How this tragedy happened is something that can be resolved later. Right now, though, there is an immense human tragedy unfolding in the Gulf:
Blanco said she wanted the Superdome – which had become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people – evacuated within two days, along with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising, the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.
At the same time, sections of Interstate 10, the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, lay shattered, dozens of huge slabs of concrete floating in the floodwaters. I-10 is the only route for commercial trucking across southern Louisiana.
The sweltering city of 480,000 people – an estimated 80 percent of whom obeyed orders to evacuate as Katrina closed in over the weekend – also had no drinkable water, and the electricity could be out for weeks.
“The logistical problems are impossible and we have to evacuate people in shelters,” the governor said. “It’s becoming untenable. There’s no power. It’s getting more difficult to get food and water supplies in, just basic essentials.”…
“Oh my God, it was hell,” said Kioka Williams, who had to hack through the ceiling of the beauty shop where she worked as floodwaters rose in New Orleans’ low-lying Ninth Ward. “We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos.”
These are real people, not just characters in a made for cable news ratings bonanza. And they are going through sheer hell. The full mobilization of the state and federal governments simply is NOT ENOUGH.
And this is just the urgent immediate stuff- food, water, medical attention. The rebuilding is going to take years (and depspite these astute questions from Mark Kleiman, they will rebuild), and there are costs and issues that we have only yet begun to fathom.
-Where will these people live?
-Where will we put all the dead?
-Where will we find the immediate resources (wood, labor, concrete, rebar, steel, oil) to rebuild?
-How will the victims support themselves?
-Can they rebuild? Will people want to come back?
In short, what will happen? And there are so many other personal tragedies, intimate horror stories, that can not be overlooked. I have a soft spot for animals, and my first thought is the added grief of all these people who have lost family pets. I teach, so I wonder what is going to happen to all the students at Tulane and the other universities and high schools.
And this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This is an unprecedented emergency, the most awful thing I have ever seen on our shores. This will be worse than 9/11, and will require more effort and funding and patience and compassion.
And that is the bad news. But it isn’t all bad. There are hundreds of thousands of survivors, and if I know anything about middle America, it is that we will remain undeterred and, despite the odds and despite how corny it sounds, optimistic. It is what we do. it is who we are.
Yesterday I saw a marching band on CNN parading down the streets of ravaged Biloxi. Heads held high, drums beating, a crew of clean-up workers aremed with rakes, brooms, shovels, and chainsaws were letting their presence be known.
It is time for you to let your presence be known, as well. You can help. You can do something. You must do something.
Here are a list of links to sites which are already knee-deep in the muck, doing what they can to help. Open up your wallet, and give until it hurts:
The American Red Cross
Catholic Charities
Habitat For Humanity
Samaritan’s Purse
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
The Humane Society
The Mercy Corps
The Salvation Army
Other lists of charities can be found at the Instapundit, at NZ Bear’s aggregator, and at the FEMA website.
Please help.
*** Update ***
I am giving to the Red Cross today, but I also intend to send money to Noah’s Wish. Thanks to a commenter who pointed me in their direction.
Caroline
CNN is reporting that the Bush administration is considering a federal jobs program to put the people in these areas back to work. There were no more details forthcoming.
Vlad
Don’t know whether anybody here is from the Pittsburgh area, but the Red Cross announced that they’ve got a training program up in Latrobe this afternoon for people who want to do hands-on volunteering.
BinkyBoy
I myself am clapping harder for Dear Leader.
“I believe! I believe!”
I know he’ll step up to the podium soon, and show us all what true leadership qualities he holds. The moment draws near, and disbelievers (the left) will remain slack jawed and unable to respond with their typical hate at his glorious visage.
Clap people, clap!
JohnJB
“I have a soft spot for animals, and my first thought is the added grief of all these people who have lost family pets.”
You might check out Noah’s Wish.
John Cole
Thanks JohnJB- My alltime favorite charity is Helping Hands Monkeys, who seem to have really scaled down their website.
p.lukasiak
What we need right now is something along the lines of Dunkirk —- a harbor must be cleared, and small boats must be used to ferry evacuees from N.O. to larger ships moored outside of N.O. (US navy?, barges?) which can transport the evacuees to ports in Texas and Florida….
John Cole
There is a Navy task force en route, including hosptial ships, ships with helicopter based capability, and an aricraft carrier group.
Joel
I think the situation at the Superdome is critical. This always seemed to me like a dodgy set-up and the longer those people are in there, the greater the potential for some serious unrest (ie rioting, general chaos). It won’t take much to ignite this powderkeg–they need to get those people out and now. I’m know they’re–the authorities whoever they may be– aware of this, and are trying their best but this is a situation that has the potential to get much worse very quickly.
capelza
Joel, the plan is to move the people in the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome….
demimondian
They’re going to need the practice in Houston. In another ten to twenty years, Houston will join the parade of areas that are (a) heavily populated, (b) regularly hit by major tropical storms, and (c) largely below sea level. (Houston is draining the ground water beneath the city out faster than it flows in. That makes the city sink.)
In twenty years or so, they’ll need to figure out how to evacuate 20% of their population when *their* levees fail.
And, yes, I’m serious. God, I wish I were joking…
Stormy70
Gov. Perry said all refugees from LA will be accepted in Texas. All their children will be accepted into the public school system.
This will be difficult, but we will perservere as always. Buses are being sent to evacuate the people in the Superdome. One radio station here in Dallas raised $130,000 in 4 hours by stationing vans around the city. Everyone can contribute in some way. I agree, give until it hurts. Financial is the way to go for most of us. Wouldn’t it be cool if someone in Houston built the little ones a playground in the parking lot? Those kids will need a place to vent their energy. This can be done if we all do it together.
docG
Thank you for the donation links – donated for both people and animals, something we all can do.
P.S. I like snarky political comments as well as anyone, but this is not the right time.
BinkyBoy
I think we need to have some Dear Leader rallies in Houston. Stormy, you’re in a perfect position to lead them.
Make sure the clapping is heard around the world and success will be yours!
Nate
Where have I heard this before? Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not that, it’s “Mistakes were made, and it’s time to move on.”
I think the only common denominators is that they are tragedies involving loss of life, unbelievable destruction, and a president on vacation as the warnings intensified. Worse? Why compare; they are so different.
Thank you for keeping us up-to-date about this, John, and I mean that in all sincerity.
skip
This Katrina mess will REQUIRE an FDR-like approach. You can’t have 1m+ people stalking the streets like Banquo’s ghost. Where is Grover Nordquist now? He may have wanted to “drown” the federal government in a bathtub, but now it is New Orleans that is drowning.
BinkyBoy
skip,
if true corporatism had been allowed to rule, they would have protected the capital in NO by fortifying the levee’s through business contributions and organizing contributions. Some great Republican contractor with the right equipment would have donated the time and it would have been done years ago.
Brian
Does anyone know if one can give their own time, rather than money? I am low on money, but I would gladly take a week off and travel from Los Angeles into the area to assist if I can. But can I? Would that help even be wanted or needed?
Mike
“BinkyBoy Says:
I think we need to have some Dear Leader rallies in Houston. Stormy, you’re in a perfect position to lead them.
Make sure the clapping is heard around the world and success will be yours!”
You know only an idiot uses such an event to try and make silly political points.
Only an idiot…
BinkyBoy
Mike, just remember 9/11, it will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside remembering just how Dear Leader used a tragedy to twist the American public’s fears and paranoias into a necessity to invade Iraq.
Nothing I post could EVER top that level of sheer contempt for the public.
Nate
And Bush *is* an idiot…
sean
John,
Check here for an update on Tulane students:
http://www.tulane.edu/
and here for breaking news from the Times-Picayune:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/
MC
There have been over 25 floods in Pittsburgh with over 30-foot river crests. At the turn of the century, it was one of the largest U.S. cities and home to the wealthiest collection of corporation owners outside of New York City. Almost every U.S. Steel plant was built along the banks of the Mon River – the entire steel-making process relied on the flow of the river to move through different phases of production, like the chemical processing channel near Bayview. If there was ever a company with a vested financial interest in controlling flooding, it was U.S. Steel, and if there was ever a person wealthy enough to foot the bill, it was Andrew Carnegie.
They did nothing after the 1907 flood almost wiped out Pittsburgh. When U.S. Steel had the highest market capitalization of any company in history in the 1920s, they did nothing. In 1936, Pittsburgh was devastated, and the only thing that finally brought real flood control to the City of Pittsburgh was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the lock and dam projects up and down the three rivers.
U.S. Steel, Westinghouse, PPG, Alcoa, Pittsburgh Coke and Chemical built in a flood plain, they knew it was a possibility, they got a taste in 1907, and they still did nothing. Mellon Bank practically financed all of this and they all sat back and let the flood waters wash over the city. In 1936, all these companies had to suspend production at their plants in the area and repair their facilities. They weren’t destroyed though – the real damage was closer to town and even though their corporate HQ were flooded, the plants weren’t lost.
This was “true Corporatism”, just as the FDR was setting in motion his insidious plot to destroy America with bank deposit insurance and worker safety regulations. Maybe the cost of flood control was more than the cost of plant downtime & repair or maybe they had insurance and just didn’t care. Either way, 50,000 people ended up homeless and 75 ended up dead because it just wasn’t in the corporate interest for flood control. At least they got some libraries.
In New Orleans, if the oil rigs and Port Fourchon are safe, does anything else really matter from a business perspective? The entire city could be underwater and everyone dead, but if you can pump oil, make gasoline, or offload product within a week or so of a hurricane with shipped-in workers, does the cost of flood control outweigh lost time? Is insurance insufficient to cover losses or does the cost of insurance exceed the cost of flood control? If it doesn’t, then companies don’t pay for it and Pittsburgh proved it.
Tony Dismukes
Here is a thread addressing that same question. Scroll down for a list of organizations looking for volunteers.
Brian
After the awful results of the tsunami last year, I was angry at Bush for his slow reaction to the crisis, not necessarily in terms of financial support, although that was slow to come, but in terms of his lack of leadership. I was angry that he didn’t immediately hit the airwaves, and keep it up each day, to tell us how we should react as a country, and that we all should be willing to make a sacrifice. He was unable to show any sign of being a “uniter”. Clinton could do this, and so could Reagan, but Bush seems utterly incapable of it.
He did it again after this Hurricane. Fine, end his 5-week vacation early. Big fucking deal. But, did he get on TV and rally the country as one of its cities was destroyed? No. He stayed in California’s Inland Empire to make a pitch to seniors, and made a speech yesterday about the Japanese, so I heard. He doesn’t get it, what his job is about. Sometimes the country needs a hand-holder-in-chief. I know it sounds Oprah-ish of me to say that, but we do. Whether it be the Challenger disaster, Oklahoma bombing, 9/11, or Katrina, we need our president to be a damn leader in times like these, and he is clearly not capable of handling this role.
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m no Kos Lefty. I supoprt the pres, and I’m firmly in the conservative camp. However, Bush needs to be called on the carpet even by his own followers, and his lack of leadership toward his own citizens is glaringly obvious.
DougJ
I saw this, too and thought it was one of the most touching and life-affirming things I’ve seen in a long time. It reminded me of all the music on the streets of New Orleans when I’ve visited. Let’s all hope that these cities can recover. And even if they aren’t rebuilt to what they used to be, let’s all resolve to visit again to help support the tourist industry (which is one of the largest industries on the Gulf Coast) as it tries to get back on its feet.
Brian
Thanks Tony for the volunteer link. I’ll chekitowt.
DougJ
Ditto.
Davebo
I don’t believe Governer Perry has the power to decree that all children of evacuated families will be accepted in Texas schools.
And since he and the state legislature punted yet again after two special sessions to fix our screwed up school finances I know that money will be an issue.
neil
The important thing is that we must not think about what could have been done different on a federal level. This would simply increase the nation’s suffering.
Veeshir
Am I too much of an a-hole or is it amusing that a charity helping flooding victims is named Noah’s Wish?
BinkyBoy
No, Veeshir, it makes you an a-hole for not clapping more.
Adam
Not to be a dick, but IMO re: Noah’s Wish, any money donated to helping animals right now is money diverted from helping people.
Veeshir
BinkyBoy
What?
Clapping?
Nothing can make me an A-hole, I am an A-hole. I enjoy it. I usually try to only be an A-hole toward people who I think deserve it. That way I have a clear conscience. I also have a fairly sick sense of humor that goes overboard sometimes.
Veeshir
Oh, never mind BinkyBoy. I read your clapping entry after posting.
I would just like to note that continually calling Bush lame, little names makes you look like an idiot, not an A-hole and not clever and is a signal right off the bat to not take you seriously.
I was a proud Bill Clinton hater, but I almost always called him Clinton.
jobiuspublius
Trent Lot lost his home. He and his wife are driving down to see what’s left. Awe.
jobiuspublius
Neil. :)
jobiuspublius
But, Veeshir, is it not foolish to dignify a bilking fool like Dear Leader?
demimondian
Ah, but you don’t understand. “Dear Leader” is the name by which people in the DPRK refer to Kim Jung Il. It’s not just a lame little name, it’s a mechanism for reminding readers of the contributions which the President has made to the international stature of North Korea, and a way of subtly reinforcing the claim that Chimpy McHallibush and his Bush League Bombers have helped to bring a totalitarian dictatorship to ‘Murka.
Or maybe it’s just a way for BinkyBoy to make himself look stupid. I haven’t decided which.
Stormy70
They are classified as homeless, therefore no residency requirement needed.
jobiuspublius
That’s like judging a book by it’s cover. If name calling were and issue then I would have never read all that non-sense against Sheehan on this site. Oh, wait ….
Mike
“demimondian Says:
would just like to note that continually calling Bush lame, little names
Ah, but you don’t understand. “Dear Leader” is the name by which people in the DPRK refer to Kim Jung Il. It’s not just a lame little name, it’s a mechanism for reminding readers of the contributions which the President has made to the international stature of North Korea, and a way of subtly reinforcing the claim that Chimpy McHallibush and his Bush League Bombers have helped to bring a totalitarian dictatorship to ‘Murka.
Or maybe it’s just a way for BinkyBoy to make himself look stupid. I haven’t decided which.”
I figured it was just wishful thinking on his part that one day we’d join the ranks of Communist nations.
jobiuspublius
I caught the tail end of some disaster coverage on network TV. People have no idea what to do. They’re just walking around looking for shade, water, and life I guess. A woman with a two week old was featured, she can’t find shade or water, just roasting along a road with her little baby. She’s going back into N.O. to see what’s left of her home. She says anything has to be better than just pacing around in the sun along a road. On network TV, the circus rolls on. I hate that contrast.
All this talk about lost homes. They lost scores of entire cities. Where will they work? You can’t put a life back together without a business or a job.
One featured family is wandering around in their car. Their house flattened. A kind CVS employee gives them some run flat for their flat tire. A stranger appears with a container of gas. Now they can go. I forgot where.
It may take weeks to enter the more remote parts of Katrina’s rampage. It’ll take forever to rebuild. I wonder what priority the polling places have in the rebuild process.
jobiuspublius
ABC is running “disaster coverage”. Wow, the professionalism is astounding. Nothing relaxes these peoples production values. The featured victims are staff members. They cry so gracefully. No ugly poor people here. Dam it, the nicer your house, the more it’s got to hurt, especially if it’s a nice summer home and your job is still standing. They deserve to be at the front of the FEMA line.
jobiuspublius
Oh, price gouging is up.
over it
Ok. I have not posted here often….but I hope enough so that it is known that I have not spoken out against the current administration.
This, however, disturbs me:
“In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.”
………The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history”
I got this off of DailyKos. Before anyone jumps on me for this….I found out about Kos on this site!! I only read it when ‘something’ is going on…in order to find out what ‘the other side’ is saying.
In this case…what the other side is saying saddens me. Even though nothing could have been done to prevent the hurricane itself. It is clear that much more could have been done to prepare for it.
So god awful sad. :(
jobiuspublius
New Orleans mayor has shut off search and rescue operations to divert people towards looters. Aren’t some of the looters in need of rescue? Hope that is accounted for.
Those sheltered in N.O.’s stadium will be evacuated to the Houston Astro Dome. The will live there for a year. Wow.
over it
Just another thing read tonight that frustrates me.
“As U.S. military engineers struggled to shore up breached levees, experts in the Netherlands expressed surprise that New Orleans’ flood systems failed to restrain the raging waters.
With half of the country’s population of 16 million living below sea level, the Netherlands prepared for a “perfect storm” soon after floods in 1953 killed 2,000 people. The nation installed massive hydraulic sea walls.
“I don’t want to sound overly critical, but it’s hard to imagine that (the damage caused by Katrina) could happen in a Western country,” said Ted Sluijter, spokesman for the park where the sea walls are exhibited. “It seemed like plans for protection and evacuation weren’t really in place, and once it happened, the coordination was on loose hinges.”
It is so freakin’ sad. There really is no excuse. When NOLA reopens it had better damn well have a ‘seawall’ in place built with the the best U.S.(or, I guess, Dutch) technology. This should never have happened in the first place….but it should never be allowed to happen again.
Give what you can. Do so until NOLA is on her feet again(and Gulf Port, etc.).
Stormy70
Do the Dutch get Category 5 hurricanes and all the power a storm like that unleashes? The power in the wind and seas is gi-normous. Do the Dutch have to deal with this type of storm, ever? The levees failed because they were lashed by a caregory 4-5 hurricane. It’s amazing they held as long as they did, is what one engineer on the news said today. He also said the levee to fend off a category 4-5 has not been concieved yet, much less able to be built. He said the physics keep getting in the way.
jobiuspublius
Lol, I just recieved a reminder. Cuba take hurricanes seriously. They have it all worked out.
Wonderfull, worse than watergate, worse than Carter, (Drum Roll Please) WORSE THAN CASTRO!!!!! ROFLMAO
over it
The Dutch may not get the same form of storms that we do….but they do get their fair share of nature’s wrath. The storm that prompted them to build their modern seawall created a storm surge of over 11 feet and caused over 2000 deaths.
The Dutch have put a lot of planning into preparation for the potential effects of global warming and for the ‘perfect storm’.
Bottom line, we have had decades to prepare for worst case scenario in NOLA. It is not as though we did not know that it was trouble waiting to happen. Aside from the apparent lack of a sufficiant barrier….it is sadly obvious that the plans for preparation and evacuation in the face of the ‘perfect storm’ were woefully inadequate. From what I have seen thus far…it appears as though we will be seeing more signs of this inadequacy for weeks to come.
Again, give what you can.
demimondian
Scale alert: an 11 foot surge is what you get out of a strong category three hurricane. We’ll never know for sure, but it looks like the levees and the seawall in N.O. would have taken that.
over it
The point was that the storm that created the 11 foot storm surge occurred in 1953. The seawall that they have now(the one that they started building in the 50’s)is supposedly built to withstand much more than that. Seems as though they have a 50 year jump on preparedness to me. I am not an engineer though. But, the more I read…the more I am convinced that much much more could have, and should have, been done to prepare for this scenario. If nothing else, the elderly and infirm should not be dying in their homes because they were UNABLE(I do not have as much compassion for the UNWILLING) to evacuate.
over it
Hmmm…that did not come out right for some reason.
I meant to type:
“If nothing else, the elderly and infirm should not be dying in their homes because they were UNABLE (I have less compassion for the UNWILLING) to evacuate”
Darrell
Good thought Stormy, but as a fellow Texan, don’t you know that Astroworld/Six flags/Waterworld is right across the freeway? Astroworld/Waterworld would be the ultimate playground for the kids and their families.. it’s only a 400 yard walk over the 610 loop walkway from the Astrodome. I’m going to call them today to suggest that they give away tickets to the Louisiana kids in the Dome and I’m willing to kick in some $ to back up that request. With school in session, I think Astroworld/Six flags over Texas could probably give away (with some corporate and community support) 1,000 – 2,000 tickets or so per day during the week, maybe less during the weekends which are more crowded.
Also, Houston’s new metro rail goes right to and from the Astrodome area, literally 5 or 10 minutes away from Hermann Park and the Houston Zoo.. The zoo, which recently went private (bought from the city) and jacked up prices, needs to be pressured to pony up some free entrance tickets too. The metro goes to downtown and the medical center, so I think the Astrodome venue will work well as a good spot to allow the folks to get out as well as to receive medical treatment. Texas children’s hospital btw is walking distance from the Astrodome