ATTENTION DU the ships headed to NOLA are Hospital ships

[xultar]

they are also bringing in a ship that has water treatment facilities that can take care of millions of gallons of water a day.

That is all.

[SlipperySlope]

1. That is good news - NT

[livetohike]

2. That's great news

There are probably many, many people sick with dehydration by now. They will need IVs......it just boggles the mind, the problems that could happen.

[xultar]

3. When I heard they were sending a Navy Hospital ship yesterday I

really bursted in to tears of Joy!

[uppityperson]

4. Good news. Thank you. nt

[clmbohdem]

5. Leaving from Norfolk...

I heard they are from Norfolk VA, so it may take a few days to get there.

[Syncronaut Seven]

6. Under full steam, 36 hours

+- 4 hours.

[MadHound]

7. About fucking time

This and other measures should have been lined up and ready to in Monday, not two days later:grr:

And another thing that Bushco could do is airdrops. Hell, America supplied a city of comparable size with food and supplies to keep the populace alive and the city going for months, and that was over fifty-five years ago. You think we could have an airdrop ready to go that would keep 50-100K people supplied for a few weeks. And gee, maybe then there wouldn't have been so much looting.

But that would have required that Bush interrupt his precious vacation time with *gasp* actual work.

[xultar]

19. The ships left on Tuesday. The Levee broke @ Midnight Monday.

It looked like NOLA was o.k. until the levee broke.

[MadHound]

29. And it was being predicted that Katrina was going to be a huge 'cane

And that it was going to hit NO, all by Friday night. These ships should have been offshore, to the west, ready to go on Monday. Instead, they waited until things really got bad, and sent them in.

Sorry, but such lack of preparedness is inexcusable. If this had been Clinton or any other Dem, the media and the RW would be howling for his head, but since this is Bushco, we hear nary a peep.

[Silverhair]

21. The Berlin Airlift was landings, NOT airdrops.

All local airports are out of commission.

[MadHound]

28. My bad, however

That still doesn't mean that they couldn't do an airdrop. Hell, they've parachuted in jeeps, supplies and even tanks.

[TheDebbieDee]

8. Great, but until those ships get there....

They should drop in desparately needed foodstuffs, drinking water and other supplies by parachute!

[MildyRules]

12. Good idea

Hopefully it won't lead to rioting, etc. as people fight over the dropped items. I think ground dispersal points might be better in that case. Have USAF cargo planes land at Louis Armstrong airport, then disperse the supplies by boat.

[xultar]

17. The potential to start riots over the supplies is too high. Then they

would prove that blacks in NOLA really are animals. There are supplies @ the dome. They have MREs and water there.

[mattclearing]

9. Thanks for some much needed good news.

There's a lot of gloom and doom going on here lately, and this is a refreshing ray of hope.

Thanks for that.

[xultar]

16. Your words are so close to my heart. You are right. Everyone is

complaining about what isn't being done. There are things being done. It has only been 24 hours since the disaster.

I am proud that they are bringing in more permanant solutions rather than stop gap measures.

I'm also happy that they are using the helicopters to bring in people off roofs rather than droping supplies to the looters.

[Sgent]

10. There is also a naval ship

LDH-5 which is a marine carrier about 100 miles offshore. They are running the aircraft in the area, have 500 hospital beds, 2000 marines, helicopters, anphibious LCAC's, etc. This is the Wasp Class of ships, and has VTOL aircraft as well (WWII A/C Carrier sized)

Mayor Nagin (the only one I think I trust right now) seemed much more upbeat this morning in a WWL interview.

[MildyRules]

13. Good job, Marines!!

[xultar]

15. Thank God. Thanks for the info.

[VADem11]

11. There is one ship already there

The USS Bataan is providing helicopters and may provide medical support. I heard that the hospital ship(USNS Comfort) is sailing from baltimore and will take 7 days to arrive. The other 4 ships are departing from virginia.

[xultar]

14. Thanks for the news!

[Cleita]

18. Great. I'm glad that someone or group is finally taking action

to get through this mess.

[xultar]

23. They left on Tuesday not 12 hrs after the levee broke. That

was pretty good from my point of view. We didn't know the levees broke until the wee hrs of Tuesday. No one knew the scope until Tuesday AM.

I thought NOLA was out of the disaster until Tusday AM myself.

[Wizard777]

20. That is wonderful!

[barbaraann]

22. There is also food and water on Navy ships.

Pallets of bottled water, food, medical supplies, tents and water purifiers were being loaded throughout the night aboard the Navy ships. It will take up to four days for them to reach the areas off Louisiana and Mississippi where the need is greatest, Harris said.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=91450&ran=88200&tref=po

[xultar]

24. YEA!!!

[barbaraann]

25. THOSE SUPPLIES SHOULD BE ON AIRPLANES.

THE NEW ORLEANS AIRPORT IS OPEN NOW.

[leftchick]

26. I agree

there will be a lot of dead people that won't need water when the ship arrives. :(

[xultar]

32. So you can fly a hospital! Damn you're good.

[xultar]

31. Didn't I post that it was a HOSPITAL. If you can put a HOSPITAL

on a plane then fly yours on down by all means.

[JNelson6563]

27. Good to hear!

I hope they get there soon! Those poor people! They've lost everything!

Julie

[Bo]

30. should have been already there

new orleans has no clue.