holytoastr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
holytoastr) wrote2006-08-31 04:08 pm
holytoastr) wrote2006-08-31 04:08 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
A year ago today was when the hysteria started to really set in. All sorts of crazy reports of death and destruction. At this point, I can't remember which stories were true and which ones were not.
It was when authorities started to tell people they couldn't go home. :(
07:47 am - Here's a way to wake up
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Children's Hospital under siege
Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.
Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.
Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.
The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.
Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.
08:44 am - New Orleans folks cannot go back
Parish access and road information
11:22 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Parishes
St. Charles: Only St. Charles parish residents can return to their homes. There is no power, low fuel and no food. If you must return home, please bring supplies with you. Hwy 90, I-10, Hwy 3127 and Airline are all open. However, there is water on Airline near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.
Terrebonne: No road closures. Use Hwy 90 or the Sunshine Bridge.
Lafourche : As of 2 p.m. Monday, the curfew was lifted. Go directly to your homes. Hwy 1 is closed between Golden Meadow and Grande Isle.
St. James: Open to residents only.
St. John: Open to residents only. You need your ID.
Jefferson: You can return Monday with your ID. You will be allowed to collect your belongings and will not be allowed to return for a month.
Orleans: Closed. The Highrise is not safe to cross. Many parts of I-10 are flooded.
Plaqeumines: Closed.
St. Bernard: Closed.
St. Tammany: I-10 and the Twinspans are destroyed, but the Hwy 11 bridge is intact.
Washington: No information available. Lines are busy!
Tangiphoa: No information available. Lines are busy.
Other road information:
--Hwy 90 between Lafayette and St. Charles Parish line/Lafourche parish line is open.
--Hwy 308/Valentine, south of that area is closed.
--Hwy 3185 (Thibodeaux Bypass) is closed.
--La Bourg Larose Hwy is closed.
09:14 am
So begins today's updates in full. More to come through the day as I find them.
Engineers were discussing how to "unwater" the city. They said the first step to that is to close up the levee. As we know, political stupidity prevented that from happening yesterday. CNN reports that there is going to be another attempt today to sandbag the 17th st canal. Let's hope it works this time.
From there, they say they can drain about half an inch an hour. (That should be about a foot a day.) However, that is in perfect ideal conditions. Another report written before all this predicted that it would take about 9 weeks to completely drain the city. (For more fun and misery, read about how Bush repeatedly cut funding for the Army Corps of Engineers projects in New Orleans!)
You can only imagine what people are going to come back to after everything has been stagnating in filthy water for more than 2 months.
I also learned this morning that the levees were never designed to survive anything larger than category 3. I think I may have know this before, actually, but it's a scary reminder.
Also scary: looters. From what I've been reading, people hear gunshots all night. There were two reports about hospitals being attacked. On nola.com, I found a story about how the looters have taken the gun collection from the walmart uptown and there are gangs of armed men moving around the city taking whatever they please. They've become very bold, even shooting cops.
The police can't stop this because they are doing their best to save people who are trapped in their attics. There are not enough boats or rescuers to go around in the disaster.
The super dome is expected to be evacuated in about 2 days. No word yet on where these people are going to be moved to.
[EDIT] Link to map of a wet city
[EDIT2] Super Dome refugees are going to be taken to the Astro Dome in Houston.
[EDIT3] For those that drive, it's been reported that gas prices are expected to rise by as much as $1.10 by this weekend. So fill your tank up as soon as you can. I filled mine up on monday. Since then, the price has jumped more than 20 cents in some places. (The place I got gas from on monday was $2.69 and was $2.93 this morning.)
12:42 pm
There are conflicting reports. Some day water is rising, some say it is going down. Once I get some solid news, I'll let everyone know.
Charity and University hospitals have run out of fuel for their generators.
The airport is open now, but only for humanitarian efforts.
Here is just one of many places to let family and friends know you are safe and sound.
Armed gangs have been reported in the Carrollton area.
The westbank is overwhelmed by refugees. They said they are running out of food and clean water.
The buses from Houston to get the Super Dome refugees are on the way. Also, Dallas has announced that parents can enroll their chldren there for school.
Still no death toll for Louisiana. They are not going to even start counting. For now, they are marking homes with a red X if there is a body to be reclaimed later. Saving the living is priority.
Also, reports that power would be back in a month are optomistic. Now they are saying it will be more like 2-3 months.
[EDIT] Donnie has told me that Tulane's emergency site is back up. However, neither of us know if it is updating. Seems so, since it has the same info as the alternate site, but unsure.
[EDIT2] More reports of looters. Calls from people still in the city have said that all hell has broken loose. Gangs with guns can be heard all through the night breaking windows and shooting who knows what. This is not just breaking into a store for survival. These are disgusting people who are taking advantage of people who have already lost almost everything.
[EDIT3]The Navy is sending ships, including a hospital ship, and helicopters and other supplies and personnel from Norfolk to New Orleans to help out.
[EDIT4] Reports have come in that the water has stopped rising. It has equalized with the lake. This can change, it has been warned, but for now the water levels have stopped rising.
[EDIT5] Article with before and after pictures.
[EDIT6] Bush took a peek at the disaster from the safety of his plane today while on his way back to the White House. He's supposed to have something to say on it all at 5.
[EDIT7] I just watched a news report where a man told reporters that there was a body outside his house. The person had not drowned, he had been shot in the back of the head.
[EDIT8] I saw images from the area near Lebenons. Mostly dry, with a few wet areas. Nothing deeper than a foot. Lots of trees. The residents there were terrified though, due to very aggressive looters.
[EDIT9] Map being compiled of wet/dry areas and conditions
07:42 pm - Evening updates - I put the good news first!
LSU offers UNO, Tulane and Loyola students chance to enroll for school at the Baton Rouge campus to continue their learning, waiving most fees for those who have already paid other universities. --WWL-TV [edit] Many other schools are opening their doors to students. Contact your local university to see if they will accept you.
Looters have taken a fork-lift to peel open stores. They've been reported to be taking food and water. (I'm fine with that. It's the one who feel they need a big screen tv in a powerless city that drive me crazy.)
Floating body Uptown
5 p.m.
Neighbors in the area near Hickory and Short streets Uptown said a body has been floating nearby in five feet of water since the unidentified man was shot five times on Monday.
Neighbors said the shooting was reported, but police and other officials apparently have been unable to respond. --Times-Pic
[EDIT] Efforts to plug up the levee have failed again. The situation will be assessed again tomorrow.
[EDIT2] There are reports that the police have begun looting. It's hard to tell what is going on though. A lot of it seems legitimate, such as trucks and suvs to carry stuff around, and guns from stores. But then there are reports of cops breaking into atms. Not sure really what is going on.
[EDIT3] NOMA, and all the art inside, avoided the flood waters. The outside has some damage from trees, but the inside is untouched.
[EDIT4] Another detailed map of the flood area.
[EDIT5] There were fires in the french quarter today, but they were put out fast enough to prevent the fire from spreading. Rumor has it that the fire was caused by looters.
It was when authorities started to tell people they couldn't go home. :(
07:47 am - Here's a way to wake up
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Children's Hospital under siege
Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.
Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.
Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.
The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.
Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.
08:44 am - New Orleans folks cannot go back
Parish access and road information
11:22 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Parishes
St. Charles: Only St. Charles parish residents can return to their homes. There is no power, low fuel and no food. If you must return home, please bring supplies with you. Hwy 90, I-10, Hwy 3127 and Airline are all open. However, there is water on Airline near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.
Terrebonne: No road closures. Use Hwy 90 or the Sunshine Bridge.
Lafourche : As of 2 p.m. Monday, the curfew was lifted. Go directly to your homes. Hwy 1 is closed between Golden Meadow and Grande Isle.
St. James: Open to residents only.
St. John: Open to residents only. You need your ID.
Jefferson: You can return Monday with your ID. You will be allowed to collect your belongings and will not be allowed to return for a month.
Orleans: Closed. The Highrise is not safe to cross. Many parts of I-10 are flooded.
Plaqeumines: Closed.
St. Bernard: Closed.
St. Tammany: I-10 and the Twinspans are destroyed, but the Hwy 11 bridge is intact.
Washington: No information available. Lines are busy!
Tangiphoa: No information available. Lines are busy.
Other road information:
--Hwy 90 between Lafayette and St. Charles Parish line/Lafourche parish line is open.
--Hwy 308/Valentine, south of that area is closed.
--Hwy 3185 (Thibodeaux Bypass) is closed.
--La Bourg Larose Hwy is closed.
09:14 am
So begins today's updates in full. More to come through the day as I find them.
Engineers were discussing how to "unwater" the city. They said the first step to that is to close up the levee. As we know, political stupidity prevented that from happening yesterday. CNN reports that there is going to be another attempt today to sandbag the 17th st canal. Let's hope it works this time.
From there, they say they can drain about half an inch an hour. (That should be about a foot a day.) However, that is in perfect ideal conditions. Another report written before all this predicted that it would take about 9 weeks to completely drain the city. (For more fun and misery, read about how Bush repeatedly cut funding for the Army Corps of Engineers projects in New Orleans!)
You can only imagine what people are going to come back to after everything has been stagnating in filthy water for more than 2 months.
I also learned this morning that the levees were never designed to survive anything larger than category 3. I think I may have know this before, actually, but it's a scary reminder.
Also scary: looters. From what I've been reading, people hear gunshots all night. There were two reports about hospitals being attacked. On nola.com, I found a story about how the looters have taken the gun collection from the walmart uptown and there are gangs of armed men moving around the city taking whatever they please. They've become very bold, even shooting cops.
The police can't stop this because they are doing their best to save people who are trapped in their attics. There are not enough boats or rescuers to go around in the disaster.
The super dome is expected to be evacuated in about 2 days. No word yet on where these people are going to be moved to.
[EDIT] Link to map of a wet city
[EDIT2] Super Dome refugees are going to be taken to the Astro Dome in Houston.
[EDIT3] For those that drive, it's been reported that gas prices are expected to rise by as much as $1.10 by this weekend. So fill your tank up as soon as you can. I filled mine up on monday. Since then, the price has jumped more than 20 cents in some places. (The place I got gas from on monday was $2.69 and was $2.93 this morning.)
12:42 pm
There are conflicting reports. Some day water is rising, some say it is going down. Once I get some solid news, I'll let everyone know.
Charity and University hospitals have run out of fuel for their generators.
The airport is open now, but only for humanitarian efforts.
Here is just one of many places to let family and friends know you are safe and sound.
Armed gangs have been reported in the Carrollton area.
The westbank is overwhelmed by refugees. They said they are running out of food and clean water.
The buses from Houston to get the Super Dome refugees are on the way. Also, Dallas has announced that parents can enroll their chldren there for school.
Still no death toll for Louisiana. They are not going to even start counting. For now, they are marking homes with a red X if there is a body to be reclaimed later. Saving the living is priority.
Also, reports that power would be back in a month are optomistic. Now they are saying it will be more like 2-3 months.
[EDIT] Donnie has told me that Tulane's emergency site is back up. However, neither of us know if it is updating. Seems so, since it has the same info as the alternate site, but unsure.
[EDIT2] More reports of looters. Calls from people still in the city have said that all hell has broken loose. Gangs with guns can be heard all through the night breaking windows and shooting who knows what. This is not just breaking into a store for survival. These are disgusting people who are taking advantage of people who have already lost almost everything.
[EDIT3]The Navy is sending ships, including a hospital ship, and helicopters and other supplies and personnel from Norfolk to New Orleans to help out.
[EDIT4] Reports have come in that the water has stopped rising. It has equalized with the lake. This can change, it has been warned, but for now the water levels have stopped rising.
[EDIT5] Article with before and after pictures.
[EDIT6] Bush took a peek at the disaster from the safety of his plane today while on his way back to the White House. He's supposed to have something to say on it all at 5.
[EDIT7] I just watched a news report where a man told reporters that there was a body outside his house. The person had not drowned, he had been shot in the back of the head.
[EDIT8] I saw images from the area near Lebenons. Mostly dry, with a few wet areas. Nothing deeper than a foot. Lots of trees. The residents there were terrified though, due to very aggressive looters.
[EDIT9] Map being compiled of wet/dry areas and conditions
07:42 pm - Evening updates - I put the good news first!
LSU offers UNO, Tulane and Loyola students chance to enroll for school at the Baton Rouge campus to continue their learning, waiving most fees for those who have already paid other universities. --WWL-TV [edit] Many other schools are opening their doors to students. Contact your local university to see if they will accept you.
Looters have taken a fork-lift to peel open stores. They've been reported to be taking food and water. (I'm fine with that. It's the one who feel they need a big screen tv in a powerless city that drive me crazy.)
Floating body Uptown
5 p.m.
Neighbors in the area near Hickory and Short streets Uptown said a body has been floating nearby in five feet of water since the unidentified man was shot five times on Monday.
Neighbors said the shooting was reported, but police and other officials apparently have been unable to respond. --Times-Pic
[EDIT] Efforts to plug up the levee have failed again. The situation will be assessed again tomorrow.
[EDIT2] There are reports that the police have begun looting. It's hard to tell what is going on though. A lot of it seems legitimate, such as trucks and suvs to carry stuff around, and guns from stores. But then there are reports of cops breaking into atms. Not sure really what is going on.
[EDIT3] NOMA, and all the art inside, avoided the flood waters. The outside has some damage from trees, but the inside is untouched.
[EDIT4] Another detailed map of the flood area.
[EDIT5] There were fires in the french quarter today, but they were put out fast enough to prevent the fire from spreading. Rumor has it that the fire was caused by looters.