The Perfect Storm

[voodoolily]

I'd hazard a guess that they stayed because they didn't have a choice (e.g., no car, sick mama, close proximity to drug dealer, etc.), and I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. If I were too poor to leave a disaster area I'd prolly pillage too. I just hope all those merchants have good insurance.

[schild]

Looting always seemed like good clean fun to me. Pillaging, not so much.

[Shockeye]

Poor NO, spared the ravages of catastrophic disaster only to be raped and pillaged.   

Spared? Have you not seen the news in the last 24 hours?

[Cheddar]

I'd hazard a guess that they stayed because they didn't have a choice (e.g., no car, sick mama, close proximity to drug dealer, etc.), and I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. If I were too poor to leave a disaster area I'd prolly pillage too. I just hope all those merchants have good insurance.

Insurance companies are already preparing NOT to pay for most of the damage (some statements released and the like).  Most insurance policies do not cover flooding (has to be purchased seperate), and the ones that do have stipulations and the like.  On the bright side of things at least there is oil involved;  the conspiracy theorists are beginning to make more sense to me as I watch events unfold.  I am going to see if there is any word on Biloxi yet;  as of yesterday no one could even get past Gulf Port.  

And Shockeye, it is bad.  But considering how badly things could of gone, I would say NO was lucky.  Hell that Super Dome was supposed to take 200 MPH winds from what I understand, but the winds that occured almost ripped it clean off.  Imagine what would of happened if Katrina had not veered north and decimated Biloxi.

[Yegolev]

My parents (south AL) are fine, and so is the house, which is great because they have only had this roof for six months, thanks to Ivan and a slow-ass FEMA check.

I can go looking for my extra GBA and mail it to Haem, if mail delivery is working.  No games, though.

[Cheddar]

Spared? Have you not seen the news in the last 24 hours?

Things are getting worse there.  Sorry if I seemed callous.  Seems fires have been springing up,  and 80% of the city is underwater at this point.



I am grateful that most people were evacuated from the city.  Things are looking pretty grim.

[Yegolev]

Awful.  There's more bad news besides this and I just don't want to know about it, even the bits I do know about.

[Cheddar]

Awful.  There's more bad news besides this and I just don't want to know about it, even the bits I do know about.

Lots.  Currently toxic waste is souping around NO.  In the water thats covering 80% of the city.  In Biloxi the SAR (search and rescue) crews do not have the manpower to remove dead bodies, so they are just posting black marks on houses.  Oil Rigs have washed up on Alabama's shore.  It will be a few days before a clear picture emerges on how bad things are there.  I was feeling better about things because it swung through Biloxi, but it appears they did a shitty job preparing.  I lived down there 5 years ago for a bit, and it makes me sad seeing places some of the places I knew gone/destroyed.

[Strazos]

Looks like Haemish is going to have fun cleaning out the fridge.

[Fargull]

Cheddar,

Biggest issue is the main focus that was mostly being presented was the wind strength, but just like Ivan last year, Katrina came in when the tides were up and thus the storm surge took the most toll and for some reason I did not see any of the broad casts making more than nominal noise about that impact.  Everything about this storm is looking grim.

[Yegolev]

Got to a lull in the databasery so I am checking out the CNN webcast.  Looks bad.  NO is going to take a while to pump dry.

[Signe]

If the levee has broken and the main pumping station is inoperable, there isn't much they can do, is there?  I have no idea if they can fix a levee while water is still pouring through and there is nothing to pump it out. I wouldn't have though so.  I don't see how they can do much except try and remove every living thing from New Orleans until it's fixed. Sewage, misquitos, poisonous snakes... doesn't sound very habitable.  It's totally toxic and with the water level rising, soon there will be as much sewage in the streets as there was in the sewer, no?  Sounds to me as if New Orleans is mostly gone and they're going to have to start over nearly from scratch.  It's such a pity, too... it was one of the most interesting cities in America.

[Strazos]

Never had any desire to go there. Now, I suppose I have absolutly no reason to ever go.

[Shockeye]

I wonder how long before the cemetaries start emptying out...

[Shockeye]

Never had any desire to go there. Now, I suppose I have absolutly no reason to ever go.

Unless you want to volunteer and help.

[schild]

Never had any desire to go there. Now, I suppose I have absolutly no reason to ever go.

Unless you want to volunteer and help.

Just got a message sent to my phone that the bodies are piling up and can't be cleaned out fast enough and another 10,000 people were forced out of their graves homes.

I give the dead about 26 hours before they return to life and open a gate to hell.

[Miasma]

I heard some people fled to their attics to avoid the flooding, then the water came higher and they had no way out.  Some used shotguns to blast a whole out of their roofs.  Yipes.

An oil rig stuck under a bridge:

[HaemishM]

I'm thanking all the Gods right now. Even the naked ones with multiple appendages.

We just got power back about an hour ago. As annoying and frustrating as the whole experience is, SPT and I were FUCKING LUCKY. We got bupkiss compared to what we could have gotten. Let me just paint you a picture, before I read all the posts here.

We are about 3 hours drive from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, about that distance from New Orleans. Around 200 miles away from landfall. 200 MILES. We weren't even in the direct path. The eye passed about 50 miles to the east of us, and was a category 2 when it passed us. I've lived about this far from the Coast all my life. The worst I'd ever seen was Frederick in 1980 or so, and was out of power for 3 days. 3 days and we lived 5 miles from the nearest town (which was one of those eyeblink towns without a post office). I mean rural.

This was much, much worse. The wind was so hard, rain didn't have time to fall straight, it was horizontal. Trees thrown over. Umbrella was useless because as soon as you got it into the rain, the wind shifted and blew it right back on you. Shit was coming down. And I don't mean it did this for a few minutes, it was like this from about noon until midnight or later. Shingles just started flying off the house. Somehow, none of the windows broke. Leaves everywhere. Power went out about 11 am yesterday, and was out until about 2 pm today.

Most of the people in this town don't have power. We went driving around just trying to find a grocery station or a gas station or a restaurant that had enough power to actually work their registers or gas pumps. Lines at the gas pump were out the street and down 4 or 5 blocks. The gas ran out while I was pumping it. Cell phone coverage was sporadic. We had phones until sometime in the early morning, and we still have sporadic phone and cell phone coverage. Trees were uprooted, power lines torn up all over the place. ICE was a goddamn precious commodity. And we're lucky that the heat was only about 88 degrees today, as opposed to the 90's it'll be tomorrow. They won't even let me back into work today (not that I mind). It was like this place was in the 1930's Depression with food lines at the grocery stores and restaurants that were open and lines at the pump. The radio stations and TV news are reporting on what places have ice and gas.

And we got lucky. We got nothing like what those folks on the Coast and in New Orleans got. Those pictures you see on the TV? Those are real, and those people, whatever they had, have got nothing now. The people crowded into the shelters here can't even get back to their homes this week. They are describing major highways, fucking INTERSTATES, as destroyed. Not impassable, DESTROYED. I may be being overly dramatic, but I feel like I've looked over the edge of a cliff at the end of days, and barely missed going over.

If you can give to the Red Cross, do so. Those people are doing the work of angels. They are risking life, limb and plague-like disease to help people they don't know.

Right now, fucked-up shingles look pretty goddamn good. Thank you guys for all your concern, all your thoughts and prayers. Short of making this a drunken "I LOVE YOU GUYS" post, you guys thinking of me makes me feel good. Now concentrate those positive thoughts on the people who need it a lot more than me and my beautiful wife.

I'm going to enjoy the miracle of air conditioning and satellite TIVO.

[schild]

Welcome back. :-D

[Llava]

So honestly now.

SB.exe or Katrina?

[Signe]

You and PopTart's name came up in conversation a lot last night and today.  We're happy you're ok!

[Mortriden]

Glad to hear you're okay Ham.

[Strazos]

Never had any desire to go there. Now, I suppose I have absolutly no reason to ever go.

Unless you want to volunteer and help.

My degree isn't going to finish itself.

So honestly now.

SB.exe or Katrina?

That is just wrong.

[Merusk]

If the levee has broken and the main pumping station is inoperable, there isn't much they can do, is there?  I have no idea if they can fix a levee while water is still pouring through and there is nothing to pump it out. I wouldn't have though so.  I don't see how they can do much except try and remove every living thing from New Orleans until it's fixed. Sewage, misquitos, poisonous snakes... doesn't sound very habitable.  It's totally toxic and with the water level rising, soon there will be as much sewage in the streets as there was in the sewer, no?  Sounds to me as if New Orleans is mostly gone and they're going to have to start over nearly from scratch.  It's such a pity, too... it was one of the most interesting cities in America.

It's also only going to get worse.  Kat has swept up into the Ohio River valley, so all the rain from the last 24 hours has been draining into the Ohio, headed downriver to the Mississippi and then New Orleans. I haven't seen anyone cover that on the news yet, so I don't think that's even occured to anyone yet.  However, Southern Ohio/ N. Ky has had floor warning and high water since last night, there's only one place for it all to go from here all the way down to the Gulf.

Last I heard there were 2 broken levees in NO and all the pumping stations were out, with one having swamped before Kat even hit land.  The river isn't what's flooding the city, yet, just the canal and the lake. They're trying to find a plan to evacuate the Superdome since the waters are going to continue to rise there. THat's 10k people on top of the other evacuees they're struggling to rescue from their houses. 

[Signe]

I just heard on the news that they are now planning to abandon New Orleans completely, as far as non-essentials are concerned.  I'm kind of surprised they didn't decide this before, but I suppose it's a such a huge decision that no one really wanted to make it.

[Shockeye]

Even a cop joins in the looting
Mike Perlstein and Brian Thevenot
Staff writers

Law enforcement efforts to contain the emergency left by Katrina slipped into chaos in parts of New Orleans Tuesday with some police officers and firefighters joining looters in picking stores clean.

At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial effort to hand out provisions to stranded citizens quickly disintegrated into mass looting. Authorities at the scene said bedlam erupted after the giveaway was announced over the radio.

While many people carried out food and essential supplies, others cleared out jewelry racks and carted out computers, TVs and appliances on handtrucks.

Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inch flat screen television.

Officers claimed there was nothing they could do to contain the anarchy, saying their radio communications have broken down and they had no direction from commanders.

“We don’t have enough cops to stop it,” an officer said. “A mass riot would break out if you tried.”

Inside the store, the scene alternated between celebration and frightening bedlam. A shirtless man straddled a broken jewelry case, yelling, “Free samples, free samples over here.”

Another man rolled a mechanized pallet, stacked six feet high with cases of vodka and whiskey. Perched atop the stack was a bewildered toddler.

Throughout the store and parking lot, looters pushed carts and loaded trucks and vans alongside officers. One man said police directed him to Wal-Mart from Robert’s Grocery, where a similar scene was taking place. A crowd in the electronics section said one officer broke the glass DVD case so people wouldn’t cut themselves.

“The police got all the best stuff. They’re crookeder than us,” one man said.

Most officers, though, simply stood by powerless against the tide of law breakers.

One veteran officer said, “It’s like this everywhere in the city. This tiny number of cops can’t do anything about this. It’s wide open.”

At least one officer tried futilely to control a looter through shame.

“When they say take what you need, that doesn’t mean an f-ing TV,” the officer shouted to a looter. “This is a hurricane, not a free-for-all.”

Sandra Smith of Baton Rouge walked through the parking lot with a 12-pack of Bud Light under each arm. “I came down here to get my daughters,” she said, “but I can’t find them.”

The scene turned so chaotic at times that entrances were blocked by the press of people and shopping carts and traffic jams sprouted on surrounding streets.

Some groups organized themselves into assembly lines to more efficiently cart off goods.

Toni Williams, 25, packed her trunk with essential supplies, such as food and water, but said mass looting disgusted and frightened her.

“I didn’t feel safe. Some people are going overboard,” she said.

Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she took comfort in watching police load up their own carts.

“It must be legal,” she said. “The police are here taking stuff, too.”

(Staff writers Doug MacCash and Keith Spera assisted in this story.)

[WayAbvPar]

Another man rolled a mechanized pallet, stacked six feet high with cases of vodka and whiskey. Perched atop the stack was a bewildered toddler.

This kind of shit makes me embarrassed to be a human being.

Edit- BTW H, glad you and the missus are ok; if you need anything, holla.  How did Snow Beast take the excitement?

[Strazos]

Even a cop joins in the looting

Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she took comfort in watching police load up their own carts.

“It must be legal,” she said. “The police are here taking stuff, too.”

Tactical nuke, please?

[Shockeye]

Even a cop joins in the looting

Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she took comfort in watching police load up their own carts.

“It must be legal,” she said. “The police are here taking stuff, too.”

Tactical nuke, please?

Is that even remotely funny? No.

[Strazos]

They're both stupid; The police for stooping down to that level and looting, and the people for thinking it's legal just because the cops do it.

[Shockeye]

They're both stupid; The police for stooping down to that level and looting, and the people for thinking it's legal just because the cops do it.

That doesn't mean you should make a joke about nuking New Orleans.

[Strazos]

It was more directed at the stupid people, not so much NO.

[Signe]

Ladies!  Do not soil your short white gloves!

[Merusk]

I like to think that the cops are taking stuff so as to keep it in custody and return it later. It makes me much less saddened to be a human that way.

[voodoolily]

[Insurance companies are already preparing NOT to pay for most of the damage (some statements released and the like).  Most insurance policies do not cover flooding (has to be purchased seperate), and the ones that do have stipulations and the like.   

I was talking more from a theft insurance thing. Glad Haem and SPT are okay. Thank goodness. I'm really sad that this is happening, but the bit about the bewildered toddler kinda cracked me up a little. The mental picture of a toddler up on a case of booze is humorous.

Why isn't anyone stealing propane, I wonder? Or are they just not reporting the people smart enough to loot essentials like fuel, campstoves and water filters (Nalgene makes ones that can be used to filter swamp water)? Sheesh. Amateurs. Lotta good that DVD player is gonna do you when you're dying of dysentary.