5 years ago today

[Tdog]

Well, lessee, it is roughly 5:45 AM. Five years ago at this time we still had electric power - - for another 15 minutes. Katrina's winds started here from the east, but switched to more northerly soon. I won't give a blow by blow [pun intended], but let me say that by 9 or so I knew it was pretty serious here when I began to see our metal roofing fly by, along with attic ventilators. We are a little over an hour north of New Orleans at 150' elevation, so I did not fear flooding. I didn't anticipate flooding through the roof.
Our insurance company treated us fairly & we came out as good or better than pre-K. We had a lot of help from family & friends too, for which we are forever thankful. We were so much better off than many of my close friends in New Orleans who lost all they left behind.
Just remembering & giving thanks for what we have.

Jack

 

[Bird]

Just remembering & giving thanks for what we have.

Yes, and many of us can be thankful that we've never gone through anything like that.

 

[tallyho8]

For me, , pretty much sums it up.

 

[MarkV]

I was thinking of members on TBN that were in Katrina's path as I watched some shows about the anniversary of the big blow this week. It is still hard to imagine what it must have been like for ya'll. We have some friends that lost their home in New Orleans to flooding and their beach house in Mississippi is now a slab on the shore line. Guess we all need to remember what can take a life time to build up can be gone over night.

MarkV

 

[milkman]

Watched a really good documentary Friday night with Brian Williams. There was a lot of footage that wasn't shown on TV before and really showed the devastation and misery that those people went through and some are still going through. It was hard to watch people with children and no aid at all for five days. When that was going on, I heard comments about the behavior of some of the people going through that, makes me wonder how some of the people with nasty critical comment would have acted in that situation.

 

[Big Bri]

Watched a really good documentary Friday night with Brian Williams. There was a lot of footage that wasn't shown on TV before and really showed the devastation and misery that those people went through and some are still going through. It was hard to watch people with children and no aid at all for five days. When that was going on, I heard comments about the behavior of some of the people going through that, makes me wonder how some of the people with nasty critical comment would have acted in that situation.

Well Most people left the city as they were instructed to do, Its hard for me to feel for the people who stayed. There is a section of our society that thrives on misery and destruction. these people stay and come into the city to loot. It happened during Andrew as well. Now i not saying that i don't feel for the ones who lost everything, that is a shame and i hope they get their lives back to order. But i have no feelings lost for those who stayed. In my mind its no different than the hiker who goes of the marked trail and gets lost, or the snow skier who goes off trail and tied up in and avalanche, or the boater who goes out in waters when their are warning not to do so. It makes me mad that our tax dollars go to save these fools and i feel the same about the ones who stayed in N.Orleans. Sorry for the rant but thats just how i feel.
thanks

 

[tallyho8]

I did not want to make a comment on this subject again but a previous comment has forced me to do so.

Never would I try to defend the actions of many of those who refused to evacuate so that they could stay and loot but I must once again comment on the situation that caused many to stay.

Many have forgotten that in June 2005 there was a large evacuation from the city with the threat of Tropical Storm Arlene. The news media played up this storm as being a highly unusual storm capable of causing tremendous damage which it failed to do. Many of the city's poorest lost a week's pay during this evacuation which they considered a complete waste of money.

In July 2005 Hurricane Cindy slammed the city and many more evacuated and lost another week's pay. Again the media hyped this storm as possibly being "the big one" making things sound much worse than they were.

When Katrina threatened the city again in August 2005 and the media said "this is the big one" many residents thought they were crying wolf and were too broke from the 2 previous evacuations to do it again.

A mandatory evacuation order was not given until the morning of August 28 and Katrina hit late that night making landfall at Grand Isle, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana in the early morning hours of August 29. There was no possible way to evacuate all of the remaining citizens after this order was given.

When the evacuation order was given, the computer models still said there was only a 29% chance that Katrina would directly strike New Orleans.

Over 80% of the population of the New Orleans area evacuated in the largest ever evacuation of an American city. Roads were clogged with bumper to bumper traffic with some people never moving even 1 mile in an hour. Many people could not even get out of their driveways due to the traffic.

Some people stayed to protect their valuables from looters which they feared worse than the hurricane.

Many elderly, crippled and poverty stricken simply had no possible means of evacuation.

Condemn the looters all you want, but before you can disparage all those who failed to evacuate you must come in touch with reality.

 

[texasjohn]

Well said, tallyho.

 

[Big Bri]

tallho,

i'm not trying to start and argument but the reality is hurricanes are dangerous, and people especially people who live on the gulf cost know of their dangers. there is much history no there dangers. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Galveston Island, Camille, Andrew, there are more but these are the ones we compare to.

I compare this to the people who die in wild fires CA who refuse to leave their homes.

I sorry but My life and the life of my loved ones in much more important than that of my possessions. If i lived in the path of the storm, or if i lived in a low area (below sea level) i would get out and get out quick.

i also can't feel sorry for these people when the city brings them into the super dome and they destroy it. Stealing anything not tied down flushing all sorts of crap down the toilets and stopping them up. Making demands and complaining about accommodations that they them selves got into by not leaving.

Again i do feel for the everyone who lost during the storm, but i can't feel for the ones who stayed.


[/FONT]

 

[crusty 1]

Living in nortern Minnesota I'll never know what a hurrican is like but we do have tornados and blizards and for me the urge to stay home and protect what I've spent a lifetime to make would cause me to stay put also.Just my opinion and we all know what there worth.Dave

 

[Tdog]

Geez - - guess what folks. Some people who stayed in New Orleans were not the most upstanding model citizens, but many more were very poor. Most of these people do not have a car or truck, & if they did, they may not have had money for a tank of gas [if they could find it by the time the mandatory evacuation order was given]. When they go to work or shopping, they take the bus or walk. If you are going to order people to leave who do not have the means to evacuate, then you need to provide an alternative. It was really really sad that all those RTA busses & school busses sat in their barns & flooded. The city & state can do better.
I did not intend this discussion to turn this way, AGAIN.

BTW, most of the Katrina coverage is past by now. The piece Brian Williams did was OK, but dealt mostly with New Orleans, the Superdome, the Convention Center, & the lower 9th ward. Almost no mention of Mississippi which had nothing left to rebuild or St. Bernard [95% under water]. The best documentary I saw was on the National Geographic Channel, called 'Witness Katrina'. They used lots of new-to-me footage shot by home video. I think it might be on again tomorrow sometime.

Jack

 

[ToadHill]

I just keep thinking of all the tax $$$'s that have been spent rebuilding places that in any other situation the government would tell us were wetlands. IT would be a violation of many laws to do any building or drainage on them.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I went and worked to restore power after the storm, not in New Orleans but in Lafayette, Kaplin, Erath, Abbeyville and many more small towns in Louisiana and was very impressed by the way that the people in those towns and rural areas worked to get things cleaned up and put their lives back together, I did'nt see one person in front of a tv camera screaming where is the government like you did in New Orleans, they were working on putting their homes and lives back together. There were those who needed help such as nursing homes and old people who could not do for themselves and yes I do believe more should have been done for those, but there is entirely to many grown people who have never had to accept responsibility for themselves,they thrive off of welfare,government housing,free public transportation and the list goes on and on, it comes as no suprise that many sat back and waited for someone else to step in and take care of them as they have their whole lives, this time with disasterous consequences.

 

[tallyho8]

Just remember, the billions of dollars the gov't is spending to rebuild the coast is but a small amount of the billions of dollars that it has received from the sales of oil leases off the coast that have rigs that are built, maintained and supplied by businesses and people who must live by the coast in order to do so. Just money that came from this region and is being returned to it.

Sorry Tdog, it was 100% of the homes in St Bernard Parish that flooded, not 95%.

I know many of you are not happy about some of the circumstances surrounding the devastation and attempted rebuilding of the coast but this was one of the largest calamities America ever had to endure and no matter what happened or how it was handled, there was no way that everyone would have been satisfied with the outcome.

I could tell you many stories that would shock you into reality and possibly change your perception of the situation but this thread would immediately be locked and deleted.

Jack, once again I am sorry that we have turned your thread into a debate and I ought to have the sense to know that there is no way that I could describe the situation to someone who lives in a different world and has never witnessed such a tragedy first hand. The news media did such a superb job of showing all the lawlessness and disgusting antics of some that many who only witnessed it on TV believe they saw the whole story and that no one on the coast is worth saving.

I am the first one to say that I am disgraced that none of the criminals who committed such vile acts during this tragedy were ever prosecuted and that the only major prosecutions brought forth so far have been against many of our first responders who risked their lives to stay and help others.

 

[nap61]

Bri,
Thanks. I am almost finished building my new home North of Lake Pontchartrain. I took so long because I had to sue my insurance co. I still have the N.O. house up for sale if anyone wants a nice fixer upper.
I agree with you. The money went to those who didn't get insurance and were not responsible. The one who did what was necessary to protect themselves, their families, and property with insurance (me included) got ZIP.
However, the leeves were designed improperly (L walls instead of T walls), were negligently constructed (wrong datum used so that they were too low and sheet pilings not driven to spec), and were not maintained by local authorities.

Norm

 

[Big Bri]

Bri,
Thanks. I am almost finished building my new home North of Lake Pontchartrain. I took so long because I had to sue my insurance co. I still have the N.O. house up for sale if anyone wants a nice fixer upper.
I agree with you. The money went to those who didn't get insurance and were not responsible. The one who did what was necessary to protect themselves, their families, and property with insurance (me included) got ZIP.
However, the leeves were designed improperly (L walls instead of T walls), were negligently constructed (wrong datum used so that they were too low and sheet pilings not driven to spec), and were not maintained by local authorities.

Norm

Norm i too had problems with my insurance. i got lucky with my house only 1 broken window and a couple pieces of siding missing (didn't make a claim)
I did loose one of my stores though. The winds took off the entire roof, all that was left were the walls and a few rafters. Every thing in the store got wet. With in 2 days all the acoustic guitars had split, all the drum's were becoming unraveled, all the books and sheet music gone, every thing electronic shot. Insurance company sold off all the inventory as "scrap" and then under paid us by 45k. Took a lot of phone calls from myself and one form a lawyer before they paid the claim. this was the first claim i had ever made car, house, or business scene i started buying insurance.

 

[nap61]

Tallyho,
I remember when I was younger, they were planning MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet). I can still recall Blackie Campo, an oldtime dock owner and leader in the fishing community, railing on TV about what would happen if they build it. Later, when I had my boat and started fishing in the Shell Beach area, I realized how prophetic he was. When they built MRGO, the channel markers were on posts on land. By the time I started fishing there, most of the shoreline was 1 to 3 blocks from the marker posts. We would be in one of the back bayous and when a large ship passed in MRGO, the water would be sucked out and our boat would hit bottom before the water came back. The water from MRGO was what flooded my house in N.O. East. MRGO was like a pipeline into N.O.

Norm

PS
When you launched at Blackie's and went to Lake Borgne, You would ride parallel to the road that used to go to and along Lake Borgne that was cut by MRGO. The lake had many camps that were eventually abandoned because the only way to get to them was by water.

Norm