Hurricane Katrina

[neptunesurvey]

Sometime during your life everyone will have a moment that will change their life. Some of you know what I'm talking about. It could be the birth of a child, an accident, marriage, death in the family, a natural diaster, etc. In my case I have 2 moments like that and now I can add a 3rd one.

Some of you know where I work and live since I do business with some of you and I concider some of you as friends. My home is located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 50 miles from New Orleans, La and 25 miles from Gulfport, MS and a couple of miles from the coast and the towns of Waveland and Bay St. Louis. I work at Stennis Space Center, where booster engines get tested, and the Naval Oceanographic Office is located which is where I work as an oceanographer/marine biologist. As of this moment I do not know if I have a home or a place of work left since the eye passed over both locations. No information is coming out so I have no idea whats going on. To be honest, I don't expected to have a house left standing.

A moment like this makes you think of what is important in life. Luckily I can say that I was able to leave the area and my family and a few people I know are safe. I was lucky also to have a good friend in Florida that is letting me stay with him. I am lucky in this regard but then there are so many that are not. Just take a moment to wish everyone luck or a prayer. Thank you.

Marc Remy

[Sephiroth]

You have my prayers, buddy. I hope everything is okay and that the storm did not damage your property.

[nightmareB4macross]

My thoughts and prayers are with you my friend.

[Rider Faiz]

I don't know you, but my thoughts and prayers are with you and all those that have been effected by the hurricane.

-RF

[Flaming Guantlet]

Though I know you not, I wish you nuttin but good forture.

[Anubis]

I was at Keesler AFB for a few months in Biloxi. Went to New Orleans a couple of times too, so it's places I've seen that have been affected. Adds another dimension when you think of things you've seen taking damage like that.

Lots of luck to you down there.

[Zor Primus]

I wrote this the day after the hurricane passed over Miami. We only had a fraction of the destruction my neighbors in LA & MS faced, my thoughts and prayers goes out to them all. I lived through Andrew and know how incredible a powerful hurricane can truelly be.

At around 7:30pm the weather was pretty bad, wind gusts were in the high 40's. I was on the phone with my brother talking and he was like "Looks like you guys are gonna get some bad stuff..." I denied it foolishly because the center of the storm was well north of me closer to him in Ft. Lauderdale. So after the power went out around or after 8pm and the wind was picking up. Nothing too bad, probably gusts of around 60ish mph. That however was enough to knock out a window. Didn't have time to do much though so we ran to the garage and grabbed an old 30mph speedlimit sign that ironically I've had since Hurricane Andrew to place over the window. We thought the worse was over...boy were we in for a kicker.

There was a pause shortly after, drizzling rain with a constant breeze, we all thought we were just in between feeder bands, wrong! After about a half hour things got hectic. We had sat down to drink another bottle of wine and play a hand of dominoes when the wind got VERY strong. We started hearing debris flying around outside. By this time we heard that the storm had made a jog to the south-southwest and that pause we saw was actually the eye and the strongest part of the storm was hitting us directly. Our make shift window blew off and we had to run over there to keep the sign in place while we thought of something. Some quick thinking we got a small table and placed it over the window, bracing it in place with two crutches! Pics to come on that Mcguyver rig!

Window secure the house soon started getting flooded, not too bad but enough to take the kitchen, dining room and Florida room. The wind was blowing constant now at least 80+mph. We heard the howling wind and heard the pelting rain. We stood by the front door and watched as the palm trees bent hard against the wind. This was the longest part of the night, about 2 hours worth of storm. Katrina was a slow moving hurricane, 6mph. So we had the core pass over us in about an hour and half then the last half hour the stronger tropical storm force winds.

It didnt really end there, just the bad stuff continued to move south while we had the constant 40mph winds with some higher gusts all night long. As we came outside to take a look during a weaker cell we noticed that this huge tree that has stood since even before Andrew was no more. All that was left was half a trunk about 6 feet high. The rest of the tree had peeled off like a banana and shredded to hell (pics coming!).

So with no power and little to do we called it a night at around 2am. Woke up this morning drenched in sweat but determined to see the full extent of the damage.

My backyard looks like a bomb hit it. We had two gazebos that are more mangled and twisted then a pretzel. There is debris everywhere including two more of those huge palm frongs that luckily this time did not spear through any windows. We're telling the neighbors to the tree down.

I went out in my car for a drive, and saw an insane amount of trees and branches down. Some trees uprooted so much they lifted the sidewalk with them. I will be posting pics up soon.

My fiance and I in front of my house.

[zeo-mare]

wow unbelievable picture, i am glad i am in Massachusetts we are just going to get a lot of rain here, we are overdue for a good hurricane, it has been a while since the last good one we have had, i can say i am not looking forward to it however. I am glad you two are ok

Edited August 31, 2005 by zeo-mare

[Mr March]

I'm glad both of you have survived and those you can account for are safe. I've belonged to a few online communities in the past when members have died, so it releives me to hear everyone here at MacrossWorld is safe.

You have my sincere wishes all turns out well for you.

[JB0]

Good luck, neptune.

...

Was watching the news... New Orleans may as well have been nuked for all the damage that's been done. Hurricane broke the levees, and the city was below sea level to start with.

Parts of the city are under more than twenty feet of water, and water's STILL flowing in.

I'm not sure they CAN rebuild.

Looks to me like the city'll have to be moved and restarted.

[GreenGuy42]

My feelings are with ya, man.

One of my best friends here lives (lived) in Lakeview. Hell, I stayed with his family not more than two weeks ago on my way back to school... can't believe it's all submerged under, what, fifteen feet of lakewater?

[Pat Payne]

Hope all of your loved ones are safe, Neptune. I've been watching the coverage of the aftermath on the news, and all those people who compared it to the Christmas tsunami in Asia are spot on.

Stay safe, and my prayers go out to you, and yours, and to the city of New Orleans in general.

and JBO: They'll rebuild. New Orleans has had to survive events like this before. They've survived hurricanes, floods, two wars, and pirate raids.

Edited August 31, 2005 by Pat Payne

[VF-0S FAN]

All my thoughts go towards those who are concerned

[jardann]

I'm glad that you and your family are safe. Many others are not so lucky. My prayers go out for you and everyone affected by this disaster.

Good luck and if you hear of anyway we can help, you or others in the area, please post the info so that some of us can participate in the relief effort.

[JB0]

and JBO: They'll rebuild. New Orleans has had to survive events like this before. They've survived hurricanes, floods, two wars, and pirate raids.

324746[/snapback]

I don't think they've survived anything quite on this level The city's at the bottom of a lake now.

I'm sure they'll rebuild. But it'll likely be from the ground up. And unless they're just absurdly stubbon(quite possible, really) it'll be on ground a little higher.

[Goshawk]

Hey guys, I finally got an internet connection via dial up, but hey it works. I am also in the same condition, but I live in Slidell, La and my wife works at Stennis Space Center too. Thought we do know that there was possiblity to "extensive" damage to it. My wife is worried that she may not be able to return to work and she works up in Center ops Area

We have been stuck in Lafayette, La since Saterday when we came up with our local Anime group for Mechacon. Luckly the hotel that we have been staying at has been really good with us and allowing us to have the same rate we got for the con. *whew*

Though me and 2 other guys are going to head back to Slidell to see if our homes are still up, I hope they are for the most part. here is a link to a set of forums and pics from the Covington and Slidell area.

Slidell and Convington pics

once I get home I will know more and how things are shaping up, but it looks like a min. of 2 months before we can head back.

Zor, glad to here you guys made it ok.

[Roy Focker]

I knew was eventually going to happen five years ago. I took a class in geology. The instructor was a professional geologist for the state government who decided to try teaching on the side this was his first class. He explained to us the situation of what would eventually happen. Which it just did.

[Skull Leader]

It's hard to fathom the devistation that has been brought about... It's bringing out both the best and worst in humanity down there (looters should all be shot on sight if they're snagging anything other than survival gear or food)

I'd love to volunteer to go down and help out, but I don't think the police dept. I work for will organize anything like that, since we're shorthanded at the moment. The last dept. I worked for organized a volunteer crew to go to NY for a week after 9/11.

[Blaine23]

Sorry to hear you guys might not have a home or job left. I feel for you.

I live in Memphis and we've got about 10,000 from the damaged area already with more pouring in.

The only real consulation is knowing, "this too, shall pass."

[Sumdumgai]

It's hard to fathom the devistation that has been brought about... It's bringing out both the best and worst in humanity down there (looters should all be shot on sight if they're snagging anything other than survival gear or food)

I'd love to volunteer to go down and help out, but I don't think the police dept. I work for will organize anything like that, since we're shorthanded at the moment. The last dept. I worked for organized a volunteer crew to go to NY for a week after 9/11.

325089[/snapback]

At first I didn't spare Hurrican Katrina news a glance, because I just saw it as "oh another hurricane, everything will be fine". Then I saw a BIG headline on CNN.com, and I started reading through all the articles. Holy s***.

Looters and gangs that attack the evacuees should be shot, with intent to kill. Seriously, people shooting at the helicopters sent to evacuate? Ambulances turned over for looting? They stole a generator from a hospital. [shakes head] Those are examples of the worst of humanity.

It's great that there are so many people that do help out though (like you and your old dept.).

The news here in France is way behind. My wife got in an argument with her brother, because when she told him how 80% of NO is underwater, he was like "no way, the news said that the city was barely flooded, and that only one levee was breached". I'm waiting to watch the news at this very moment to see how they're reporting it on French TV.

It's good hearing that some MW members are safe and survived. I hope we didn't lose anyone.

[Metal_Massacre_79]

Looters and gangs that attack the evacuees should be shot, with intent to kill.  Seriously, people shooting at the helicopters sent to evacuate?  Ambulances turned over for looting?  They stole a generator from a hospital. [shakes head]  Those are examples of the worst of humanity.

325106[/snapback]

My thoughts exactly! Here are people that are trying to help, and they turn around and do this? WTF? These kind of people are the decay of society, and mean the end of our species. They need to be eliminated from the gene pool.

[kalvasflam]

It's so sad to see this lawlessness running around when there are so many people that actually need help.

Saw a sheriff that commented to Fox News that he wanted to shot some of the looters, and then just place a nice tag on them that said: "LOOTER" Hard to disagree with that kind of sentiment.

Hopefully the national guard will be able to stabilize the situation today. And if they happen to shot some of these roving gangs, well, that's not a big deal. I'm surprised the governor didn't declare martial law yesterday, but that might be because they didn't have anything to enforce it with.

[Golden Arms]

I can understand people looting for food, Medical supplies, clean clothes , necesseties of life, but other than that no way. The situation is worse than the news is showing because there are corpses floating everywhere. In NO they don't bury the dead in the ground. Also all of the water that people are travellning through is contaminated with sewage.

[Kin]

I can understand people looting for food, Medical supplies, clean clothes , necesseties of life,  but other than that no way.  The situation is worse than the news is showing because there are corpses floating everywhere.  In NO they don't bury the dead in the ground.  Also all of the water that people are travellning through is contaminated with sewage.

325117[/snapback]

Sometimes I wonder.... that cop with tha shotgun... does he got enough guts to shoot down looters..

[Metal_Massacre_79]

Stealing food and medical supplies is one thing. But when you have an entire trunk full of beer, that's going too far. And the people taking the TV's are the biggest idiots. I don't think the water filled TV's are going to work too well now.

[Kin]

What hurts me the most watching those video's.. they're always filming black people doing bad things.

[JB0]

What hurts me the most watching those video's.. they're always filming black people doing bad things.

325156[/snapback]

If I recall, most of NO IS black.

[Sumdumgai]

Okay I saw the news here in France a little while ago. Please tell me, because I could not find anything confirming this on CNN.com.

Did Bush say that the US would not accept any foreign aid? Because that's what the French news is reporting, and after seeing how the French report stuff, I'm wondering if they made it up or what (the journalists here like to insert their own political views into things, and aren't afraid to omit or make up info).

But actually seeing video footage is just a blow to the gut. Up till now I've only seen pictures, actually seeing footage of the destruction is just overwhelming. I don't personally know anyone out there, but man it just boggles my mind that a large city (my point of reference is Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo) could be 80% underwater, with smaller surrounding cities completely wiped out.

I'm really surprised that martial law hasn't been declared too. What has me rather annoyed though, is that there's all these large groups of people with no one taking charge and organizing things.

People are complaining about dead bodies being left to rot, but come on! If someone dies, don't just leave them in the middle of the superdome or in the middle of the road scattered all over! Organize groups to carry the dead out to a particular area, and after a certain amount, you burn the bodies to reduce risks of epidemics and to make sure you're not sleeping amongst decaying corpses. And if you can't burn the bodies, at least make sure that the bodies get piled up away from the living areas. Things are worse than they could be, because there's such disorganization. I gotta say that if this kind of thing happened in Japan, there would be a lot less deaths and problems. Those people are so damned organized and rule abiding I wouldn't have beleived it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

If something like this happened in Paris, the city and everyone in it would be dead within a week. If the flood and collapsing buildings doesn't kill everyone, than the anarchy would. I won't go into the details why because that would get political.

[Rune]

What hurts me the most watching those video's.. they're always filming black people doing bad things.

325156[/snapback]

Well since I am not going to Iraq (right away) I assume I will be called up soon and that is why I joined to help my country in it's time of need. Wonder where the international community is as far as helping us when we need it instead of kicking us when we are down.

And I hope it is a shot to kill policy for all those who are looting things other then survival needs. Because lets be honest as soon as the supplies run out (AND THEY WILL) those people who have just avoided the thugs are going to be in thier sites next and I swear to goodness that is when a lot of problems will really start.

[Rune]

Okay I saw the news here in France a little while ago. Please tell me, because I could not find anything confirming this on CNN.com.

Did Bush say that the US would not accept any foreign aid?  Because that's what the French news is reporting, and after seeing how the French report stuff, I'm wondering if they made it up or what (the journalists here like to insert their own political views into things, and aren't afraid to omit or make up info).

But actually seeing video footage is just a blow to the gut.  Up till now I've only seen pictures, actually seeing footage of the destruction is just overwhelming.  I don't personally know anyone out there, but man it just boggles my mind that a large city (my point of reference is Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo) could be 80% underwater, with smaller surrounding cities completely wiped out.

I'm really surprised that martial law hasn't been declared too.  What has me rather annoyed though, is that there's all these large groups of people with no one taking charge and organizing things. 

People are complaining about dead bodies being left to rot, but come on!  If someone dies, don't just leave them in the middle of the superdome or in the middle of the road scattered all over!  Organize groups to carry the dead out to a particular area, and after a certain amount, you burn the bodies to reduce risks of epidemics and to make sure you're not sleeping amongst decaying corpses.  And if you can't burn the bodies, at least make sure that the bodies get piled up away from the living areas.   Things are worse than they could be, because there's such disorganization.  I gotta say that if this kind of thing happened in Japan, there would be a lot less deaths and problems.  Those people are so damned organized and rule abiding I wouldn't have beleived it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

If something like this happened in Paris, the city and everyone in it would be dead within a week.  If the flood and collapsing buildings doesn't kill everyone, than the anarchy would.  I won't go into the details why because that would get political.

325159[/snapback]

It would be an extremely bad PR move if we did not accept any help and quit frankly makes absolutly no sense at all considering the financial instabilty of our country right now. If the French press is reporting that then I guess they have sunk to an all time low.

[kalvasflam]

It would be kind of weird for the US govt to say no to foreign aid outright. What the likely answer might be we're evaulating what's going on, and then let you know what we think we need, and where we think you can best help.

It's a pretty reasonable response, and about what's expected in situations like this. There are things that are needed, and there are stuff that's pointless, but you need some time to evaluate regardless.

But putting that aside for a moment, how much could the French realistically do? I can see rescue teams as plausible, may be food/water. But the latter is a question of logistics. Probably a lot faster to ship stuff from within continental US than from Europe. The one thing that would be useful immediately is probably money, again, that's not a likely offer considering the economic situation in Europe right now, which is far worse than the US.

Apologies, starting to get off topic here.

Outside of this, the cop with the shot gun might have done the smart thing. As much as I'd love to see these looters shot, there was no way he could be sure that others with guns might not shot back, no way of knowing how much backup the cop had.

It's just sad.

[JB0]

Okay I saw the news here in France a little while ago. Please tell me, because I could not find anything confirming this on CNN.com.

Did Bush say that the US would not accept any foreign aid?  Because that's what the French news is reporting, and after seeing how the French report stuff, I'm wondering if they made it up or what (the journalists here like to insert their own political views into things, and aren't afraid to omit or make up info).

I haven't heard any such announcement. And my brief Google search doesn't turn anything like that up.

I HAVE heard some in the US complaining because very few nations have offered aid, though.

It DOES seem like something of a slap in the face, given that we routinely offer aid up every time something happens internationally(and often get criticized for either not doing enough or butting in where we don't belong).

But actually seeing video footage is just a blow to the gut.  Up till now I've only seen pictures, actually seeing footage of the destruction is just overwhelming.  I don't personally know anyone out there, but man it just boggles my mind that a large city (my point of reference is Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo) could be 80% underwater, with smaller surrounding cities completely wiped out.

Yah... it's staggering to consider.

I'm really surprised that martial law hasn't been declared too.  What has me rather annoyed though, is that there's all these large groups of people with no one taking charge and organizing things.

It essentially has been.

Louisiana law doesn't have provisions for anything CALLED martial law, but they DO have provisions in their state of emergency laws that serve a similar effect, and state of emergency was declared last friday.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005...martial-law.php

People are complaining about dead bodies being left to rot, but come on!  If someone dies, don't just leave them in the middle of the superdome or in the middle of the road scattered all over!  Organize groups to carry the dead out to a particular area, and after a certain amount, you burn the bodies to reduce risks of epidemics and to make sure you're not sleeping amongst decaying corpses.  And if you can't burn the bodies, at least make sure that the bodies get piled up away from the living areas.   Things are worse than they could be, because there's such disorganization. 

Well, part of it is that it isn't JUST the people that died in the hurricane and aftermath.

New Orleans doesn't bury their dead, because they tend to rise back up during the next rainstorm. They keep them in above-ground mausoleums.

Mausoleums which were inundated in the same flood waters as everything else. So basically every dead person in NO is out there bobbing around now.

I gotta say that if this kind of thing happened in Japan, there would be a lot less deaths and problems.  Those people are so damned organized and rule abiding I wouldn't have beleived it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

If something like this happened in Paris, the city and everyone in it would be dead within a week.  If the flood and collapsing buildings doesn't kill everyone, than the anarchy would.  I won't go into the details why because that would get political.

Every culture handles things a little diffrently.

It's really one of the interesting things about people, how diffrently 2 groups will approach the same situaiton.

[Major Johnathan]

No, there was no refusal of aid. It's just a hell of a lot quicker getting supplies into the affected areas with home grown help. Now if France and other nations want to come up with creative ideas to get more gasoline and aviation fuel at any kind of reasonable prices, that would truely be helpful, no kidding.

Fuel shortages are happening all over the region, even flights out of major airports are running out of aviation fuel. I remember way back when(a week ago) that the possiblity of $3 gas seemed bad. It's that much here in the Norht East, far from the Gulf Coast. It's $5~6 in some areas close to Hurricane zone, if you can find any. (I know you Europeans pay a bunch for gas, but European nations and the U.S. economies are very different, reasonablly cheap gas is a huge factor in the U.S. economy.)

I'm all for ethanol, Hydrogen fuel cells and anything else. I'm getting really sick of gasoline hanging over our heads like a guillotine. If they can formulate ethanol for diesel engines, why not gas engines? What more do we need to say it's time for some major, MAJOR changes in our energy/fuel uses. I understand the Hydrogen fuel is about a decade away from becoming common place energy, can't we speed that up a bit? I wish ethanol would work out, I'd much rather be dependent on the Midwest than places like the Mideast.

Oh well, we're all doomed anyway I guess. The Road Warrior scenario is coming true.

[Golden Arms]

Preach on. Whats so sad is that its our leaders that have left us in this precocious predicament. The Middle East oil manufactures have the US president in there back pocket. The presidents solution-- Drill in Alaska . You gotta be kidding me. And it is someone of that stature that should've been persuading the public and private industry to devise inventive ways to lessen our dependence upon foriegn oil. But alas we no longer have true visionaries dictating our domestic and foreign policies. I think it is going to take several different things to lessen our need for foreign oil.

Unleaded here in Austin is about $ 2.69 to 2.79 a gallon.

No, there was no refusal of aid. It's just a hell of a lot quicker getting supplies into the affected areas with home grown help. Now if France and other nations want to come up with creative ideas to get more gasoline and aviation fuel at any kind of reasonable prices, that would truely be helpful, no kidding.

  Fuel shortages are happening all over the region, even flights out of major airports are running out of aviation fuel. I remember way back when(a week ago) that the possiblity of $3 gas seemed bad.  It's that much here in the Norht East, far from the Gulf Coast. It's $5~6 in some areas close to Hurricane zone, if you can find any. (I know you Europeans pay a bunch for gas, but European nations and the U.S. economies are very different, reasonablly cheap gas is a huge factor in the U.S. economy.)

  I'm all for ethanol, Hydrogen fuel cells and anything else. I'm getting really sick of gasoline hanging over our heads like a guillotine. If they can formulate ethanol for diesel engines, why not gas engines? What more do we need to say it's time for some major, MAJOR changes in our energy/fuel uses. I understand the Hydrogen fuel is about a decade away from becoming common place energy, can't we speed that up a bit?  I wish ethanol would work out, I'd much rather be dependent on the Midwest than places like the Mideast.

  Oh well, we're all doomed anyway I guess. The Road Warrior scenario is coming true. 

325181[/snapback]

[JB0]

Thoguht I'd point out that half of the oil used in the US comes FROM the US.

And half of our imported oil comes from Canada, our communist neighbors to the north.