LOUISIANA GOVERNOR ORDERS COMPLETE EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS AS WATER CON

[rodeodance]

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

LOUISIANA GOVERNOR ORDERS COMPLETE EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS AS WATER CONTINUES TO RISE


http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396

[rodeodance]

1. cnn just had a long press conference abou this matter also.

[rodeodance]

2. see this DU thread also.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4512913

[rodeodance]

3. it will take a few days she said but all must go this time. no water,

electricy, transportation. the city is virtually dead for now.

[rodeodance]

4. here is the short story from the initial thread.

The Associated PressThe Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. Aug 30, 2005 — With water rising in the streets of New Orleans and conditions rapidly deteriorating, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday that the tens of thousands of people now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers would have to be evacuated.

"The situation is untenable," Blanco said at a news conference. "It's just heartbreaking."

Because of two levees that broke Tuesday, the city was rapidly filling with water, the governor said. She also said the power could be out for a long time, and the storm broke a major water main, leaving the city without drinkable water.

[rodeodance]

5. 1000 people still at Tulane hosp. with 6 ft water surround it.

[rodeodance]

well, in hindsite this should have been done sooner.

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Eloriel]

6. Good for her. I hope it goes smoothly -- and very, very quickly n/t

[rodeodance]

7. she said things have deteriated inside the Dome--so that goes too.

[rodeodance]

8. she said most people do not know this yet cause no electiicity in city.

[demgrrrll]

16. I am sure that someone has already posted a thread about this but

The Washington Post has a good article today about how Bush has just about dismantled FEMA. Apparently there were some federal funding issues which prevented the levee's from being finished? And Bush is just strumming his little heart out. Eatin a little cake with McCain. I'd say Marie Antoinette and McCain but the low posters (not that that ordinarily means anything) will fly in and tell me that Marie did not say "let them eat cake".

[rodeodance]

19. umm. I did not see that particular article.

[demgrrrll]

27. Someone just posted a thread at 9:22 eom

.

[rocktivity]

42. Here's a DU thread with links to articles

Rethug Defunding of disaster planning & emerg. mgmt. aggravated Katrina

Here's a report archived from New Orleans City Business. And you'll find this article to be depressingly prophetic.

:mad:
rocknation

[rocktivity]

49. And here's one-year-old article titled

Disaster In The Making.

:headbang:
rocknation

[rocktivity]

50. Also check out this post

in the Philadelphia Daily News blog.

:headbang:
rocknation

[rodeodance]

9. she looked beat but was up on things.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Will everyone be able to get out?

I was afraid of this. With the storm still dumping water into the Ohio and ultimately the Mississippi, it's going to be some time before things get better in NO...

[rodeodance]

12. she said no one could guarantee her if facilites could/would be

resored in short order. So she said the only allternative was to go.

[rodeodance]

15. she said she was developing a 'network' to get the nec. transporatin out.

but need housing once get out. so Fema working to get places lined up.

[tedzbear]

11. First she should worry about getting them food, water, and clothing.

Not to mention rescuing them from rooftops.

[rodeodance]

14. yes, she talked of this --lack of food--all has to be brought in--and only

helicoperts are able to do so in most spots.

[patdem]

13. So, the NG in Iraq are yelling into their bullhorns to the TV...everybody

must leave..evacuate NOW! I guess that is the untenable part?

[rodeodance]

17. they need a large numbe of homes/places for all the evacuees.

[calimary]

18. Heartbreaking, isn't it?

And not only do they have to flee the rising water - it's rising water that's contaminated.

Dear GOD!

[rodeodance]

20. yes, toxic icky water.

[rodeodance]

21. this is a good move. NO as it stands now is no place to live.

[rodeodance]

22. Jeane M. now on cnn saying the water is filthy looking.

[rodeodance]

23. whow--a whole city--just about to be wiped out of its residents.

[rodeodance]

24. Cafferty making a wise crack about WHERE is Bush--oh good, he should

get back to work!!

[AngryOldDem]

32. This is what is really pissing me off

The National Guard belongs HERE. NOW. We all could have foreseen that something this catastrophic would happen at some point that would need the manpower and expertise of the National Guard. The National Guard is NOT an international peacekeeping arm. One of its primary purposes is to help local authorities prepare, handle, and recover from disasters such as this one.

Maybe this will FINALLY be the wake-up call that America has needed to drive home the fact that the National Guard and its members are being criminally and negligently MISUSED in Iraq, and that this war, in some way, shape, or form, is taking a needless toll on us ALL.

End of rant.

[atreides1]

34. How many WAKE-UP CALLS does it take

No WMD's, an Iraqi Constitution that will probably lead to a civil war, Bush saying that in order to honor those that have died more have to die, and the best he could do before Katrina hit was to say
"people need to get to higher gorund", and let's not forget the
birthday cake for John "I'll kiss his ass" McCain.

The people who need a wake-up call are those enablers in Congress with the "D" after their names.

[The Stranger]

37. It is the media.

If the media doesn't tell people, it cannot be done -- they simply lack the ability to think on their own.

[Megahurtz]

38. Yep, NO National Guard HERE to help anybody!!!

:grr:

[sweetjake]

25. How will they get out?

They can't possibly have enough helicopters or boats.

[rodeodance]

29. we will see. she was not specific.

[belle]

51. A lot of people had left already though, no?

How many people live in NO, anyway? About half a million?

[Javaman]

26. When was the last time a US city was evacuated? During the Civil war?

Just curious.

[justabob]

40. Probably, but

I think back then it was more people "fleeing" rather than being evacuated.... Sherman's March comes to mind. I don't think the two are comparable. I asked this question of a friend earlier today and we thought about it for a long time and could not come up with any major cities that had to evacuate *everyone*, especially in modern times.

[shavedape]

44. Savannah evacuated in 1999

Savannah GA was evacuated in 1999.

1999: Approximately 350,000 coastal residents and visitors evacuated to escape Hurricane Floyd, joining more than 2 million people from the neighboring states of Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina in the largest peacetime evacuation effort in history. Although Floyd was briefly a Category 5 storm at sea, it had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane when it made landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina on September 16, causing more than $6 billion in damage.

[daleo]

28. Will we ever know the real death toll?

If they are essentially shutting down the city, it must be very bad. It may be a long time before an accurate assesment of the toll is possible.

[rodeodance]

30. this evacuation will be slow.

[Minstrel Boy]

31. This means, I think, the abandonment of thousands.

Those trapped without a radio are not going to get the message. Besides, they're trapped - many probably hidden from view, unable to get to their roofs - they have no means of escape. If they could leave, they would have already.

[sweetjake]

33. That is terrifying to think of

[justabob]

43. Martial Law

People will be forced to leave... arrested if necessary. They didn't say that in the press conference that I heard, but it is the only way total evac is going to happen.

[radar]

35. And where will they all go...???

Has a tent city begun sprouting up anywhere?

Didn't see any mention of what the gov't is setting up for a city with a population close to 500,000.

"...Tens of thousands of people will need shelter for weeks if not months, said Mike Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And once the floodwaters go down, "it's going to be incredibly dangerous" because of structural damage to homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in homes, he said...
...New Orleans, a city of 480,000..."

[justabob]

41. They talked about hotels doing what they could, but they are all full

I am not saying this is a great idea, but didn't we have massive tent cities in several states after Andrew? I don't know where they could put them, but that's really the only feasible answer at this point. It could be done relatively quickly and inexpensively and at least people could have *someplace* to call home.

[NYC]

45. Earlier, I heard someone say anything and everything will be

considered. "Floating dormitories" were mentioned. I don't know what that means, but they are willing to put people anywhere they can.

[Chovexani]

36. What is going to happen to the people in the Superdome?

They have nowhere to go and I heard it was ordered shutdown in light of this new evacuation order from the Gov...the water level is rising....where can they go? :cry:

[dweller]

39. okay, just now on CBS nightly

the guy there reporting: "She is considering evacuating the whole city" ...

'officials are overwhelmed by the damage.'
said (and showed) they were just covering up the bodies :(

John Roberts? is the reporter.

dp

edit: i had changed the channel to CBS :blush:

[littleraf]

46. I Feel So sorry For Those Who Have Left Their Homes

This is not like the evacuation Mayor Nagin ordered. That was supposed to have been a temporary measure in anticipation of the hurricane. They were told by the mayor that it would only be for a few days. Now it looks like it will be for a few months. The water pumps are broken now, the levees are broken and both the now-overflowing Lake Ponchtatrain and the great Mississippi are going to continue to empty into the city. And all those people from New Orleans, either stranded in foreign cities or trapped inside their own. This is America's version of last year's tsunami.

[Mari333]

47. horrible mess.

[geckosfeet]

48. Why not evacuate BEFORE everyone is stranded? n/t

[belle]

52. I'm sure they're trying.

[geckosfeet]

53. I should hope so.