Hurricane Katrina

[Little Red Henski]

Even Mr. Bill Knew the Levees Wouldn't Hold

[Prince Eric]

He didn't say whites were being racist to black people.He just said Bush was being racist if I recall. The reason Kayne didn't help out the victims in Hurricane Dennis or any other hurricanes in Florida was because they didn't do much damage as Hurricane Katrina.

So I guess the demolition of many parts of Pensacola by Ivan and Dennis wasn't damaging? I guess Punta Gorda's near entire destruction by Charley was okay? What about the destruction of many houses near Vero Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Stuart, by Frances and Jeanne wasn't devastating either. I guess the thousands that died in Haiti because of Hurricane Jeanne wasn't important either.

The 5 major hurricanes and 2 tropical storms (not including Katrina) that have hit Flordia over the past year and a half, have torn Florida's tourism economy, destroyed many citrus crops, by both wind damage, and the spread of the canker disease, has cost Florida and the U.S. more money than any other natural disaster in United States history. It has also changed the lives of millions of people.

I'm not quite sure you understand the gravity of the situation. This is the WORST single natural disaster in the history of the United States of America. A major city has been evacuated, and the majority trapped inside African-Americans. No hurricane or tropical storm has had to relocate an entire population of 500,000 people, and none have caused a death toll as great as Katrina.

[castleinthesky]

I'm not quite sure you understand the gravity of the situation. This is the WORST single natural disaster in the history of the United States of America. A major city has been evacuated, and the majority trapped inside African-Americans. No hurricane or tropical storm has had to relocate an entire population of 500,000 people, and none have caused a death toll as great as Katrina.

Firstly, if this hurricane wouldn't of hit New Orleans, but lets say hit Georgia and South Carolina, it wouldn't of killed so many people or demolished so many things. The reason that Katrina was so bad is because New Orleans leeves, should of been larger and stronger.

The people of New Orleans knew years ago that if a hurricane stronger than category 3 hit the city, the leeves would break. Days (4-5) before the hurricane hit, when the hurricane was over south Florida, the people of New Orleans knew it there would be a good chance the hurricane would head their way. Once the hurricane got to the gulf, the landfall area closed from the Texas/Lousisiana border to Mobile. The people didn't head the early warnings. Jim Cantore (of the weather channel) said the people in New Orleans were unprepared. He said if was Florida, it would of been a ghostown days ahead , but in New Orleans it was gridlock with people trying to leave the city, with 24 hours and less hours until the storm would hit. The residents were saying that the storm is gonna miss them, its always done so before, and even then, they said how bad could it be? They were unprepared. During Hurricane Frances, 2.8 million people in South and Central Florida evacuted, the largest in United States history for a hurricane, and Frances was only Category 3! But yet, somehow the people in the greater New Orleans area didn't decide to evacuate. They had enough time to get some sort of transportation out of the city. The city also had a mandatory evacuation. I thought "Mandatory meant you had to get out of the area, you cannot stay". In Florida, that's what it means. Instead of letting everyone in the superdome, the New Orleans officials should of gotten the people out of the city, even if that would of taken time. Karen Tumulty of Time magazine stated "New Orleans allowed development for decades that actually weakened the barrier islands and encouraged erosion. It clearly did not have an adequate evacuation plan, even though the city was fully aware that over 100,000 people there don't have cars." All in all, there was time for nearly every citizen to evacuate somehow, but the citizens and the city government did not handle the situation correctly, by any means.

[Isidour]

many plataforms...

I bet that in these comming months Bush will desesperately look for "secure" Irak and get all that petroleum

Anyway, I support to the New Orleans´s gobernator,that´s what Bush should do instead of going to vacations

[Prince Eric]

I'm not quite sure you understand the gravity of the situation. This is the WORST single natural disaster in the history of the United States of America. A major city has been evacuated, and the majority trapped inside African-Americans. No hurricane or tropical storm has had to relocate an entire population of 500,000 people, and none have caused a death toll as great as Katrina.

Firstly, if this hurricane wouldn't of hit New Orleans, but lets say hit Georgia and South Carolina, it wouldn't of killed so many people or demolished so many things. The reason that Katrina was so bad is because New Orleans leeves, should of been larger and stronger.

The people of New Orleans knew years ago that if a hurricane stronger than category 3 hit the city, the leeves would break. Days (4-5) before the hurricane hit, when the hurricane was over south Florida, the people of New Orleans knew it there would be a good chance the hurricane would head their way. Once the hurricane got to the gulf, the landfall area closed from the Texas/Lousisiana border to Mobile. The people didn't head the early warnings. Jim Cantore (of the weather channel) said the people in New Orleans were unprepared. He said if was Florida, it would of been a ghostown days ahead , but in New Orleans it was gridlock with people trying to leave the city, with 24 hours and less hours until the storm would hit. The residents were saying that the storm is gonna miss them, its always done so before, and even then, they said how bad could it be? They were unprepared. During Hurricane Frances, 2.8 million people in South and Central Florida evacuted, the largest in United States history for a hurricane, and Frances was only Category 3! But yet, somehow the people in the greater New Orleans area didn't decide to evacuate. They had enough time to get some sort of transportation out of the city. The city also had a mandatory evacuation. I thought "Mandatory meant you had to get out of the area, you cannot stay". In Florida, that's what it means. Instead of letting everyone in the superdome, the New Orleans officials should of gotten the people out of the city, even if that would of taken time. Karen Tumulty of Time magazine stated "New Orleans allowed development for decades that actually weakened the barrier islands and encouraged erosion. It clearly did not have an adequate evacuation plan, even though the city was fully aware that over 100,000 people there don't have cars." All in all, there was time for nearly every citizen to evacuate somehow, but the citizens and the city government did not handle the situation correctly, by any means.

Pretty much everything you said is very wrong. First of all, the upper and middle classes of New Orleans left days before the actual Hurricance hit. The slums of New Orleans, the people who could NOT AFFORD to get out, had no choice but to head over to the Superdome. If 1/4 of the population doesn't have a car, and relies on public transportation, there is virutally no way to get out. Yeah, Florida would have been a ghost town. Why? Becuase EVERY hurricane practically hits them. If something has never happened before, than it's understandable that people would have some reservations about leaving all that they've ever known.

[Lightyear]

Nothing he said was wrong... This is something that's been in the making for many years.. They were well aware, well forwarned of the chaos a class 4 or 5 hurricane would bring. Those who stayed, stayed because they didn't want to leave. Some had medical issues, and should have been taken care of by local and federal govt. to get them out. They had well over a week to evacuate the city. The majority of those who decided to stay, did free willingly. They chose to ride the storm out. It's unfortunate that the circumstances that followed has left them in a situation like so.

The govornment is soley responsible for it's slow and lacking response, even if they were caught of guard by the impact the storm had and unknowing if the levees would break or not. They by all means have the ability and man power to step up and step in at a moment's notice.. it seems they took it too slow. The local state should have spent more time and effort ensuring the wetlands preservation, and the upkeeping and bettering of the levee system.

The lower class and slum areas you reference. I'll entertain the idea that they had a more difficult time of evacuation, but it's not an issue of affording it or not. All classes have vehicles, understanding higher class will have more per person. But the ability to remove yourself from a deadly situation is not unobtainable in any class rank. And those who stayed and went to the dome were assured a safe haven, that turned into anything but.

This is I don't feel an act of racism... I saw pictures of all creeds suffering, all genders. All ages. What it was , and has been in any city, an act of ignorance for mother nature. We feel that if we build houses and cities and the like, that mother nature cannot hurt us anymore, we as a whole ignore the warnings, ingore the possible threats.. we feel safe in our city, in our homes. The government and local governments fell prey to this very ignornace. Instead of worrying how to make sure mardi gra went over well or if the saints have a place to play.. they should have been worrying about how to protect a city that's below sea level from mother nature's wrath.

This is a painful lesson learned .. one that I hope doesn't need repeating to get the point across.

[Prince Eric]

I'm not saying it's a case of racism. Obviously you guys aren't in Houston, where we're getting tons of interviews daily from the 25,000+ refugees in the Astrodome. The people in the Superdome had no way out. They didn't have cars. They had no money for hotels. There were no shelters, prior to the storm, so where were they going to stay. Most were not aware of the so-called obvious-this-is-going-to-happen-eventually crisis for reasons I don't really care to explain. The fact IS THIS: IT HAPPENED. THe people are no more to blame than the damaged houses. Maybe people should spend more time learning the humanities and learning how to feel rather than being controlled by empirical evidence that we all know is constantly changing.

[CJ]

Here is an interesting article and picture:

THEY HAD A PLAN

They just didn't follow it. So they were planning to fail. By "they," I mean pretty much every government official in Louisiana, and by "plan," I mean a signed-off set of procedures they were supposed to follow in the event of a catastrophic hurricane. You know, like the one that just hit. And by "fail" I mean complete catastrophic failure.

Here's the southeast Louisiana evac plan supplement, most recently revised in 2000. Go to page 13, read paragraph 5. It states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

These are the buses that could have been used to evacuate the people of New Orleans that couldn't afford to get out. Now the buses are completely ruined by the floodwaters.

The rest of the article, take a look if you have the time:
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2 ... tml#004752

[Little Red Henski]

Yeah, I'm sure race was no factor in the President's lack of caring. I can't imangine White people being left on the roofs of there houses for 5 days with no food or water. You White people have no idea how those images make us feel.

[Lightyear]

Yeah, I'm sure race was no factor in the President's lack of caring. I can't imangine White people being left on the roofs of there houses for 5 days with no food or water. You White people have no idea how those images make us feel.

Great retort.. Declare racism, but spewing racism.

[Little Red Henski]

What racism Jack A--?

[castleinthesky]

What racism Jack A--?

Its called reverse racism. When African people believe that people are being racist against them, while those people really arn't, which in turn makes those people feel they have discriminated.

There are more than just African people in the affected areas. There are Caucasians, Asians, and most likely Pacific Islanders and Native Americas, which make up the 5 races of the world.

[Prince Eric]

What racism Jack A--?

Its called reverse racism. When African people believe that people are being racist against them, while those people really arn't, which in turn makes those people feel they have discriminated.

There are more than just African people in the affected areas. There are Caucasians, Asians, and most likely Pacific Islanders and Native Americas, which make up the 5 races of the world.

In the world of anthropology, there is no such thing. Until prejudice is acted upon, it's not racism. Until someone is detrimentally effected, either physically, morally, socially, spirtually, or economically, than it's just prejudice, nnot racist. Again, I don't think this is a race issue, but if it is, it's black America that's once again getting the short end of the stick.

[Little Red Henski]

Those people were not Africans. Most of them were Americans who just happen to be Black.

[castleinthesky]

Those people were not Africans. Most of them were Americans who just happen to be Black.

African is a race, not a nationality. If I was talking about nationality I would of said American. There is a huge difference between race and nationality.

[Little Red Henski]

African is not a race. There are White People who also come from Africa.

[chaychay102royal]

African is not a race. There are White People who also come from Africa.

It's Caucasian. No, I'm kidding--sort of--but really, when most people talk about Africans they mean the Negros whose skin is dark colored, most commonly known as "black."

I'm sorry if I am being rude or disrespectful--I mean no disrespect against the Negros, but I am getting a little tired of hearing how "racist" the President is because he hasn't sent anybody to Louisana "fast enough." Perhaps it's just me, but I was under the impression that Negro is sometimes considered a racist word...? I almost never hear it nowadays.

[Little Red Henski]

My race is called Negro. My Parents came to this country from Haiti and became naturalized American citizens not African American citizens. My blood is actually more European than African. I don’t have any Africans in my family going 7 generations back.

[castleinthesky]

African is not a race. There are White People who also come from Africa.

Again, you are mistaken. I am talking about the race, not nationality. There is a difference. For example, you can be African and live in the United Kingdom. You can be Caucasian and live in Ethiopia. You can be Asian and live in Canada. Nationality is where you live. Race however is where your family's to say the less "color" is from. Ethnic Background is where your family is from, which could be said that it is a branch leading up to race. For example the Irish are Caucasian. The Ethiopian are African., etc.

[Little Red Henski]

Please do not call me an African.