Hurricane Katrina

[Don McRitchie]

I truly hope this is an overstatement. To our members from this area (actually everyone in the area for that matter), my sincerest wishes that you are able to get out of harm's way and ride out this potential catastrophe safe and sound.

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

[Titanium Dome]

If anyone is in the path of Katrina and reading this, shut down and get out. Almost everything can be replaced:

Cars
Houses
Businesses
Trees
Pets
Furniture
Appliances
Boats
Even JBLs

BUT YOU CANNOT BE REPLACED. Take your loved ones, your precious keepsakes (pictures, documents, small heirlooms) and get out.

If you can't drive, go to the designated shelter.

We need you whole and safe.

We'll pray for your safety, because otherwise this is too big to comprehend.

[duaneage]

Mother Nature is about to reclaim the Mississippi Delta.

I was in Biloxi for Elaina in 1985. That was a Cat 3 and we had no power for a week. Water was three feet deep on the beach for a day. Fresh water was harder to find than anything else. And they didn't have all of those casinos moored to the shore at the time.
I saw Andrew in 1992 in Florida, it stripped the houses right off at the foundations and destroyed most of Kendall and Florida City.


They are in deep $#it for sure

[scott fitlin]

I was in Miami at that time, a DJ on South Bch, at the Warsaw Ballroom on Collins av.

I went to Hialeah, and sheltered at my bosses house, while the other DJ from the club went to his mothers house in Kendall. Before we left the club, after securing it as best we could, David said come to my moms house, we will be ok there!

Another freind and I got down to Sth Miami the next day by jeep, I mean the destruction was like nothing Ive ever seen in my life! Roofs completely torn off all the houses, many house completely collapsed. All the trees on the drive into Coral Gables destroyed! Whole neighborhoods gone!

I remember staying at my apartment on Miami Bch to protect everything I had there, and it was a week with no water, or electric. We would travel by car to Ft Lauderdale to buy food, and get ice and bottled water, the most precious of commodities!





I hope New Orleans fares better than we did in 1992.

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Any members in the area, we wish you well.

I have a feeling this is going to be a devastating storm.

Ken

[edgewound]

Good luck to all in the Gulf coast...our prayers and thoughts are with you.

[louped garouv]

new orleans mayor gives status of new orleans area....

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/vid...82905mayor.wmv


martial law has been declared in new orleans since the status report....

not looking good

[Wardsweb]

I lived in Biloxi during Camile and this one is worse. I haven't been able to get in contact with my sister who still lives there. No power, no phone, no cell service, no water...it's bad, very bad. It's sad to see pictures of places I use to hang out leveled to the ground. It's like loosing a part of your childhood.

[duaneage]

A few days after Elena in 1985 things kinda got back to normal in Biloxi. The water receded, trees were cut off houses, the lights came back on and we had potable water. I-90 was dry in about 12 hours, overall the cat 3 storm was manageable. But this is ridiculous. The entire coastline looks like Indonesia after the Tsunami hit.

[louped garouv]

But this is ridiculous. The entire coastline looks like Indonesia after the Tsunami hit.

gonna be real rough out that way for the foreseeable future..... they are talking about evacuating all of the ppl that rode the storm out in NOLA.... the city is still flooding!


I saw pics of my old neighborhoods from a friend who had a plane chartered from Houma; the areas do not look good. I am so sad right now....

[Lancer]

'It's like being in a Third World country'

Losses, deteriorating conditions difficult for survivors to bear

It really does suck to be suddenly and brutally tossed back into real life after living in the dream world the United States has worked so diligently to create in the past 100 years or so.

Here's some info from the CNN site:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists these organizations for those seeking to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina:

Donate cash

American Red Cross (800) HELP NOW (435-7669) English; (800) 257-7575 Spanish

Operation Blessing (800) 436-6348

America's Second Harvest (800) 344-8070

To donate cash or volunteer

Adventist Community Services (800) 381-7171

Catholic Charities, USA (703) 549-1390

Christian Disaster Response (941) 956-5183 or (941) 551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (800) 848-5818

Church World Service (800) 297-1516

Convoy of Hope (417) 823-8998

Lutheran Disaster Response (800) 638-3522

Mennonite Disaster Service (717) 859-2210

Nazarene Disaster Response (888) 256-5886

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (800) 872-3283

Salvation Army (800) SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief (800) 462-8657, ext. 6133

United Methodist Committee on Relief (800) 554-8583

[louped garouv]

I lived in Biloxi during Camile and this one is worse. I haven't been able to get in contact with my sister who still lives there. No power, no phone, no cell service, no water...it's bad, very bad. It's sad to see pictures of places I use to hang out leveled to the ground. It's like loosing a part of your childhood.

have you gotten word from your sister?

I have heard from 80% of the ppl I am trying to get ahold of... this waiting game sucks



***note to self -- keep in better contact with friends; you never know when something will impede communications with loved ones*****

[louped garouv]

I apologize in advance to my readers who subscribed to this newsletter for cruise news and deals only--you may wish to skip straight to the bottom. I want to begin today with what is happening here in Houston, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

It's 4:45 a.m. on Friday, September 2nd, and tension is rising at the Astrodome in Houston.

The governor of Texas and the mayor of Houston have opened the Astrodome to evacuees from Louisiana. The enormous ground level of the Astrodome has already filled to absolute capacity with thousands of small cots, and every one is taken. There are not enough to go around, and some hold mother and child or two children. Many others sleep on blankets in the hallways that ring every level of the dome, and hundreds more try to sleep in the hard wooden chairs meant to house sports fans for three hours at a time.

Against this surreal backdrop, a lonely figure trudges the uneven aisles holding a cardboard sign aloft with the names of loved ones who are missing.

Our small group of volunteers has just arrived to help serve breakfast in the Astrodome, but we quickly learn that the plan has changed. For the safety of the untold thousands already here, the fire marshal has closed the Astrodome to new arrivals, but the evacuation is chaotic, and the buses just keep coming.

"All those buses still have people on them," someone with a walkie-talkie tells us, pointing to a line of darkened motor coaches stretching out of sight around the dome. "We're opening Reliant Arena (a separate building nearby), but the situation there is tense. We need you over there."

We load tables and supplies into two trucks and walk from the Astrodome to Reliant Arena, where we pass an impromptu medical "clinic" filled with sick and injured evacuees and bleary-eyed doctors, nurses, paramedics and police officers.

On the far side of the building, we arrive at a room where we will serve breakfast, and through a long wall of glass, we get our first glimpse of the new arrivals outside. Standing ten deep, in lines that run the length of our large room and stretch out of sight, these are the first who arrived after the Astrodome’s closing. Out there in the darkness, thousands more are still in their buses. No one on this side of the glass knows what they have already endured to get here. Many have spent the prior four days in the sweltering heat and stench of the Superdome, the closest thing to hell on earth.

Now they have heard that the Astrodome is full and do not know whether they will be allowed to stay or be bused to another city, or to another state. They are at their wits' end. Tempers have flared, emotions are high.

Within an hour we are ready to serve and the doors are opened. As evacuees enter the building, their identities are recorded, and they proceed immediately to our three serving lines for their first hot meal in days: two waffles, two sausage patties, one pat of butter, one serving of syrup, one box of juice and one big spoonful of grits.

During the next five hours the line moves continuously. Word filters in that Houston has opened its convention center to evacuees as well, and some of the volunteers leave our building and the Astrodome to help out downtown. Hundreds of other volunteers pour in to replace them, including at least 25 travel counselors and the top management from Vacations To Go.

I've never volunteered in such an enormous operation coming together on the fly, but I have only good things to say about the supervisor from food service company Aramark, and the people I could not see behind the scenes. We knew the folks on the other side of the glass were desperately hungry, and we worried among ourselves whether the food would last. None of us knew how much food there was, or how many waited outside, but we did know that no one had expected this huge new group for breakfast. We ran out of some things, for a while, but we never ran out of everything at the same time, and the food line never stopped.

By 11:15, every one of our neighbors from New Orleans had entered the facility and received a hot meal.

I will not soon forget the faces of the people as they came through the line. Many were dazed or grieving, and some still wore the clothes they had on when Katrina struck. Some wore bandages and struggled to hold their plates steady. Others tried to smile, and made a point of expressing their gratitude and shaking our hands in the midst of having lost everything.

The little old ladies, with their sugary Nawlins drawls of "Thank you, darlin'," were truly a sign of Amazing Grace.

But this was just the first meal of the day, in the first week of the first month that evacuees will need help. It’s a scenario that is playing out across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The Deep South is in trouble, and the need is as wide and as deep as the Mississippi.

[Lancer]

Hurricane Katrina could cost the U.S. over 400,000 jobs and shave up to 1 percent off the nation's economic growth in the second half of the year, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Oh that's ok. I'm sure all those jobs were going to be outsourced to India or China anyway so no real loss...

[edgewound]

I truly hope this is an overstatement. To our members from this area (actually everyone in the area for that matter), my sincerest wishes that you are able to get out of harm's way and ride out this potential catastrophe safe and sound.

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

I've tried to stay out of this discussion...but I can't any longer. Why is the Gov't to blame for EVERYTHING? Those that stayed in the hurricane ravaged areas were told what was coming, and were told to get out. And now those that stayed behind and need help are blaming the very people trying to help them....and shooting at them. Last I heard the US and State Gov'ts didn't order this hurricane...but these people need to accept the help to get the help...I've been through earthquake clean-up....and those hit with NO warning... civilized people actually help EACH OTHER get through it....not try to kill the rescuers.

There I said it...probably get alot of flak for it...so be it.