losses, the rich and the poor, the black and the white and all in between. This is a disaster that affected everybody to some extent, from the simple loss of property to the horrendous loss of family. When it comes down to it, even the wealthy did just what they could to protect themselves and their families, as did the poor. Some just had better access to resources than others and that is what is sad. Blameless, but sad. Blame gets nothing done and always happens to late. Action is what is needed now, save the blame for when it will do some good - at election time.

Hugs to you all!

__________________

I agree with what you are all saying... but our government working on a mutual aid system. Which means areas of need have to request help. I think the LA government missed it to start out. They all as everyone else saw it coming and could have requested help be put at the ready and did not. Even after the hurricane hit how long did it take for them to ask for help from the other states and when did they actually ask the federal government.
I am a volunteer for Red Cross in California and we didnt get the ok to start sending anyone right away from outside of LA. These things have to be requested locally, then regionally before going nationally.
There are still hundreds of people down there who were told days before to leave but would not.. I am sure resources would have been provided to them to get out if they didnt have the money but the news report people saying they going to ride it out.
But this is all stuff we cant do anything about now we as a nation have to join together to help those in need and stop pointing fingers.. its a waste of time.

__________________
JoAnn
host of Grandparents

Well spoken, Katie (Liam's Mom)!

Yes, they were warned about the levy long before this ever happened. And they DID apply for federal aid to strengthen it prior to this happening and were refused that aid. That money was being sent overseas to kiss the *sses of the oil countries! I have to say that I have never had as much distain and lack of respect for a president and his ideas as what I have for Bush.

These people are not to blame because they were on public assistance. 30% of that area (including many working households) lived below the poverty line. When you earn $16,000 a year for a family of five, you can't afford to buy and maintain cars. It was not considered that those people had no way to leave when warned. And they were NOT provided a way to get out. The city buses were even shut down by the time they were told to evacuate.

As far as looting or killing, there are going to be a few lawless people in any area that sees the lack of law enforcement and uses that as opportunity for crime. Plus, cram a bunch of people together in deplorable conditions long enough and the animalistic nature just comes out in them after a while.

I live in Indiana and my home town is working with the Chamber of Commerce to try to offer manufacturing positions in our local companies to people who want to relocate here. They are also trying to arrange housing for those individuals. It is that type of help that is needed- not criticism of the lifestyle of the people who suffered from this!

__________________

June

*****Co-Host of Born In May 2005 *****

Matthew Rhys April 29, 2005

Caitlin Rhian August 26, 2006

Mhome: OMG!!! I cannot believe you can sit there and say you believe Bush is doing everything that he can. Mayor Nagin, the Governor, and even the President begged people to leave the city and surrounding areas on Saturday for sure. Contraflow (where all roads are one way out) was initiated on Saturday. The mayor sent city buses to go around and pick people up that id not have cars and bring them to shelters. Several people refused to leave and no one made them leave. Even after the hurricane before the floodwall broke people were sitting on their roves telling rescuers they did not want to be rescued that they would wait for the water to go down-little did anyone know that it would go up instead of down. We asked for help since Tuesday and no one got here until the President came down for his tour. There was no National Guard, no Red Cross, and no FEMA. All the people that we had in shelters up here were being fed by private donations!! People coming out of their pockets and paying for things.

In addition every so many years the Army Corps of Engineers updates the levee system. Last year money was due from the federal govt for this update but they decided to put it off and send the money to rebuild Iraq.

I am not making excuses for any looters or anyone committing violence. But when several of the people got here from the Superdome they were totally unaware of what had happened to the city. They have not seen any TV since Sunday. All they knew was that they were put in the shelter (several of them were there before the hurricane). They were being fed and given water and then the lights went out and food and water ran out and they were told they could not leave the dome. Then water started to rise and they were moved to the 2nd terrace of the dome. They had no idea the whole city had been flooded, they had no idea people were on their roves, the had no idea there were dead bodies floating in the water, the had no idea Mississippi was flattened as well as St. Bernard and Tangipahoa parish.

__________________
Michele B

You are absolutely correct. We practiced and practiced drills with other storms, hurricanes, and tropical storms. I work for the State Of Louisiana and my department practiced this with the Red Cross, FEMA, and the National Guard. In the past we have had the shelters opened on time with supplies there waiting on the people coming in. Lots of time we didn't have anyone even come there. For Hurricane Lily we had 11 people in the shelter. Anyway, I say all this to say that for this Hurricane we were there (state workers) and no one else was. We did not get any help until Friday. We were feeding the people and buying supplies out of pocket and from private donations. Someone dropped the ball this time. I really feel it is FEMA. I saw FEMA and the Red Cross on TV every day. But when I got to the shelters they were not there.

The funny thing about it-the levees really did not break. What broke was the flood wall on 17th Street that was supposed to be updated last year (money was sent to Iraq instead). The other levees held. That is why the areas closest to the river did not flood only the areas closest to the Lake. On the news they call it a levee because the national news don't know the difference.

You also have to understand that prior to Friday even the rescue workers (police, firemen, etc) did not have food or water. Many of them had been on the job since Sunday night.

It should also be noted that the looters were not the ones shooting. It was a small group of men with guns that shot at rescue workers when they were going to rescue other people from a hospital. They hid themselves in buildings (like snipers).

__________________
Michele B

I think that some of the problem with this is lack of motiviation, and communication level, both at the state and federal level. It would not surprise me one bit if after everyone is safe etc, if there will not be hell to pay for those officials who did not step up to the plate and do their job. President Bush may or may not escape the justified witch hunt. It would also not surprise me if Bush gets impeached as well (I can not remember how much time he has left. But this really would not surprise me.) Right now countries who at one point in time looked up to us, for support, are now looking down on us shaking their heads. I am tired of having leaders who think that everyone else in the world are more important than their own countrymen whether they be poor, rich, average, and be they black, white, asian, latin, hispanic, eskimos, polka dotted or striped.

There is absolutely no excuse for this to have been like this. New Orleans was a third world country for nearly two weeks. How are we to set an example to the people of Iraq as to how a country should be run, when our leaders drag their feet, and leave people in New Orleans to die of starvation, dehydration, among other things. It sickens me to think that so much more could have been done, and that help for the most part came to little to late. I think that while some people were looting to take advantage that for the most part, a good bit of the crime, came from panic... I would panic to if the last bit of communication I heard was that they were going to open the flood gates, and that help that was supposedly on the way took days to get there. The thing that hurt me the most was listening to the story of the Jefferson(?) parrish president speaking of his grandmother that was trapped in a nursing home. Everyday she would call, when is help coming, and they kept telling her tomorrow. Well by the time someone got there, it was to late. I can not help but weep when I think of all the children who went hungry and thirsty, and that there last thoughts before they passed was that they were forgotten, and left to die... It pains me to think about the whole situation. While most of the people are out, and the water is now being pumped out. I think this hurricane and its aftermath will never be forgotten, and it is something that will be passed down from generation to generation just like that of the twin towers... The devastation that this country has wreaked since bush has been in office, while some of it avoidable, some of it I can not help to think could have been prevented and more could have been done. I and several people I know are already questioning Bush's competence as a leader. As I am sure several other people in the nations and all over the world are doing as well

__________________

When my husband and I woke up on Sunday morning and Katrina was suddenly a Cat. 5 I think we felt like just about everyone in the storm's path. A sudden oh-crap. We weren't in the storm's path, we're in Tampa, but the feeling was still there because we know the sickening realization that it looks like something bad is coming. Last year, Bonnie, Charley, Frances, and Jeanne all had points where they looked like they were coming directly at Tampa. And they were almost weekly (maybe it was every two weeks) and we had to be on alert and decide whether or not to leave every single time.

Before the hurricane hit I saw a story on the Weather Channel about a young black mother who said she didn't have transportation and didn't have the money to evacuate, so she wasn't going to leave. My stomach literally dropped, just like it does in a roller coaster or something and I felt immediately sick. She was pushing her daughter (who had to be less than 2yo) on the swings in front of her apartment building. Just completely outloud, in response to the interview, I said "Oh hell no, I'd start walking."

The FEMA exercise for what might happen if New Orleans suffered a direct hit from a cat 4 or 5 hurricane (specifically a slow moving one) said that as many as 40,000-60,000 people could die. I saw a program on the discovery channel about it LAST year. So everyone should have known that this was going to be bad.

I feel the absolute most for the old, sick, and infirm who could NOT leave of their own power. The able-bodied people who didn't get up and hike out of a city that was below sea level when a possibly 30' storm surge was facing them mostly just get an amazed kind of "huh?" out of me. They shouldn't have risked their lives and the lives of their families on the concept of "Well, no money, I can't leave." They COULD leave - they could walk. And if it came down to that choice for me, I would have. Almost 36 weeks pregnant, with my 5yo and carrying my almost-2yo, I'd have gotten up and walked my butt out of NO if that was what it took to (hopefully) keep us safe from that storm.

No one should have been in New Orleans when that storm hit. And once the storm had passed, the people who were left should have gotten evacuated anyway. But too many people didn't want to leave, and even now that the flood has been dealt with, there are STILL people in that city, and the Mayor has gotten to the point where he's told the police, national guard, and military to "Remove" them. It's impossible to be held accountable for people who don't have the sense to get OUT.

I don't blame the local gov't of Louisiana or New Orleans for this myself. I was watching the Weather Channel for days before Katrina hit the gulf coast, even from before it hit Miami as a Cat 1. You watch a lot of Weather Channel when you live in Florida from June - November. Almost as soon as Katrina had crossed Florida and was in the gulf, I saw Nagin on TV telling his residents to get the heck out, not to delay it until the last minute. He kept saying that people needed to get out, they needed to go somewhere else (preferrably Florida or Texas, or if they were going North to get past I-20 before considering themselves safe). I also saw the anguish on his face when he had to tell people on Sunday night that the window to evacuate was gone, that if they weren't out by now they shouldn't try to get out because the roads would NOT be safe during the storm. I saw Mayor Nagin more than any other public official during the 3 or 4 days before Katrina hit than ANYONE else.

Bush? I saw one recorded press release where he vaguely said "I urge you to evacuate these regions." Where was he when the hurricane hit? At his d@mn Ranch, taking yet another of his d@mn vacations, which he didn't even cut short to get back to washington to deal with the expected backlash of this storm. And I STILL haven't seen hide nor hair of Cheney.

There are so many things I don't like about Bush, I could go on forever, but they aren't relevent here. New Orleans begged for the money to update their flood control measures and they were denied by Bush AND Congress, who felt Iraq was more important. The gas and oil companies need a profit cap just like the California energy companies did. Corporations in solid power cannot be trusted to govern themselves. And we won't get a profit cap until we have someone in the office who isn't interested in energy/gas/oil money. Which both Bush and Cheney are. Honestly, do you WANT an oil conglomerate in charge of the country right now? Or ever?

Bush should have been back in office as soon as Katrina was going to hit US soil - in this case, when it was expected to hit Miami. Heck, I don't think he should be taking vacations during Hurricane season at all. Do you know he has taken more vacation days than any other president in HISTORY? He should have readied the red cross and fema and the national guard (and to whoever said the national guard was for protecting the NATION, right-freaking-on! NATIONal guard!!!!) and had them ready to deploy to the gulf two days BEFORE Katrina hit, because by that time we KNEW it would hit the gulf coast somewhere, and wherever it hit, it was going to be bad.

Also (and I know it sounds like I'm being incredibly rough on the 'victims' here, but I know hurricane preparedness and this wasn't it) my family is below the poverty line. We make $22K per year for a family of 4 (very soon to be 5) and it is always hard to make ends meet. But you can bet your @ss that EVERY single hurricane has us stocked up on drinkable water, matches, flashlights, batteries, non-perishable food (including evaporated milk for the baby and formula - which my son was still using last year), and the kind of supplies that all those hurricane victims needed after the hurricane and should have already had on-hand. If it ever happened that we should have evacuated and couldn't, we'd be okay for at least a few days, and I usually try to plan on having enough for a solid week. All the refugees who came to the Superdome for shelter were told to bring their own water and food, enough for a week.

The looting, shooting, and rape are isolated cases. It has little to do with poverty, IMO. New Orleans has probably seen less of that stuff in the time since the hurricane than they would have seen during a normal 2 weeks span anyway. There are bad people out there, no matter the circumstances, who do bad things. But I'd be looting Walmart for food and water and diapers if I needed to. You can bet on that. As for the response being different if it had been rich people who were trapped - I dunno, rich people wouldn't be trapped because they have the ability to get out. I don't think it would have gone any different no matter how it was economically broken down.

And whew, that's enough from me! Sorry this was so long, but I tend to ramble.

__________________

I haven't read all of the responses or posts yet and having had my internet down for a week I have had nothing but time to watch the news.

2 things came to mind while reading.
1 - in defense of the govenor and mayor, as far as them trying to fix the "problem" in advance IE teh levee's according tot he news they have been asking for at least $71million dollars to fix and strengthen the levee's for the last 10 years and everytime is was brought up it was shot down. The government didn't think it was worth the time money or effort to fix and strengthen those levees. BUt hell now they are going to be forking out billions upon billions of dollars to rebuild an entire city and then some!!

The flooding didn't need to occur and the goverment is to blame for not allowing the money to be spent on creating safer more sturdy levees.

2ndly - We know that 10,000 people took shelter in the superdome prior to the hurricane. The mayor and govenor have not been prepared for this type of disaster. But the point I am trying to make is that when you KNOW at least 10,000 people are going to be using a certain place for shelter for a hurricane, why wouldn't they have taken the time to stock those places with emergency food and water before the store hit in the first place.

If it takes 3 days to bring in the National Guard then they could have been there on Monday or Tuesday at the latest if they had been called when the hurricane was predicted.

My last thought though is that no matter how much we as a people rely on the government we personally as families and individuals need to be prepared as well. We have a good 2-3 month supply of food in food storage and we are working on getting at least a month supply of water on hand as well as some emergency evacuation kits so if we find ourselves in that type of situation that we will hopefully be a bit more prepared.

I can't think straight right now when I started reading I had taken some vicodin so now I don't think I am thinking or writting clearly! I hope I made some sense!

Oh and BTW the President was on vacation when the hurricane struck and didn't cut his vacation short at all. It took him 5 days before he came off his vacation before he decided to "help". He failed on so many levels it isn't even funny. Personally if I had presidental power I would have been on a chopper helping to aid in some of the rescue of the people who quite possibly voted to put me into office in the first plce instead of letting them die needlessly while he was off in some nice summer house with food water toilets pools and servents!!

__________________

Stephanie,
You made so many great points. You are so right about the Superdome....the local government should have had plenty of food/water...ect stalked for the 10,000+ that were there! I was blaming FEMA/President and federal government! But dont get me wrong the Federal Government has failed miserably as well!!!

So yesterday...I was watching MSNBC and one of the guys they had on was talking about how when Florida was hit hard w/ 4 hurricanes....everyone was "all hands on deck". No one was on vacation and if they were they ALL came back. He said it was because it was an ELECTION year!

Also I heard a statistic that 10% of democrats find the Government has done an ok job & only 10% of republicans think the Government has done an not so good job....what does that say about Americans?

Anyhow...i just wanted to compliment you on your post...thanks

Sarah

__________________

I think one thing people fail to realize was the lack of communication-like you said (crazybaseballmom) but not only from working together like I think you meant-BUT the DAMN phones would not work. Cell phone towers had been knocked down and regular phone lines underground and otherwise destroyed. To this day you cannot call anywhere in the affected areas and they have a hard time calling out. I am in Baton Rouge and after the Hurricane passed and we did not get any more people to our shelter it was assumed that people were ok. In St. Bernard parish which was harder hit-they could not call anyone for help.

In some areas where people did stock supplies for the hurricane it was either destroyed by wind damage or flooding so it would not have helped anyway. The supplies that were stocked for the Superdome shelter residents were completely destroyed. The police, firemen – no one had any food and water for days. When we started to receive people from the Superdome up here they were shocked to see the TV and see what happened. They had no idea. All they know was they went to the Superdome Sunday or Saturday. They were fed and given food and went to sleep Sunday night. Monday morning the hurricane hit. The lights went out, people panicked. Tuesday the water started to rise, still no light, now no food, no water, sewage backed up into the dome and the people in charge say you cannot leave. They had no idea the whole city was flooded. They felt like they were put in there and forgotten about with no food and water. People ( a few young guys) had brought guns in there and started to shoot in the dark. Gangs started to fight each other. Women were attacked and some raped. Children were snatched from their parents arms. All of this in the dark. When people would hear fighting or shooting people would start to run around and there would be almost a stampede because it was so dark. When the police would try to go in some people would try to take their weapons away from them in the dark and attack them.

The same goes for some of the people rescued off the roof tops. They did not know the WHOLE city was flooded until they were up in the plane flying over it. Some of them thought it was just their neighborhood and when is someone coming to get me???

__________________
Michele B

I keep reading you ladies posts about how you would have this and that-but what you don’t realize is how do you stock supplies (food and water) for flood waters to your roof, in some cases above????? You cannot.

Several of the people told us they had supplies and when the flood waters came in they were so fast all they could do was grab for their children. In Mississippi the wind damage flattened so many houses. So their food and water supplies were destroyed. How can you be “stocked” then??? Many people thought they were stocked and that is why they stayed home.

Even the place that houses some weapons for the National Guard was underwater so when the 1st ones got here they had no weapons or anything. All of that was underwater.

I really think FEMA dropped the ball on this one as well as the Federal Govt. One could buy the excuse that it takes a few days to move the National Guard but what makes them look bad is how fast they move when it is something that is happening in another country.

I don't know what happened. Maybe after the hurricane hit people tried to call and when they got no answer they thought we were all ok. All our electricity went out up here and we did not know how bad some other areas where hit either. Radio stations in certain areas as well as the TV stations were all down. Even now there are some places that we just found out were hit so bad. No one could get there and no one could get out.

I think we just got so used to being able to reach out and communicate and get information from phones, TV's, radio, etc. This showed the US that we are not ready in an emergency. You cannot assume you can call someone for help. Call who??? What do you do when you cannot reach a policeman, fireman, 911 or anyone???

__________________
Michele B