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Evacuation Preparedness

ArchPundit September 4, 2005 No Comments

Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
July 24, 2005 Sunday
SECTION: METRO; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1070 words
HEADLINE: In storm, N.O. wants no one left behind;
Number of people without cars makes evacuation difficult
BYLINE: By Bruce Nolan, Staff writer
BODY:

City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans’ poor a historically blunt message: In the event of a major hurricane, you’re on your own.

In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm’s way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation.

In the video, made by the anti-poverty agency Total Community Action, they urge those people to make arrangements now by finding their own ways to leave the city in the event of an evacuation.

“You’re responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you,” Wilkins said in an interview. “If you have some room to get that person out of town, the Red Cross will have a space for that person outside the area. We can help you.

“But we don’t have the transportation.”
Read More

The Ignored

ArchPundit September 4, 2005 No Comments

From the NOLA Message Board–I’ve been reading Mike Bayham’s postings since at least Tuesday . They’ve been heartbreaking. He was notifying people about their loved ones including a nursing home where over 30 people were found dead, but over 40 were saved.

trying to get the word across the nation about “Saint Ignored” and our plight.. No precise hurricane casualty count has been made, but with corpses floating in fetid New Orleans flood waters, Louisiana state officials estimated the death toll in their state would be in the thousands. In Mississippi, the death toll was put unofficially at more than 180.

The disaster in New Orleans has overshadowed devastation in areas to the south and east in Louisiana.

Mike Bayham, a former councilman in St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, said the death toll in that area – largely cut off from media coverage – could exceed 1,000.

‘Bodies everywhere’ “It’s a catastrophe. We still have bodies floating everywhere,” said Bayham, who evacuated to Phoenix, Ariz.

According to Bayham, much of the parish of 72,000 people is covered by water, and entire towns – Delacroix, Shell Beach, Hopedale and Yscloski – are gone. “They’ve ceased to exist,” he said.

As floodwater grew increasingly toxic inside the city, the storm’s impact on the environment outside New Orleans was becoming more evident.

The Coast Guard reported that two huge oil tanks, each holding up to 80,000 gallons, had ruptured during the storm and were leaking into the Mississippi River.

In all, state and federal officials reported 153 incidents linked to the storm that were potentially harmful to the environment: toppled oil drilling platforms, diesel fuel leaking from wrecked ships, overturned rail cars full of toxic chemicals.

Environmental technicians could not reach the affected areas to assess the damage or start cleaning things up, said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of the Environment

Nagin Interview from Monday Evening

ArchPundit September 3, 2005 No Comments

This was his first big press contact after the hurricane and shows a very different attitude and a lot more hope.

Laugh, Cry, Laugh, and Cry in the end

ArchPundit September 3, 2005 8 Comments

I seldom watch Fox News given it always seems louder than other channels other than when Brit Hume is doing his Dick Cheney voice.

I decided to flip by and caught Geraldo and Shepard Smith having full fledged conniptions–and reasonably so, but you have to see it to believe it.

After Geraldo drew the map in Iraq, you might think he’d try it here…

From the Inbox

ArchPundit September 2, 2005 3 Comments

Oh Fuck Me

RESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
?
Contact:
Barry Coziahr
Church of Scientology
6901 Delmar Blvd.
University City, MO 63130
phone: 314-727-3747
?
Hurricane Katrina Assistance
?
The Church of Scientology is one of the disaster relief organizations?approved by the Office of Homeland Security.
The Volunteer Ministers of the?Church of Scientology of Missouri?are coordinating local?assistance efforts for victims of hurricane Katrina.?To find out how you can assist?call Barry Coziahr at: 314-727-3747 or go to www.volunteerministers.org.

Shipping Industry Update II

ArchPundit September 2, 2005 No Comments

Butler Miller of Miller Barge in St. Louis offers up an update:

The ship channel allowing ships in and out of the Port of New Orleans is due to open Saturday September 3 for ships with a 35′ draft or less,
covering a good chunk of the vessels. ?This is very good news. ?Other
drafts will be handled on a case by case basis. ?The ships are ‘bunched’
meaning that a large number of ships are coming in at the same time.
Whether there will be barges to receive the goods is an open question,
see below. ?Exacerbating things is that the grain elevators have not
been unloading the barges though, so equipment is even tighter.

My estimates of sunken equipment is looking suspect. ?As I said earlier,
good information is proving hard to come by and while fifty barges may
be missing, they may just be tossed up on a levy where they or may not
be able to have future economic life. ?It is still very early to tell
how many barges are affected.

As some of you may know, this year’s harvest is not nearly as good as
last year’s. ?The drought has lowered crop yields just about across the
board. ?Barges are moving about 3% less grain this year than last. ?Last
year, it was cheaper for Northern farmers to rail their goods to the
West coast, while this year, like just about any other year, barging
grain to New Orleans has economic advantages. ?

Someone asked if this equipment is insured. ?Of course, it is, but the
question is whether the ‘equipment parking lot’, a fleet, is liable for
the damages sustained or the equipment owners bear the risk because the
‘parking lot’ owners did all a person could be expected to do. ?The best
paid lawyers in the country will be fighting it out as to which
insurance company will be writing the check. ?

His First Update Is Here

Unbelievable

ArchPundit September 2, 2005 No Comments

3:14 P.M. – St. Bernard Parish officials say that FEMA has not called them yet…five days after the storm.

St. Bernard’s and Plaquemines Parishes are fully flooded and still have people needing to be evaced. At one point, helicopter rescues were dropping people off in New Orleans because it was better off.

He Sent One John Wayne Dude Down Here Who Could Get Some Stuff Done

ArchPundit September 2, 2005 No Comments

While Nagin’s radio interview is being played up as critical of the President (and it is), it’s really an equal opportunity rant towards everyone who was fucking up–with the President just being the top of the food chain. The Governor doesn’t do much better though he doesn’t single her out because of the questions.

Watching Nagin operate in the media since Monday night has been pretty amazing. As I said before, he kept one step ahead of what the next problem was going to be and would specifically lay out a course of action. and there simply was no response to his pleas.

He saw some hope even in this interview when he talks about General Honore:

RN: I said I need everything. I will tell you this, I’ll give the President some credit on this: he sent one John Wayne dude that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lieutenant] General [Russel] Honore. And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he’s getting some stuff done. They ought to give that guy — if they don’t want to give it to me, give him full authority, to get the job done and we can save some people.

May I suggest Honore as the next head of FEMA.

Note to Hastert Staff: Turn off the phones

ArchPundit September 1, 2005 2 Comments

The phone number is being passed around New Orleans message boards and to say the least, they are not happy

UPDATE: Channel 4 out of New Orleans is revisiting the issue and the anchors are openly editorializing on this and just brought it up out of the blue.

Hastert on Rebuilding: “It Doesn’t Make Sense to Me”

ArchPundit September 1, 2005 11 Comments

While many might expect me to criticize him, I think he’s got a very valid point and I’m glad he brought it up. I’m afraid he’ll be badgered for this comment even though it is a legitimate question.

That said, I’m not sure saying all of New Orleans should be abandoned, but certainly the foot print should be more manageable and the Parshishes below it should not be rebuilt.

UPDATE: I may agree with him regarding the substance of this, but he’s politically screwed up–the statement is taking on a life of its own in the news—New Orleans TV anchors just spent several minutes on it.