Hurricane Katrina

DeathsHand · 08-31-2005, 05:22 AM

I apologize for the 'double post', but incase anybody hasn't (for some reason) heard the news:

Hours after the storm had passed (and seemingly spared) New Orleans, the levees gave way, and a short while later the pumps failed... The city is now filling up like a bowl, and it's not expected to stop until it reaches the level of Lake Pontchartrain (some 4 feet above sea level)...

The bodies of the dead are being ignored so emergency workers can focus on rescuing survivors, all of whom will eventually have to be shipped out of the city...

In the meanwhile, there has been widespread looting, and I believe I heard that martial law was declared...

Flood Slideshow

Jonbo298 · 08-31-2005, 07:39 AM

Everyone told New Orleans to expect the worst if ever hit directly by a hurricane and well, this is about as close as they will probably get to a direct hit by a Cat 4/5 storm

Acebot44 · 09-01-2005, 07:35 PM

Hmm

I like the post, I think it's awful, but it's also time to derape the H scroll, sorry

Resize it and repost it

- SC

DeathsHand · 09-01-2005, 08:43 PM

Of course, I thought that was common knowledge...

Vampyr · 09-02-2005, 07:07 PM

Yeah, there has been a lot of talk that New Orleans isn't even worth rebuilding. They are half right.

I mean, they were stupid to build a city in a mud hole anyway, and any attempt to keep a city in a mud hole is like trying to hold water in your hands.

Then again, it has one of the most vibrant and interesting cultures in the USA.+

Jonbo298 · 09-02-2005, 08:03 PM

I think Bush and others should have seen and known ahead of time that when the talk is of "utter destruction" or "Pumps are very likely to fail and New Orleans will go underwater very easily" that you prepare troops and tell everyone the US Gov't is here and ready to help once the worst has passed.

Instead, it seems like "hmm, a hurricane...ok" *1 day after it hits* hmm, there seems to be alot of damage and flooding. Well...lets wait until the media points the finger at us to do anything.

I seriously predict that once the media lessens the coverage of the desturction/people looting, they will find out why New Orleans became a hell hole of water. The blame will be placed on the government and other people for not suppying enough funding to ensure pumps won't fail as badly as they did. Granted, Katrina is "almost one of a kind" so it was had to prepare for something you don't know if it will occur but expect alot of finger pointing for the failure of levee's and pumps with funding to improve them

Professor S · 09-02-2005, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonbo298

I seriously predict that once the media lessens the coverage of the desturction/people looting, they will find out why New Orleans became a hell hole of water. The blame will be placed on the government and other people for not suppying enough funding to ensure pumps won't fail as badly as they did. Granted, Katrina is "almost one of a kind" so it was had to prepare for something you don't know if it will occur but expect alot of finger pointing for the failure of levee's and pumps with funding to improve them

I don't think the pumps or the levee's are an issue. The pumps were only intended to handle flood waters from rain runnoff or a minor levee break. The pumps were never inetended to handle three enormous breaks. As for the levee's themselves, well, I don't think the walls of Troy could have kept Katrina at bay. We're talking nearly 200 mph winds, a 30 foot storm swell topped with 25 to 30 foot waves. Goodnight nurse.

Katrina was just another reminder from Mother Nature that we are forever at her mercy. The main issue is why more wasn't done sooner, and it's a question that we need to have asked by a congressional hearing. When the head of Homeland Security is trying to get information to the suffering people in a destroyed city through a friggin' website that no one can access... heads need to roll and FEMA needs to be reorganized.

Jonbo298 · 09-02-2005, 09:41 PM

I know that all blame can't be placed on the pumps, I was just referring to the fact that years before they had predictions for if "the big one" hit and it didnt even really get much attention. Granted, pumps may have had a harder time but I'd imagine if the pumps were upgraded, the water wouldn't be still as high in New Orleans. There may still be water but it still won't be as high as rooftops still by today

manasecret · 09-01-2005, 09:23 PM

My little story.

Tulane University won't open until I've heard 9/27, but that sounds optimistic. So instead Tulane students are scrambling to register for any university in their area where they can at least take some classes. Rice University is just one of many universities helping Tulane students out, and since I'm in Houston that helps me. They're taking applications until 9/8 and they'll let us know that very Monday 9/12 if we're accepted.

I think it's super generous of them, and I'm applying. I'm guessing humanities are the classes that most people will take, because they would be easy to transfer. Unfortunately for me I'm in my fourth year of engineering, which includes the final project, and I need only one more non-engineering class. So this won't help me get closer to graduating. But at least I can keep my mind sharp. I'm sitting here at home doing nothing. You know that useless feeling you get when you're not doing anything at all? What do you do when you feel selfish doing anything besides help, but there's so little you can do to help?

However, I am in a good position to help here in Houston. Since practically all of the Superdome evacuees are coming to the Astrodome, they're asking for volunteers (my brother-in-law is already helping).

It's just that I'm not worried about the ones already in Houston, they have food and water and air conditioning and everything they need. The ones dying are still stuck in Nola. Babies and old folks are dying in that New Orleans heat, and they have very little potable water and any food. And those are the ones that we can do nothing to help. We can only hope that the military and government agencies can get them out as quick as possible.

I know I have the least of the problems. I was only renting in Nola, and I hadn't even moved in yet. Plus I'm safe. But university students like me are still a small part of the story that I thought you'd like to hear about.

Professor S · 09-02-2005, 10:22 AM

I'm sorry, but the Presient should have stepped in days ago and federalized the relief efforts. I understand that running the nation means you need to let local governments such as mayors and governors take the first crack, but when their "first crack" ends with rapes, murders, mass hysteria and people starving to death on the streets, IT'S TIME TO REPLACE THOSE WHO SCREWED IT UP. It's like Somalia down there with gangs and "warlords" running the show.

Where are our nations resources? Where are the M.A.S.H. units to treat injury and disease? Where are the trucks, busses and supplies that we have stockpiled ( and yes they are still here and not in Iraq)?

What the Hell is going on?

Jonbo298 · 09-02-2005, 10:27 AM

I was gonna crack a "joke" and say They are all in iraq but you kinda did it already

Acebot44 · 09-02-2005, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor S

Where are our nations resources? Where are the M.A.S.H. units to treat injury and disease? Where are the trucks, busses and supplies that we have stockpiled ( and yes they are still here and not in Iraq)?

What the Hell is going on?

Maybe our government would rather let us or our fellow Americans weed themselves out of existence rather than having to do it using fedeal forces a few years from now. I'm not paranoid, nope.

manasecret · 09-02-2005, 12:43 PM

Mayor Ray Nagin is pissed. He feels the same way as you Strangler, here's what he said:

Quote:

Nagin:

But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.

Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.

You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.

And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.

The rest of the interview is here.

He's angry, and I think he has every right to be. I can understand the frustation, and can only guess how horribly dire it must be to be waiting in the bleeding heat waiting for rescue.

But I think it's the hurricane's fault, and we need to remember that. Things could certainly have been done better, but it's a disaster situation that people didn't know how to deal with. The hurricane is what killed and is killing people, not people who made mistakes.

Professor S · 09-02-2005, 01:09 PM

It's Nagin's problem too.

I don't think Nagin has any leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing others. He has been a complete failure as a leader to his constituency, and in fact he's one of the reasons why I think that Bush should have responded sooner. The only right thing he did was to order the evacuation. As for leadership ability, he is a complete idiot and has more in common with Chicken Little than Mayor Rudy Guliani.

Was there much he could have done in the grand scheme of things to fix the problems? No, but he could have attempted to maintain the civility and sense of community in his city instead of basically proclaiming the hurricaine `the end of days'. If he had chosen to lead, I don't believe the rioting and social de-evolution would have been as bad.

Watching the news today, it looks like Bush is finally going to but more federal resources behind the rescue and survival efforts, but unfortunately he is several days and probably a few thousand lives too late.