New Orleans

[giza]

Well, I'm glad I got to see the city before THIS went and happened.

I did some research and, interestingly enough, people had been worried about this exact scenario happening for years. There are some good articles at http://salon.com/books/feature/2005/08/30/mcphee/index_np.html and http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282151.html. It seems that it's yet another case of the general population and our elected politicians ignoring the experts until it's too late. When will we learn?

Speaking of ignoring people, I also can't help but be really pissed off at the people who stayed in the city after they were told to leave by the government. Now, I'm not talking about "essential" people, such as police and hospital workers, or people who were too poor to get out of the city, or people who were in poor health. I'm talking about average everyday people like OFFICE WORKERS, and TOURISTS. People who had the means to leave the city and chose not to, because they didn't seem to think that a Category 5 hurricane was such as big deal after all. Now they're stuck in a flooding city with no electricity, no running water, and a lack of law and order. Smooth move. Maybe next time you'll actually LISTEN when you're told to get out of the city.

I'm also tempted to make some snide remark about how President Bush should declare "war on mother nature", but I think that's been underway by big corporations and oil companies for a number of years now...

Comments

[wesha.livejournal.com]

> people who were too poor to get out of the city

I've always been amazed that Americans rely on cars so much they've already forgotten they have a reliable mean of commute given to them by God Himself - namely, their own feet. Well, not too convenient, I agree, but still works if it's life-or-death matter, you know.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Um, how would walking out of the city have helped? People would have still had to take shelter somewhere during the storm itself. They would have needed cars to get to another city further inland or to the east/west out of the hurricane's path.

[wesha.livejournal.com]

There was a clear hurricane warning 48 hours ahead of the hit. A healthy adult can walk at 3mph for 12 hours per day. Do the math.

[giza.livejournal.com]

2 days (48 hours) * 12 hours/day == 24 hours of walking
24 hours * 3 mph == 72 miles

Seeing that hurricane force winds extended 150 miles inland (http://www.news-tribune.net/articles/2005/09/01/news/the_evening_news/news03.txt), I'm not sure how being about half that distance away is going to helpful.

[kellic.livejournal.com]

And that is BEST case scenario. In a city you don't always have line of sight walking.

Example from a search on the gov's website:

".Highway 61 will soon be closed to allow Jefferson Parish officials enough time to lay sandbags to protect the city of Kenner.

2.Also, at the State of Mississippi’s request, because of their vulnerable position on the eastern side of the storm, I-10 east bound at the Slidell I-10/I-12 interchange is closed. No traffic is being allowed to travel east on I-10 past that interchange at Slidell. "

This was closed on Sunday. Also the announcement didn't, to the best of my knowledge, happen until Sunday so realistically you have 12 hours of walking time. If you are poor and don't have access to a radio or TV prob even less time.

[silver-huskey.livejournal.com]

Still, the point of a lot of people leaving was to get to Texas. There's no way that a person could walk that in 24 hours. Did you also take into account that they'd need to take supplies with them, and that the weather was hot and humid? Not sure about you, but walking for 12 hours a day in the heat with supplies seems like a case of heat exhaustion in the making. If the hurricane extended well over a hundred miles inland, and Texas was several hundred miles away, they would have needed at least a week to walk that. =p

[kellic.livejournal.com]

Well let’s be fair. First and foremost most American cities were not designed with walking in mind. Even a city with superb public transportation would get swamped (pardon the bad pun.) by trying to evac an entire city. Reality we are talking about walking 30+ miles. Doesn’t sound like much and in fact walking a straight line on an interstate it isn’t much. But try doing that from downtown where the roads are congested as hell. Again keep in mind that many cities weren’t designed to be used by bikers or walkers. I can tell you right now that Minneapolis MN’s suburbs are a bitch to get around. You can’t bike because bikes aren’t allowed on highways and interstates. Finally regarding the poor I “think” the alert to leave. Happened Sunday. Lets assume that you average poor person doesn’t have a TV or a radio. That would require word of mouth. So lets assume many started to learn Sunday morning. Even by that afternoon or evening the winds were starting to kick up. Like it or not the poor always get the short end of the stick be it heat waves, blizzards, or hurricanes.
At the end of the day this isn't the movies. Getting out of the city isn't as easy as hot wiring a fire truck and driving off.

[kellic.livejournal.com]

"Maybe next time you'll actually LISTEN when you're told to get out of the city."


No they won't. That is the beauty of natural selection. Gets rid of the dumbasses of the world. The only problem is you have the companionate people of the world saving the dumbasses and also in instances like this it’s hard to pick out the dumbasses from the people who just got the short stick. You can’t blame people if they simply couldn’t get out but you can blame people for not seeking shelter ASAP.

I personally hope that whatever deity there is up in the great ether kicks the pompous assholes who thought they could ride this out right in the ass on the way into heaven.

[silver-huskey.livejournal.com]

I'm personally waiting until they get the looting under control. It's beyond shameful. Instead of helping others, some able-bodied people decided to use their resources to steal. Honestly, who needs a truck full of TVs and other electronics when the city has no power? What are they planning to do, go west and sell the stuff on the streets? It's not like they can do in New Orleans, not with 80% of the city flooded and the dangers of disease everywhere. It's funny how disasters can bring the best out in some, and the worst out in others.

[giza.livejournal.com]

> You have to understand that some people simply can't leave. Those that were
> left were mostly the poor and indigent. Many of them had no cars or
> transport. In other cases, their relatives were at hospitals or hospices or
> otherwise had medical problems and couldn't be moved, and family members
> who didn't want to abandon them... or their pets.

Whoops, I forgot to mention the poor, but I agree, they certainly have a good excuse. Sick people? I think I mentioned that in my original post.

> Some tourists were trapped because they couldn't get a flight out on such
> short notice... this thing blew up so rapidly in the gulf. So don't rush to
> condemn all of them.

What I do not understand is why some of the tourists did not just rent cars and drive as far north as they could. If I heard there was a Cat 5 storm coming when I was down there in May, that's exactly what I would have done. To me, it seems like common sense.

[snip]
> Save the snide remarks. They're not in the least bit helpful nor fair. This
> isn't something that should be politicized, and it sickens me to no end to
> see people trying to score political points off this.

Thank you for your concern. I'd like to point out that I do not show up in your LJ and tell you what you should or should not post, and I would appreciate it if you showed me the same courtesy in mine.

[silver-huskey.livejournal.com]

Personally, I feel the same way about people who could have left, but choose NOT to leave. If you have the money to travel, surely you'd have enough just to get out of the city. A category 4 or 5 hurricane is nothing to be smug about. Nor is a manditory order from the mayor to be taken lightly. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have taken what they needed and ran.

Their stupidity may have cost them their lives, may they rest in peace.

[doco.livejournal.com]

I just hope people will wisen up and rebuild the city elsewhere and with buildings whose rooftops won't be blown off by a bloody helicopter hovering twenty feet away.
Given that all the wooden buildings that still stand will rot away now anyways...

Then again, people _are_ stupid.

[blaze-heartfire.livejournal.com]

I honestly question what does go through a person's mind to convince them to stay when they are flat out ordered to leave... oh well, their probably dead now... along with a lot of other people that if given the chance would have left anyways...

Why is it though that they were unable to get people out through military help or something? Or was there military evac yet the news hasn't covered that in depth as much as 'oh no black people are looting'?

as for my fellow peeps... if you did it to live you're like anyone else out there, if you flat out stole... thanks for further degrading the race jack ass >.

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

This is a pretty awesome statement on the topic, if you've not seen it. Makes interesting comments about the reasons behind some of the people's actions toward the end.