Some Photos from Inside the Superdome >>>

[Stephanie]

_________________________________________



Some of the thousands of displaced residents take cover from
Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome, a last-resort shelter, in New
Orleans about midnight, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. Officials called for a
mandatory evacuation of the city, but many residents remained in the
city. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050829/480/laeg10108290639
_________________________________________



Some of the thousands of displaced residents take cover from Hurricane
Katrina at the Superdome, a last-resort shelter, in New Orleans about
midnight, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. Officials called for a mandatory
evacuation of the city, but many residents remained in the city. (AP
Photo/Eric Gay)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050829/480/laeg10408290634
_________________________________________



Members of the National Guard hand out ready-to-eat meals to some of
the thousands of displaced residents from Hurricane Katrina at the
Superdome, a last-resort shelter, in New Orleans about midnight,
Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. Officials called for a mandatory evacuation of
the city, but many residents remained in the city. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050829/480/laeg10608290642
_________________________________________



Darriyell Washington, 7, takes shelter from Hurricane Katrina along
with several thousand other displaced residents at the Superdome, a
last-resort shelter, in New Orleans about midnight, Sunday, Aug. 28,
2005. Officials called for a mandatory evacuation of the city, but
many residents remained in the city. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050829/480/laeg10308290641
_________________________________________



Some of the thousands of displaced residents take cover from
Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome, a last-resort shelter, in New
Orleans about midnight, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. Officials called for a
mandatory evacuation of the city, but many residents remained in the
city. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050829/480/laeg10508290641
_________________________________________

[Usrename]

1. Great pictures - that's a lot of people -

[allalone]

2. holy moses

those are amazing. I feel so bad for them.

[fooj]

3. Those children must be frightened out of their minds!

:cry:

[Endangered Specie]

4. There is no way in hell I could get anysleep if I were there.

:scared:

[Jacobin]

5. Gonna be like living in an airplane seats for days at a time

Its not just tonight....they'll likely be stuck there for days

[Moloch]

6. Thank you for posting that.

More than anything brings home this tragedy. I'm two hours away from new orleans but i can't sleep a bit with all that's going on. A couple of times hurricanes have broken up prior to landfall and i can only hope and pray that it will happen again.

this is truly awful

[funflower]

7. They have to sleep in chairs? Is there no room to lie down in there?

[DoYouEverWonder]

32. They probably can't use the field

because of the danger of flooding.

They really should have bused all those folks OUT of NO yesterday.

[tx_dem41]

34. For the field to flood....water would have to breach the entrances to the.

Superdome that are probably at the very least 25-30 feet above ground level. If you know the topography of my hometown, that isn't likely to happen...ever.

[DoYouEverWonder]

36. Then maybe you can tell us why

they aren't allowing people on the field?

I'm sure it's not because they are afraid of tearing up the astroturf.

[MildyRules]

37. The Mayor of NO said on TV last night

it's because the field may flood.

[DoYouEverWonder]

39. Thank you

Most people have no clue what a Cat 5 or even a Cat 4 hurricane is all about.

I hear the pumps have gone out too?

BTW: Welcome to DU :hi:

[Fleshdancer]

8. too many kids. damn.

may my faith in the engineers who created the superdome be justified. it's bad enough that these people will be homeless this time tomorrow. may they be able to walk away from this unharmed.

[fooj]

10. Amen.

peace.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Let's hope they all stay as calm as possible considering the circumstances

When I just looked at these photos it drove home the danger that any panic in there could create.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. I hope they all make it through

And I'm glad they got help and got something to eat.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. Oh - that does not look comfortable at all.

Imagine many days there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I am not one to pray

but if the storm really gets bad, that is the perfect trap... so people I am not one to pray too often, but could not hurt

[CountAllVotes]

15. I have a very simple prayer

I'm not one to pray a lot either, but I have a very simple prayer that works for me.

It goes like this, "God help me!" or in this case, "God help New Orleans and its people and those that might be affected by this horrible hurricane!"

God hears this prayer. God is good and God will listen. I do believe that much.

:kick:

[shireen]

14. sweet little kids ....

wish I could give them a big hug and reassure them they'll be OK.

[newswolf56]

16. Those pictures are genuinely horrifying. If I were a believer, or if I

truly knew how to pray, I'd ask all the benevolent deities that are to have mercy on these people. For elderly folks with arthritis and bad backs (as I am and have), sitting in those seats for more than a couple of hours will be absolute agony, unimaginable to people who haven't experienced it and worsening with every endless minute. And what do you bet the drug searchers confiscated all the pain medication? Yes, the refugees may be safe from the storm, but their nightmare is only beginning.

[Stephanie]

17. reporter in a NO hotel just said the media is not allowed in the Superdome

why?

[underthedome]

18. They have the means to leave and should? nm

nm

[Stephanie]

19. that's not it - there are reporters calling in from the hotels

from the expensive hotels - I don't know where they're located - and there is a CNN reporter on Bourbon Street, or there was.

[gatorboy]

20. I just heard that on CNN.

The reporter said reporters weren't allowed into the Superdome. Isn't that kinda...Odd?

[Stephanie]

21. that's what I think - except the pix above are credited to AP

but there has been no reporting from inside - no phone interviews with officials there - nothing

[DoYouEverWonder]

35. They don't want any photographic evidence

if disaster strikes.

They are going to get their asses handed to them if something happens to that building with all those people inside.

The only safe place in NO right now is out of NO. There is no good reason they couldn't have sent in buses to pick those folks up yesterday to take them out of the area.

[newswolf56]

25. If the media-ban report is accurate, my guess would be AP snuck...

somebody with a camera in past the guards, then got the photog out again during the confusion. News people of my generation took great pride in doing that sort of thing -- especially sneaking cameras in where none were allowed. (From the visual perspective, I'd say these pix were shot looking down from the press box.)

As to the reason for the ban, the authorities never want the media around to bear witness whenever there's a likelihood they'll have to get violently oppressive, and given the givens evident in the pictures -- especially the implicit requirement of the harsh discipline necessary to keep everybody confined in those seats -- I think that sort of "enforcement" will become sadly inevitable. I also noted from some earlier pictures the NG troops appeared to be all wearing sidearms: probably a military police unit, therefore probably already worriedly anticipating the worst.

[Stephanie]

31. they just did a phone inteview with an officilal inside

and they showed earlier footage from inside when it was first opened.

[thecrow]

29. ...

If I were a believer, or if I
truly knew how to pray, I'd ask all the benevolent deities that are to have mercy on these people.


You just did, newswolf56, you just did

[thecrow]

30. .

If I were a believer, or if I
truly knew how to pray, I'd ask all the benevolent deities that are to have mercy on these people.


You just did, newswolf56, you just did

[Tyranny_R_US]

22. Jeeez! Looks like they are forbidden to lay down

[Hudgie DeRobertis]

24. Yeah..

In one photo it looks like nobody is allowed to lay on the field.
You would think it's a little easier to sleep on the ground then
in some seats.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. The feild is too low to the ground it WILL get flooded

[politicat]

27. If the field flooded while people were sleeping down there,

people would drown. Until they know what the storm surge is going to do, they can't risk lives by letting people on the field.

That would be far worse than sleeping in a seat for a few days... drowning in one's sleep is pretty horrific....

[Pepper32]

28. I noticed that too. Why aren't they allowing them to rest in the center

...of the Dome? :grr:

[MildyRules]

33. I think the fear

of them DROWNING might be a pretty good reason why not.

[Scurrilous]

23. "Any port in a storm."

Prayers for all those people in NOLA tonight. :thumbsup:

[Sgent]

38. The entrances to the Superdome

are 18' above see level, and the field is a story below that. It is entirely possible that the field would be flooded.

In addition, now that the air conditioning is out, temperatures will slowly start to climb -- probably topping 100 degrees sometime this afternoon. Without the dehumidifiers in the A/C, and the humidity in the air coupled with no natural circulation, rain clouds will form in the superdome, delievering a very wet place to ride out this storm.

Alive these ppl will be, but very, very uncomfortable.

[Stephanie]

40. those poor babies!

so scared for them!

[Catherine Vincent]

41. Those poor kids.