They’re calling this America’s tsunami, and reading about the damage, I can believe it. About the only good thing is most people had the chance to get to safety.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/29/hurricane.katrina/index.html
Redwolf
Chiff and Fipple’s International Headquarters are in Birmingham, AL. I know other chiffers in southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle. I pray that they all are OK. My brother and his family live on the north shore near Covington, LA, which was hit hard by the hurricane this morning. I have been trying to reach them all day, but telephone calls to the area are difficult if not impossible at this time.
I just found out that my husband’s old itinerant artist uncle stayed in the Dome! Kind of strange…I’d just been reading about the tearing roof and muggy conditions. Don’t when/if he’ll be able to return to his beatnik artists’ warehouse in NO.
The breadth of this disaster is gradually becoming apparent. There will be wide effects…most grievous in terms of human suffering and loss of life, but in the long run there’ll be wide economic and other consequences. Am I the only one who finds it a bit surreal that there’s little discussion of this on the board today? Granted, one feels largely helpless in the face of such events; and there’s no value in wallowing in or “rubber-necking” others’ misery. Still, I value the level of concern and compassion that’s almost always evident here…seems that has been strangely eclipsed by the recent spate of… weirdness. That makes me sad, but doesn’t approach the sorrow and worry I feel for the folks enduring the devastation that’s unfolding on the Gulf coast. A co-worker’s 16-year-old son is in the local Civil Air Patrol unit, and I just heard he’s going with them down there to do what he can to help. I wish there were something concrete I could do. Playing Amazing Grace on the whistle isn’t gonna cut it. 
besides having friends and co-workers in the New Orleans area (haven’t heard from all yet…) and friends in Biloxi (all at least alive)…
I love New Orleans. I’ve visited there 6 times (once for business). As I’m watching the pictures coming out, it’s heartbreaking. I can’t imagine how these areas will ever “come back”.
I honestly don’t know what to say -
Katrina aftermath will last a long time, and the rain is still going on with some tornadoes. C&F can help. www.redcross.org
I think maybe it isn’t being as discussed as one would have expected partly because of a sort of relief that things are not as bad as they could have been in New Orleans, although I believe worse than expected in other places. There was so much concern about the possible loss of life, maybe in the thousands, that when that didn’t happen it seemed over. But of course it isn’t and won’t be for a long time. And the weirdness here has been part of it as well I’m sure.
I really haven’t seen much beyond some newspaper photos. The pictures in our newspaper of people walking in water up to their shoulders were pretty shocking. Also, it showed a poor man working for a hospital trying to find some cars that were above water enough to siphon some gasoline from for the hospital generators. That place needs help now.
I have read that the only way to help is to donate money.
I also read that right now everyone is cooperating, but that, apparently, in disasters of this kind after about 3 days, I believe, trouble starts. At first the priorities are easy to set—save lives. Then disagreements arise about what the next priorities are. And people get tired of being wet and miserable. They can only behave heroically for so long. So unfortunately that will make things rougher, but I think there is no way around the fact that everyone is human.
Actually, I don’t think the situation in New Orleans is much better than the worst case. Water levels continue to rise. There’s looting in the streets, shots fired. 30,000 in the Superdome.
No, you’re not the only one…
M
One of my favorite childrens’ books was The Little Brute Family.
They were cranky, ate stick and stone stew, got stuck in snow drifts and screamed, and crashed their kites into trees.
Things did not improve until a little lost wandering good feeling was found by the baby, and soon cast its spell over the entire family.
Perhaps we will find a little lost wandering good feeling.
Yeah, it looks really bad. In Mississippi, they’re saying that some entire towns along the coast are basically gone. Even after seeing the video on the news, I can’t even imagine what it must be like.
It sounds like I’d better get caught up. This is definitely news to me. I can’t even imagine the situation in the Superdome.
I think we will. Or it will find us. 
The entire region is a mess. It’s a human and economic disaster. I fear that the number of casualties is much much higher than currently known and the rebuilding will be very difficult.
The economic impact on the US will be felt strongly, deficit will rise further, along with gas prices and a reduction in economic output and thousands of lost jobs.
It is a pretty sad affair and worse, Hurricane season is far from over.
I was reading today that many of the people who have died or been trapped in New Orleans and other areas were among the poorest…they didn’t have cars, or any other way to evacuate, so they hunkered down and hoped for the best. They’re also saying that it may be a long time before we know how many have died in NO…there are areas where they’re pushing bodies aside to get to the living.
Money to the Red Cross is one good way to help. Another way is to donate blood. Our local blood banks sent out a call today…all types needed.
Redwolf
Does anyone know off hand the amount of time one has to wait to donate blood after getting a tattoo? I seem to recall that there was one, I just can’t remember how long…
~Ad
From the Red Cross’ website:
Tattoo
Wait 12 months after a tattoo if the tattoo was applied in a state that does not regulate tattoo facilities. This requirement is related to concerns about hepatitis.Acceptable if the tattoo was applied by a state-regulated entity using sterile technique. Only a few states currently regulate tattoo facilities, so most donors with tattoos must wait 12 months after tattoo application before donating blood. You should discuss your particular situation with the health historian at the time of donation.
I’m currently at approximately 10-1/2 months… I’ll look into it some more before I head over to donate. I appreciate you posting the info!!
I visited the French Quarter in New Orleans only two months ago. It was a beautiful cool day, and everyone was in a good mood. Yet, as I was standing by the Mississippi River, I could see the problem that is now so manifest: the city is below the level of the waters that surround it.
For reasons, know only to the politicians, there was only enough money to build dikes that were designed to withstand a level 3 hurricane. That is absurd, IMO. A major American city below sea level needed to have more aggressive (and, yes, more expensive) levees to protect it. Everyone with any sense should have know that this type of disaster was bound to happen, and that it was just a matter of time, especially since warmer oceans have increased the size and intensity of hurricanes in recent years.
Now, my thoughts go out to all the people who are caught up in this natural disaster, including my brother and his wife’s extended family who live in New Orleans. I know that the people of this great country will be generous with their money to help assist the people in need. I also pray that people in leadership positions will make good decisions and make them quickly. It is a little late, Mr. President, but I’m glad that you decided to return from your vacation. You have some important work to do as a leader. Sitting in my chair in my living room, I find myself wanting to shout out orders, expletives included, my patience running out. This is no time for assessment surveys and studies. The people in need require immediate assistance.
What a tragic mess. I keep watching TV to see if anything is left of Tulane.
National Guard and special SWAT teams are trying to scatter the looters. More than 30,000 refugees are crammed into the Superdome, the toilets aren’t working, there is a shortage of water, and yesterday evening a man fell to his death from one of the balconies, making, I think, 3 deaths. Tulane Medical Center is considering evacuating, because the water is up to the second floor and the generators will go out.
They are looking for places to evacuate all these people, but there is almost no way out. If you look at aerial photos, the roadbeds of the bridges across Lake Ponchartrain are gone . . . only pilings remain in some places.
The attempt to seal the levee failed and there is now the expectation that waters may rise still another 15 feet in the next hours.
They’re putting black marks on homes which contain bodies because there aren’t enough refrigerated trucks to hold them.
One poor woman called CNN a few minutes ago to ask the Louisiana governor to send help to her brother, who had been able to call her as he tried to get into his attic to escape the flood waters. She thinks he dropped the phone and knows he does not have an ax with which to break out of the attic. As he cannot swim, he cannot simply swim out a window to climb on the roof.
As a couple of us discussed briefly on another thread, it’s actually happened before. Galveston was wiped out under these circumstances 90 years ago. I suppose that is a long time ago but folk memories of that are still sufficiently vivid for many people alive to know about it and how terrible the aftermath was. So why be so ill-prepared?