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Hurricane Katrina Relief and Donation Blog

June 21, 2005     DAY 297

The National Guard is back in New Orleans to back a slumping police force and new wave of violence in the Crescent City.  More Katrina News.   posted 1:25am by jholmes

May 6, 2005     DAY 251

New book calls New Orleans' mayor Ray Nagin a 'coward'.  posted 1:18am by jholmes

April 24, 2005     DAY 239

The mayor race for New Orleans will be a run-off between controversial current mayor Ray Nagin and challenger Mitch Landrieu.  posted 1:05am by jholmes

March 3, 2005     DAY 187

A newly revealed video shows Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco saying the New Orleans levees were intact.

"We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29 — the day the storm hit the Gulf coast.

"We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee," she said on a video of the day's disaster briefing that was obtained Thursday night by The Associated Press. "I think we have not breached the levee at this time."   posted 1:00am by jholmes

February 3, 2005     DAY 159

The New Orleans mayoral election race is starting to heat up as several citizens throw their hat in the ring.  posted 1:01am by jholmes

January 2, 2005     DAY 127

December 31, 2005     DAY 125

Three Katrina evacuees found dead in apparent murder-suicide in Texas apartment.  posted 8:51am by jholmes

December 30, 2005     DAY 124

The New Orleans Saints have a deal in place to return to Louisiana next year and play in the Superdome and Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.  posted 9:08am by jholmes

November 26, 2005     DAY 90

A hero from Hurricane Katrina has been arrested on drug charges.  posted 12:27am by jholmes

November 26, 2005     DAY 90

Jay Leno is donating cars and telling jokes to help raise money for those in New Orleans that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  posted 12:49am by jholmes

November 14, 2005     DAY 78

Mold:  It is the biggest battle facing the decimated city of New Orleans now.  posted 12:10am by jholmes

November 12, 2005     DAY 76

Kevin Garnett of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves is donating $1.2 million dollars to help build houses in the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.  posted 1:18am by jholmes

November 3, 2005     DAY 67

Businesses in New Orleans are desperate for employees.  Openings for jobs have more than tripled since Katrina hit.  posted 12:09am by jholmes

October 29, 2005     DAY 62

The city of New Orleans has fired 51 police officers for deserting the force during Hurricane Katrina.  posted 1:47am by jholmes

October 15, 2005     DAY 48

October 14, 2005     DAY 47

October 9, 2005     DAY 42

Amtrack has resumed train services to New Orleans.  posted 2:42am by jholmes

October 5, 2005     DAY 38

October 4, 2005     DAY 37

Experts are saying it safe to once again eat New Orleans seafood from Lake Pontchartrain where most of it comes from.  posted 12:15am by jholmes

October 3, 2005     DAY 36

St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter held mass today.  Today's mass is the first since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans over a month ago.  posted 12:31am by jholmes

October 2, 2005     DAY 35

The pumping of the water out of New Orleans is almost done and could be completed this week.

In another sign that life was returning to the city, the historic St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter planned to celebrate Sunday Mass -- its first since Hurricane Katrina pounded New Orleans more than a month ago. Louisiana Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes planned to preside.   posted 12:11am by jholmes

October 1, 2005     DAY 34

Millions and millions of mole spores are being found in almost all of the buildings in New Orleans.  posted 10:21pm by jholmes

September 30, 2005     DAY 33

New Orleans cops are facing more suspensions regarding looting they did of jewelry stores and car lots in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  posted 11:24am by jholmes

New Orleans has reopened to 170,000 residents.  posted 11:14am by jholmes

September 29, 2005     DAY 32

Residents and merchants are moving back into New Orleans once again.  posted 9:31am by jholmes

September 28, 2005     DAY 31

Killer mold is creating killer problems in the deep South due to the Hurricane damage. 

Mold now forms an interior version of kudzu in the soggy South, posing health dangers that will make many homes tear-downs and will force schools and hospitals to do expensive repairs.   posted 1:04am by jholmes

The New Orleans police superintendent has resigned.  Some would have thought New Orleans was without a police chief during the whole Katrina affair. 

Police Superintendent Eddie Compass resigned Tuesday after four turbulent weeks in which the police force was wracked by desertions and disorganization in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

As the city slipped into anarchy during the first few days after Katrina, the 1,700-member police department itself suffered a crisis. Many officers deserted their posts, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. Two officers Compass described as friends committed suicide.  posted 12:03am by jholmes

September 27, 2005     DAY 30

Former FEMA chief Ron Brown is blaming dysfunctional Louisiana leadership for the response to Hurricane Katrina.

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

As to the other, he said: "I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences, and work together. I just couldn't pull that off."

Brown said: "Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn't evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications."   posted 8:38am by jholmes

New Bankruptcy laws could send a blow to Hurricane victims trying to get started again.  posted 12:31am by jholmes

Nearly 6,000 doctors have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  posted 12:07am by jholmes

September 26, 2005     DAY 29

It is being found out that the rumors of death in New Orleans were highly exaggerated.  posted 8:55am by jholmes

The mayor of New Orleans is attempting to re-open parts of the city once again.  posted 12:52am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita exposed some more evacuation problems. 

The 14-hour lines of traffic fleeing Houston - complete with cars that ran out of gas - show that four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, it is difficult to evacuate a major metropolitan area.    posted 12:49am by jholmes

September 25, 2005     DAY 28

Authorities are urging evacuees to stay put for the time being.  posted 12:10am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita has put a major hamper on New Orleans' drying out. 

Hurricane Rita left floodwaters lapping at the high-water marks set by Katrina just three weeks ago, raising questions about how swiftly New Orleans can recover from its epic flooding and providing a grim reminder that the city remains in peril even as it seeks to rebuild.  posted 12:09am by jholmes

September 24, 2005     DAY 27

A look at Hurricane Rita's damage and impact city-by-city.  posted 12:42pm by jholmes

The oil refineries have seemed to escape Rita with little to no damage.  posted 12:38pm by jholmes

Hurricane Rita is pounding the Gulf Coast hard.  Texas and Louisiana again are getting the dangerous winds, rains and destruction from the massive storm.  posted 12:31pm by jholmes

Hundreds of people have been miraculously saved from fresh flooding in New Orleans.  posted 12:29pm by jholmes

Fresh flooding has hit New Orleans due to Hurricane Rita. 

An initial surge of water Friday spilled over a patched levee protecting the impoverished Ninth Ward, flooding the neighborhood with at least 6 feet of water. Leaks beneath another levee flooded homes with at least a half-foot of water. Meanwhile, wind-whipped waves pushed water from Lake Pontchartrain over a seawall.    posted 1:28am by jholmes

Three buildings in Galveston, Texas have caught fire and burned due to Hurricane Katrina.  posted 1:14am by jholmes

September 23, 2005     DAY 26

President Bush is flying to Texas today ahead of Hurricane Rita.  Love him or hate him, the guy sure is trying to make up for mistakes on every level from the mayors office, to governor, on up to the federal branch.  posted 11:03am by jholmes

Constantly Updating Satellite of Hurricane Rita.  posted 10:47am by jholmes

A bus carrying nursing home patients that were evacuating from Hurricane Rita caught fire yesterday and killed 24 onboard.

Early indications were that the bus caught fire because of mechanical problems, then passengers' oxygen tanks started exploding, Peritz said. He said the brakes may have been on fire. The bus was engulfed with flames, causing a lengthy backup on Interstate 45 already congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast.    posted 10:41am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita is causing more flooding in New Orleans. 

Hurricane Rita's steady rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighborhoods in a devastating repeat of New Orleans' flooding nightmare.

"We have three significant breaches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly," he said. "At daybreak I found substantial breaks and they've grown larger."

A spokeswoman for Mayor Ray Nagin said officials believed the neighborhood had been cleared of residents. But throughout Friday, water began rising again onto what remained — buckled homes, piles of rubble and mud-caked cars that Katrina had covered with up to 20 feet of water.    posted 10:33am by jholmes

The LSU-Tennessee football game that was scheduled for Saturday night in Baton Rouge has been moved to Monday night and will be aired on ESPN2.  posted 2:21am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita is set to test Galveston's seawall.  posted 2:11am by jholmes

Rita's long term impact on oil prices won't be known for some time.  posted 2:05am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita's rains have started to fall on New Orleans.  posted 1:57am by jholmes

September 22, 2005     DAY 25

Satellite photo of Hurricane Rita.  posted 9:10am by jholmes

Interstates in Houston are at a standstill for over  100 miles as residents try to flee the city before Hurricane Rita hits.  posted 8:58am by jholmes

1.3 million people have been ordered to evacuate Texas and parts of Louisiana as Hurricane Rita takes aim at the Texas coast.  The Hurricane has been upgraded to a category 5.  posted 1:02am by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina's death toll climbed over 1,000 yesterday.  799 of those are from Louisiana.  posted 12:45am by jholmes

September 21, 2005     DAY 24

The New Orleans Hornets will play their home games in Oklahoma City and Baton Rouge this year.  Although just six games will be played in Baton Rouge.  I would be surprised if NBA basketball ever returns to New Orleans.  posted 11:10am by jholmes

New Orleans is preparing for more flooding due to Hurricane Rita which is making aim to bear down on the Texas coast.  posted 10:14am by jholmes

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is garnering criticism from across the world for his shoot-from-the-hip approach to the disaster relief. 

"He hasn't demonstrated a clear vision for what should be happening next in New Orleans," said Melissa Harris Lacewell, a political science professor with the University of Chicago's Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture. She described him as a "kind of a passionate character in this whole story," but added, "He appears to have been pretty unprepared."

He was accused of inadequately protecting his city's poor and making sure they got out safely. Evacuees at the Superdome and the convention center furiously denounced Nagin, holding him responsible for the miserable conditions there.

Nagin, who is up for re-election early next year, has periodically been absent from the city over the past few weeks, flying back and forth to Dallas, where he has rented a house for his family and enrolled his daughter in school.    posted 12:49am by jholmes

A strip club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has re-opened offering stress relief to workers that are in the city to clean up and repair.  posted 12:33am by jholmes

The Sugar Bowl, which usually takes place in New Orleans at the Superdome, will take place either in Baton Rouge or Atlanta this year.  posted 12:10am by jholmes

September 20, 2005     DAY 23

The New Orleans Saints are upset with the NFL for the fake home game they played their last night against the Giants.

"They could have done that anywhere," Haslett said. "They could have played that game in Baton Rouge. They could have played it in San Antonio and could have done the same thing.

"To play it in Giants Stadium, to give them another home game and to put us in a situation where we couldn't hear ... It wasn't why we lost that game, but ..."

"It wasn't a home game," he said. "I look up at the scoreboard and there are signs, 'Let's Go Giants'. The referees, when they flipped the coin, they asked us if we wanted heads or tails. They had no idea who the home team was and who was away. The crowd noise we had to deal with, we never had to do a silent count at home."

"They made this seem like the Super Bowl," Brooks said after the loss. "We played a team that outplayed us today, but it was way overdone. Setting up a stage, traveling out here, was uncalled for.

"Try not to patronize us next time, traveling us to New York, saying we're playing a home game."    posted 6:50pm by jholmes

Displaced by the hurricane?  I just got this in my email for business owners who are wanting to relocate:

I am looking for three successful small business people who would like a new start in Louisburg NC.  A restaurant, gift shop and hair salon.  I have three commercial buildings.  I can offer free rent and housing.  The community will help with food clothing...we all want these people to succeed.   Louisburg is a small college town just outside of Wake forest.  Transportation can also be arranged. Call Susan Lewis at 772-713-5922 or email sjhurst51@yahoo.com.   posted 11:28am by jholmes

The NFL commissioner is deciding on the possibility of the New Orleans Saints playing all of their games next year in Baton Rouge at LSU's Tiger Stadium.  posted 10:20am by jholmes

Hurricane Rita is causing oil prices to spike again.  posted 1:03am by jholmes

Federal charges have been made concerning several Katrina related scams.  posted 12:59am by jholmes

Beware Gulf Coast:  Hurricane Rita's predicted path.  posted 12:58am by jholmes

The New Orleans Saints were beat by the New York Giants last night in New Jersey by a score of 27-10.  The game was originally to be played in the Superdome in New Orleans but was moved to the Giants home field after the damage done to the dome by Katrina.  posted 12:51am by jholmes

September 19, 2005     DAY 22

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has changed his mind and has now urged an immediate evacuation of New Orleans.  Hurricane Rita is now headed for the Gulf Coast.  President Bush disagreed with Nagin opening  the city to citizens so soon and Bush urged him to evacuate the city again.  posted 5:27pm by jholmes

New Hurricane warnings have been issued for the Florida keys.  posted 9:15am by jholmes

President Bush questions the immediate reopening of New Orleans.  posted 8:54am by jholmes

Katrina death toll much lower than expected.  579 so far which is much less than the thousands that mayor Ray Nagin was predicting.  posted 8:53am by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina and its damage is starting to be compared to the earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985. 

The skyline is soaring as the capital marks the 20th anniversary Monday of the earthquake that killed at least 9,500 people and leveled whole sections of the city. But some scars are still visible and scientists say the city may be unprepared for the next quake.

"That the poor were the ones that couldn't evacuate (from New Orleans) is something that caught our attention," said Luis Wintergerst, the city's director of civil protection. The 1985 quake also hit the poor hardest, he said.

Lying in a flood- and earthquake-prone valley, Mexico City has rebuilt itself more than once since the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. Flooded in 1629, it remained under water for nearly three years. While the Spanish fled their homes, more than 30,000 Indians died.    posted 12:16am by jholmes

Rebuilding post-Katrina could put the U.S. Treasury in a tight-rope limbo.  posted 12:08am by jholmes

September 18, 2005     DAY 21

New Orleans health system is facing a crisis as citizens start to move back.  posted 2:35pm by jholmes

Doctor chasing down myths concerning Katrina trying to get to what did or didn't happen.  posted 1:15am by jholmes

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is defending his plan to bring close to 200,000 citizens back to the city so soon.  posted 12:46am by jholmes

September 17, 2005     DAY 20

New Orleans businesses begin the clean up process hoping to re-open soon.  posted 10:17am by jholmes

Thousands of residents could return to New Orleans next week, but they should expect to be in their houses by the dusk-dawn curfew.  posted 12:07am by jholmes

September 16, 2005     DAY 19

Fewer than half of the Katrina evacuees staying in Houston want to return home to New Orleans.  posted 6:31pm by jholmes

President Bush has ruled out a tax hike to fund the Katrina recovery.  posted 12:47pm by jholmes

Text of President Bush's speech from Jackson Square in New Orleans.

Many evacuee's found comfort in President Bush's speech last night.  posted 1:15am by jholmes

Democrats are proposing a 'Marshall Plan' approach for the damaged Gulf Coast region.  posted 1:04am by jholmes

Timeline of President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina.  posted 1:02am by jholmes

September 15, 2005     DAY 18

President Bush gave a very uplifting and inspiring speech tonight in New Orleans.  Full Text of the Speech

Some Highlights:  Across the Gulf Coast, among people who have lost much … and suffered much … and given to the limit of their power, we are seeing that same spirit: a core of strength that survives all hurt … a faith in God no storm can take away … and a powerful American determination to clear the ruins and build better than before.

And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes … we will stay as long as it takes … to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know: There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.

Tonight I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone, encompassing the region of the disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Within this zone, we should provide immediate incentives for job-creating investment … tax relief for small businesses … incentives to companies that create jobs ... and loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again. It is entrepreneurship that creates jobs and opportunity … it is entrepreneurship that helps break the cycle of poverty … and we will take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the Gulf region.

I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work. Under this plan, the federal government would provide accounts of up to five thousand dollars, which these evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job … and for child care expenses during their job search.

To help lower-income citizens in the hurricane region build new and better lives, I also propose that Congress pass an Urban Homesteading Act. Under this approach, we will identify property in the region owned by the federal government, and provide building sites to low-income citizens free of charge, through a lottery. In return, they would pledge to build on the lot, with either a mortgage or help from a charitable organization like Habitat for Humanity. Home ownership is one of the great strengths of any community, and it must be a central part of our vision for the revival of this region.

These trials have also reminded us that we are often stronger than we know – with the help of grace and one another. They remind us of a hope beyond all pain and death – a God who welcomes the lost to a house not made with hands. And they remind us that we are tied together in this life, in this nation – and that the despair of any touches us all.

In this place, there is a custom for the funerals of jazz musicians. The funeral procession parades slowly through the streets, followed by a band playing a mournful dirge as it moves to the cemetery. Once the casket has been laid in place, the band breaks into a joyful “second line” – symbolizing the triumph of the spirit over death. Tonight the Gulf Coast is still coming through the dirge – yet we will live to see the second line.     posted 7:10pm by jholmes

Mayor Nagin says 180,000 could move back to New Orleans within weeks.  posted 1:49pm by jholmes

The Dish Network has added the Hurricane channel.  posted 1:45pm by jholmes

Speculators are rushing into New Orleans to scoop up all the houses they can buy.  posted 1:36pm by jholmes

President Bush is set to outline a new Hurricane aid package.  posted 9:23am by jholmes

Parts of New Orleans should re-open next week.  posted 9:21am by jholmes

Hurricane Ophelia continues to dump rain and wind on North Carolina.  posted 1:23am by jholmes

September 14, 2005     DAY 17

Why is the chief of Louisiana's Homeland Security and Emergency in New York giving a speech instead of in Louisiana doing his job?  posted 5:10pm by jholmes

A very in detail look at the true story behind the hundreds of buses that were not used in New Orleans to evacuate the poor.  posted 2:25am by jholmes

Visionaries are battling on designs for a new New Orleans.  posted 1:28am by jholmes

New movie Venom might come too close to reminding many of the Hurricane Katrina madness.

"Venom," about a voodoo-crazed serial killer, depicts murder and mayhem in the Louisiana swamps a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina brought real death and destruction to the region.

While no hurricane or flood is depicted, the young people who populate the movie are dragged across overgrown brush and chased through knee-deep bayou water. One character is trapped inside a car that plummets from a rickety bridge and becomes submerged. The killer (Rick Cramer) piles his corpses in a cemetery crypt alongside a river, while the few survivors hide in a house that's been blessed by a protective spell.    posted 1:14am by jholmes

President Bush took responsibility yesterday for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina. 

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong," said Bush.    posted 1:00am by jholmes

September 13, 2005     DAY 16

The Louisiana Superdome will be cleaned and decontaminated before state officials decide the future of the sports Mecca.  posted 6:19pm by jholmes

Owners of a New Orleans nursing home have been charged with 34 counts of homicide for not evacuating patients who eventually died due to the Hurricane.  posted 5:30pm by jholmes

Louisiana Health Department ups death toll to 423.  posted 1:35pm by jholmes

The New Orleans airport and waterfront is reopening today.  posted 9:47am by jholmes

Greyhound Bus Company is complaining about the name of a New Orleans jail bearing the name Camp Greyhound.  The prison building use to be an old Greyhound bus station.  posted 12:18am by jholmes

New Orleans exiles unsure if they will return to the flood ravaged city once it is finally drained and habitable.  posted 12:02am by jholmes

Pump workers are tired and drained (no pun) as they continue to slowly drain New Orleans.  posted 12:00am by jholmes

September 12, 2005     DAY 15

Saints will play 4 home games in Baton Rouge and 3 in San Antonio.  Their first home game will be played in New York.  posted 3:31pm by jholmes

David Paulison has been named to replace former FEMA chief Mike Brown.  posted 2:26pm by jholmes

45 bodies of patients were found in a hospital in New Orleans today.  The death total rose to 297.  posted 2:24pm by jholmes

10,000?  Louisiana's official body count from Katrina is just at 197.  Far fewer than expected to date.  The count will obviously climb a bit more as the searches are completed, but it looks as if the total will fall far short of the estimated 10,000 deaths.  posted 8:36am by jholmes

Private donations for Katrina relief are at $700 million, a pace that is far ahead of the outpour of donations after 9/11.  posted 12:15am by jholmes

The New Orleans Saints won a heart-stopping last second victory over the Carolina Panthers 23-20 as the clock ran out, giving a lift to all in the Bayou state.  posted 12:12am by jholmes

NBA all-stars put on an exhibition game to raise money for Katrina victims on Saturday night.  posted 12:07am by jholmes

President Bush was back in New Orleans today.

Bush was greeted at the airport by Mayor Ray Nagin as he began his third visit to the disaster region. They took a helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, a U.S. Marine helicopter ship docked near downtown New Orleans on the Mississippi River, where Bush planned to spend the night.    posted 12:04am by jholmes

September 11, 2005     DAY 14

The New Orleans Hornets are unsure as to where they will play this year once the NBA season starts in late October.  posted 1:54am by jholmes

The LSU Tigers football team gave Louisiana a boost with an impressive 4th quarter come-from-behind victory.  The Tigers beat Arizona State 35-31 in Tempe, Arizona.  The game was originally scheduled to be played in Baton Rouge but was moved due to the relief efforts in the area and on the LSU campus.  posted 1:47am by jholmes

Wall Street Journal article on how Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco failed their constituents. 

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.    posted 1:35am by jholmes

Why were the states of Mississippi and especially Louisiana not as prepared for such a disaster or have a plan as the state of Florida has for years?  posted 1:24am by jholmes

A timeline of the response to Hurricane Katrina.  posted 12:56am by jholmes

Katrina could end up costing more than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. 

The government never has dealt with a disaster of this scale: 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast affected, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced and an entire metropolitan area under water.

In 1992, the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana cost $35 billion. The price for the 6.7-magnitude temblor in the Northridge area of Los Angeles in 1994 was $15 billion to $20 billion.

Members of the Louisiana congressional delegation say it could cost $100 billion just in New Orleans.     posted 12:53am by jholmes

September 10, 2005     DAY 13

New York Times columnist Bruce Babbitt suggests making New Orleans an island.  posted 7:29pm by jholmes

Shaquille O'Neal is working overtime and donating his time and money to charter and send 18-wheelers to Baton Rouge.  Shaquille lived in Baton Rouge while in college and LSU.  posted 3:36pm by jholmes

New Orleans executives are planning to open the French Quarter within 90 days and have a scaled down Mardi Gras celebration.  posted 3:31pm by jholmes

It appears Louisiana might keep its booming movie business, but it looks like Hollywood is going to be moving to Shreveport in northern Louisiana where there is available real estate still left.  This is typical Hollywood forgetting the needs of those who need the income the most from the industry and moving away, but not too far away, so they can still get the huge tax breaks from the state of Louisiana.  I personally believe they should have found a way to make it happen in or around Baton Rouge and then back in New Orleans in a few months when NOLA is cleaned up and needing a boost.

Since Louisiana's tax credit program began in 2002, movie companies have spent $900 million, producing at least 31 major movie and television projects in the state.

Movies that were in production and kept in the state include: "Roadhouse 2," "Scarlet," "The Last Time," "Vampire Bats," "White Lies," "Premonition Factory Girl," "Shame on You," and "The Hill."

They also considered Baton Rouge. "But it's so crowded now there's nowhere to stay," he said. "You can't house an additional 50 to 75 people."   posted 12:16am by jholmes

Excerpts from New York Times columnist John Tierney's op-ed piece, 'The Case for a Cover-Up', from this morning's paper:

Suppose, for instance, investigators try to find out who had the brilliant idea of putting the Federal Emergency Management Agency inside a new department with an organizational chart modeled on the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy. One Democrat, Hillary Clinton, did question whether FEMA would suffer, but the idea was originally championed by her colleagues, particularly Joe Lieberman.

Mr. Lieberman joined Mrs. Clinton this week in calling for a "re-examination" of FEMA's status, but he was against independence before he was for it. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he helped lead the charge to create the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans first resisted, as the Democratic National Committee pointed out during the presidential campaign last year. Its radio advertisement declared: "John Kerry fought to establish the Department of Homeland Security. George Bush opposed it for almost a year after 9/11."

Or suppose the investigators try to find out why the Army Corps of Engineers didn't protect New Orleans from the flood. Democrats have blamed the Iraq war for diverting money and attention from domestic needs. But that hasn't meant less money for the Corps during the past five years. Overall spending hasn't declined since the Clinton years, and there has been a fairly sharp increase in money for flood-control construction projects in New Orleans.   

This week Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat, lambasted Mr. Bush on the Senate floor. "Everybody anticipated the breach of the levees, Mr. President," she said. But she and others from the Louisiana delegation have been shortchanging the levees themselves. As Michael Grunwald reported in The Washington Post, they've diverted large sums to dubious Corps projects aimed at increasing barge traffic, not preventing floods. Ms. Landrieu forced the Corps to redo its calculations when a project to deepen a port flunked its cost-benefit analysis.     posted 11:58am by jholmes

R&B star Usher has urged America's youth to come together and ignore racist comments by rapper Kanye West, who fired off again last night during a telethon at President Bush and 'white leaders.'  posted 10:43am by jholmes

U.S. authorities turned back a German plane carrying aid over a mad cow scare.  posted 10:36am by jholmes

New Orleans police continue to regain control of the city from looters and thugs.  posted 10:34am by jholmes

Michael Jackson is courting R&B star Usher to sing along with him on his Katrina disaster relief song he wrote.  posted 2:20am by jholmes

Joe Paterno's letter to New Orleans.  More letters to the 'Big Easy' from sports celebrities.  posted 2:16am by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina has turned Baton Rouge into a boomtown as the population there has grown more than 50%.  posted 2:07am by jholmes

FEMA is to halt the debit card idea and instead issue direct deposits to banking accounts.  I hope everyone has a bank account.  posted 2:02am by jholmes

Fewer than 10,000:  Estimates are being rethought since police are finding far fewer corpses in their sweeps of the city than projected.  posted 1:56am by jholmes

September 9, 2005     DAY 12

Lebron James spent $120,000 dollars and helped load four trucks today that are headed to Mississippi and Louisiana full of supplies for victims of Katrina.   posted 2:50pm by jholmes

Coast Guard chief takes over the Katrina relief effort.  posted 2:44pm by jholmes

I found this interesting on the chain of responsibility for the citizens of New Orleans, and I thought I would share it.

In case you aren't familiar with how our government is SUPPOSED to work.  The chain of responsibility for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is:

1. The Mayor

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security (a political appointee of  the Governor who reports to the Governor)      

3. The Governor

4. The Head of Homeland Security

5. The President

What did each do?
       
1. The mayor, with 5 days advance, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). The he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.

       
2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much for political appointees)

       
3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.

       
4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them

       
5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.

       
Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.  The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long. Funds for disaster protection and relief have been flowing into this city for decades, and where has it gone, but into the pockets of the politicos and their friends. Decades of socialist government in New Orleans has sapped all self reliance from the community, and made them dependent upon government for every little thing. Political correctness and a lack of will to fight crime have created the single most corrupt police force in the country, and has permitted gang violence to flourish. The sad thing is that there are many poor folks who have suffered and died needlessly because those that they voted into office failed them. For those who missed item 5 (where the President's level of accountability is discussed), it is made more clear in a New Orleans Times-Picayune article dated August 28:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.

       
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome.

       
The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.

       
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. (emphasis mine).  posted 2:25pm by jholmes

689,000 continue to be without power in Mississippi and Louisiana.  posted 12:14pm by jholmes

FEMA chief Michael Brown has been relieved of his duties.  The Department of Homeland Security will name his replacement.  posted 10:55am by jholmes

A computer simulation of a Hurricane on the level of Katrina shows over 63,000 dead and 384,000 sick or injured.  So the rescue and relief was better than some are giving credit for.  posted 10:12am by jholmes

Fewer bodies than expected are being found in the sweeps of Louisiana homes.  posted 10:10am by jholmes

New Orleans cops are set to start forcibly removing citizens from their homes.  posted 1:18am by jholmes

Beware of Hurricane Katrina scams on the web.  posted 12:56am by jholmes

There is a lot of talk about the Saints leaving, but are the New Orleans Hornets gone for sure?  posted 12:14am by jholmes

A German politician is being quoted as saying that President Bush should be shot down for his handling of the Katrina disaster relief.  posted 12:10am by jholmes

Louisiana National Guardsmen have left Iraq to assist their families and communities back home in the Bayou State.  posted 12:01am by jholmes

September 8, 2005  

Hurricane Katrina has made not just many people useful, but some buildings as well, like the Astrodome in Houston, which many people thought had outlived its usefulness.  posted 6:13pm by jholmes

President Bush has designated Friday September 16th as a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  posted 3:34pm by jholmes

The United States House has approved $51.8 billion dollars in relief money.  posted 3:31pm by jholmes

Almost all of the New Orleans aquarium's fish were lost and killed off after Hurricane Katrina knocked out the facilities power.  posted 2:25pm by jholmes

Dick Chaney is touring devastated Mississippi and Louisiana today.  posted 1:41pm by jholmes

Middle-class exiles are struggling to find a foothold since Katrina.  posted 12:23pm by jholmes

Donte' Stallworth of the New Orleans Saints is making a big difference with Katrina victims.  posted 9:51am by jholmes

NASA is accessing Katrina damage at two of its stations.  posted 9:36am by jholmes

U.S. anger over Katrina is being stirred up by Hollywood stars.  You know those people with doctorates, masters, and degrees in political science and worldly events.  posted 9:33am by jholmes

Concerns are continuing to grow over the highly toxic waters in New Orleans.  posted 9:28am by jholmes

Mexico is happily lending a hand with Hurricane Katrina relief.

A Mexican army convoy is heading for Houston, Texas, carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies to feed victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The trucks, carrying 195 unarmed soldiers and specialists, will apparently be used to provide water and hot meals for people evacuated from the New Orleans area.    posted 12:58am by jholmes

Thirty people have been found dead in a nursing home in New Orleans that flooded.

St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens said said "30-plus" bodies were found in St. Rita's Nursing Home in lower St. Bernard Parish -- one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Between 40 and 50 other people were rescued from the facility, Stevens said.     posted 12:55am by jholmes

New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass says he is not sure what has happened to the 500 police officers that are missing. He says that a number can not be put on the officers that have walked off the job. Compass said that some could still be trapped in their homes.  posted 12:52am by jholmes

A Katrina evacuee tried to commit suicide aboard a plane on its way to Washington D.C.  The plan had to make an unexpected landing in Nashville, Tennessee where the passenger was removed and taken to a local hospital.  posted 12:50am by jholmes

A reporter for a Florida newspaper covering the Hurricane relief in Baton Rouge was shot in his car while waiting at a stop sign.  The reporters survived and has since flown back to St. Petersburg, Florida.  posted 12:46am by jholmes

Tropical storm Ophelia is nearing Florida.

The tropical depression off the coast strengthened into a tropical storm early Wednesday and could bring high winds and heavy rain to central and northern Florida over the next few days.     posted 12:41am by jholmes

No Surprise:  Howard Dean is saying that race played a role in the Katrina deaths.  posted 12:34am by jholmes

September 7, 2005   Silent Buses

Oil prices fell today and so is the price of gasoline.  posted 4:41pm by jholmes

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans has ordered mandatory evacuations of his city, but governor Kathleen Blanco says she will not sign off on the order yet.  These people have to get on the same page.  Does Blanco not see where E. Coli has been found in the water and how NOLA is turning into a toxic city?  At least 5 people have died so far due to infections from the water.  posted 1:04pm by jholmes

The Congressional Budget Office is saying that Katrina could cost as many 400,000 jobs.  posted 12:14pm by jholmes

Film director Tony Kaye is moving filming of his new movie from Brazil to New Orleans to help boost the devastated region. Filming is set to begin in early 2006.  posted 12:08pm by jholmes

The federal government plans to start handing out $2,000 debit cards to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  posted 11:43am by jholmes

Shady Iran:  Another reason to be aware of Iran.  Iran offered to donate 20 million barrels of oil, but only if the U.S. waives trade sanctions against Iran.  The sanctions are in place over Iran's hijacking, terrorism and building of a nuclear bomb.  posted 8:58am by jholmes

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll show that only 13% blame President Bush for the slow Hurricane Katrina aid.  posted 8:56am by jholmes

U.S. Navy's Katrina Rescue Photo Album.  posted 1:46am by jholmes

CNN is reporting that state officials are saying that the Superdome will be torn down.  The manager of the Superdome denies the report which came from Governor Blanco's office.  posted 1:14am by jholmes

Liberal radio host Randi Rhodes has repeatedly urged poor listeners in the devastated Gulf Coast to go out and loot.  posted 12:45am by jholmes

The Washington Times says New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is no Rudy Giuliani.

Today, he is trying to shepherd the only large city in America that has experienced such shocking destruction and death -- save New York City on September 11. Some commentators are panning Mr. Nagin's performance compared with that of Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was universally praised for his disaster response in New York.

"On television this week, the mayor has shown no clear inclination to take charge and direct post-Katrina rescue and recovery efforts for his population, as Mayor Giuliani did in New York after 9/11," wrote Nicole Gelina, a columnist for New York's City Journal.     posted 12:41am by jholmes

World Series hero Curt Schilling, who plays for the Boston Red Sox has taken nine people dislocated by Hurricane Katrina into his home in Boston.  posted 12:35am by jholmes

Mississippi could get the first part of the federal aid money over Louisiana.  posted 12:23am by jholmes

A warehouse has been set up in New Orleans to process bodies.  posted 12:10am by jholmes

A New Orleans bus station has become a temporary jail.  posted 12:06am by jholmes

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has ordered the force evacuation of his city.

Nagin's emergency declaration released late Tuesday targets those still in the city unless they have been designated by government officials as helping with the relief effort.

The move comes after some citizens bluntly told authorities who had come to deliver them from the flooded metropolis that they would not leave their homes and property. An estimated 10,000 residents are believed to still be in New Orleans, and some have been holed up in their homes for more than a week.     posted 12:04am by jholmes

September 6, 2005

Hurricane Katrina will end up costing the Federal government at least 5x the amount of 9-11.  posted 9:07pm by jholmes

List of world contributions and amounts donated.  India can give $5 million dollars and France gives what? In comparison to Kuwait.

France: Tents, tarps, Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), water treatment supplies. 

Kuwait: $400 million in oil, $100 million cash.     posted 5:10pm by jholmes

More on the aid U.S. is accepting. 

More info on the pending water contamination that is likely already occurring in New Orleans.  posted 5:02pm by jholmes

The King of Pop Michael Jackson has wrote a song he plans to record to help raise funds for victims of Katrina.  He plans to record the song in the next couple of weeks and has asked other musicians to join him in singing it.  posted 4:48pm by jholmes

More than 182,000 people have been rescued during evacuations.  posted 4:45pm by jholmes

MissingKids.com shows photos of kids orphaned by the Hurricane.  posted 1:10pm by jholmes

President Bush is set to ask Congress for $40 billion dollars more of Hurricane relief aid. 

"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," the president told reporters earlier in the day after meeting with his Cabinet to review storm recovery efforts.  posted 12:51pm by jholmes

E. Coli bacteria has been found in the New Orleans flood water.  posted 12:00pm by jholmes

Acts of kindness after the storm are helping everyone to heal faster than expected.  posted 10:02am by jholmes

Harry Connick, Jr. returned to New Orleans to find that his fathers home had made it through the storm pretty good.  It is easy to see Connick's love for his home city when he talks about it and growing up there.  posted 9:50am by jholmes

New Orleans is very wary of what might be found under the receding water as it starts to flow out of the city.  posted 9:44am by jholmes

President Bush has promised a probe into the response of aid for Hurricane victims.  posted 9:39am by jholmes

New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas and The American Spectator:

"Maybe God's going to cleanse us." Oliver Thomas

However, beyond these speculations is a more general acknowledgement that New Orleans, the epicentre of the disaster, was a "sin city" which harboured few rivals.  The New Orleans "southern decadence" festival which was to take place Labour Day weekend, is described by a French Quarter tourism site as "sort of like a gayer version of Mardi Gras" which is "most famous (or infamous) for the displays of naked flesh which characterize the event," with "public displays of sexuality . . . pretty much everywhere you look."

The city is also renowned for occult practices, particularly voodoo.  Voodoo is also common in violence and crime saturated Haiti.  

The American Spectator reports that "New Orleans has one of the highest murder rates in the country. By mid-August of this year, 192 murders had been committed in New Orleans, 'nearly 10 times the national average,' ...New Orleans was ripe for collapse. Its dangerous geography, combined with a dangerous culture, made it susceptible to an unfolding catastrophe. Currents of chaos and lawlessness were running through the city long before this week, and they were bound to come to the surface under the pressure of natural disaster and explode in a scene of looting and mayhem".      posted 9:23am by jholmes

A story of survival that was posted on the Bumpshack Message Board:

Cammie Williams says, "The storm was the easy part. I sleep through that part. I fell asleep during it. But when I woke up." That's when Cammie noticed water was rising inside his uptown New Orleans apartment. "It snuck up on us, if we would of stayed asleep we probably would have been victims," explains Cammie.

Instead, Cammie along with his mother and uncle camped out in a vacant apartment. He says, "At four in the morning when I kicked the door in -- the water was to my knees, but the next day it was too my waste." After spending two days with no food or water he swam to the nearest grocery store to get food. "I said it's about survival now. You got to be strong for your mom now," says Cammie.

Now five days later, with his mother still in the house, he once again went looking for a way out. Cammie says, "I was determined to get some help and get to dry land." Cammie dove out of the second floor, this time he found a float he thought he could use to move his mother. "When I grabbed it and looked to the side I saw a floating body. He was just floating in the water," says Cammie.

A grim sight, but he kept swimming until he ran into a boat with guys who came to help from Lake Charles. "One of the younger guys pulled alongside the side of the apartment and climbed up the wall and got my mom," recalls Cammie. "We went to picking up people. Old woman children, we began to take a trip to safety."

Cammie and his family were led to an overpass on the highway where more than 10,000 gathered. "They had a lot of old people out there. There were crying babies. There was an unbelievable stench out there."

Cammie realized he and his family were among the lucky ones, and he wanted to help with the effort to save others. "They needed me, because they weren't from here and didn't know anything about New Orleans. So I jumped back in the boat endangering my life again. I said lets go get some more."

When they got back to the highway, part two of an already tiresome journey had begun. "They said there was going to be busses there to pick everybody up they didn't have that," says Barbara Williams, Cammie's mother.

"We couldn't sleep out there. She just couldn't do it," says Cammie. "So I said I know something 's got to happen now." Out of nowhere another miracle occurred. "I saw my brother Raymond and I said, 'Raymond,' he said, 'Come-on I came to get you all," recalls Cammie.

Barbara says, "I thought I was seeing a ghost and I said thank you Jesus."      posted 9:19am by jholmes

The LSU Tigers football team will play its first game in Arizona against Arizona State. The game was to take place at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, but school officials do not want to interrupt the relief efforts in the city and on campus.  The game will have big implications in the college football world. LSU is ranked #5 and ASU is #20.  I saw both teams play last year and it should be a good one.  posted 12:45am by jholmes

Facts about the Red Cross and what they have done for Hurricane victims: 

The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon yesterday raised $54.9 million for muscular dystrophy and $1 million for Katrina aid.  posted 12:30am by jholmes

President Bush and Louisiana governor Blanco have revealed a strained relationship.  posted 12:22am by jholmes

Eleven different sites to help locate missing people.  posted 12:20am by jholmes

The work is expected to take months, but the pumps have started to drain the city of New Orleans.  posted 12:13am by jholmes

New Orleans newspaper gave warning to poor citizens seven weeks before Katrina hit that they would be on their own should a major hurricane hit New Orleans:

But the TIMES-PICAYUNE published a story on July 24, 2005 stating: City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give a historically blunt message: "In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."

Staff writer Bruce Nolan reported some 7 weeks before Katrina: "In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."    posted 12:10am by jholmes

September 5, 2005

George and Barbara Bush visited refugees in Houston today. 

"Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston," Barbara Bush told NPR.

"What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."    posted 9:42pm by jholmes

The hole in the levee has finally been plugged by engineers.  posted 8:47pm by jholmes

Half of the damaged oil refineries are close to restarting.  posted 8:45pm by jholmes

Some Hurricane evacuees are being allowed to visit their homes.  posted 3:13pm by jholmes

Premature Baby:  Miracle baby doing fine after emergency helicopter rescue and superb medical care.  posted 9:15am by jholmes

A six-year-old Louisiana boy, who some how was left in charge of six babies, helped lead them to safety in the chaos and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.     posted 1:44am by jholmes

Rescue workers in Louisiana are going door to door to aid and find survivors, and sometimes there is no response, and other times they are met by stubbornness. 

"People don't want to come out," said Capt. Tim Bayard, commander of the narcotics division of the New Orleans Police Department, who is supervising the water rescue effort. "They say they have enough water and food to sustain themselves. They don't understand. It's going to take six to eight weeks before the electricity comes on."

The water has receded only about a foot in many places, he said, adding that it was still 20 feet deep in spots. "They need to come out," Captain Bayard said. But some residents fear that if they leave, their houses will be ransacked by looters, he said.

"They've already lost their cars," he said. "All they have left is their house. They don't want those animals stealing from them. Write that, animals. Anybody that would take advantage of this is hardly better than animals. Not the people who are taking food and water and clothing. Those stealing TV's and shooting at police. What can you do with a TV? There's no electricity."     posted 1:21am by jholmes

Many are shocked but almost all of the animals from the New Orleans Zoo (except a couple of otters) escaped Hurricane Katrina without being harmed.  posted 1:13am by jholmes

Louisiana native Britney Spears says she is praying for all of the Hurricane victims and their families on her website.  posted 12:48am by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina in Pictures, Day by Day.  posted 12:40am by jholmes

Kuwait to give $500 million in aid.  posted 12:38am by jholmes

High tech firms are offering their technology to help in the relief effort.  posted 12:25am by jholmes

Singer Macy Gray has been volunteering at the Astrodome to aid and assist those placed in the dome due to the Hurricane.  posted 12:20am by jholmes

Hurricane aid offers continue to come in from around the world.  posted 12:08am by jholmes

September 4, 2005

The New Orleans Saints are looking at three options as to where to play their home games this year:

1. Baton Rouge

2. San Antonio, Texas

3. On the Road in every opponents stadium. 
   posted 5:29pm by jholmes

The intense damage in Mississippi is being over shadowed by the thugs and over-the-top news coverage given to New Orleans.  posted 5:01pm by jholmes

Kanye West: You really wonder why 'your people' are getting shot as you so ignorantly declared on the NBC Fundraiser?

Here is my answer as to who to blame for not using the nearly 800 buses in New Orleans to evacuate before they became flooded:

Also you can just look at the Mayors name to figure out who is to blame
Ray Nagin
which is like
Reneging
re·nege ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-ng, -ng, -ng)
v. re·neged, re·neg·ing, re·neges
v. intr.
To fail to carry out a promise or commitment: reneged on the contract at the last minute.

For more on this story check out DeadlyKatrina.com.  posted 4:45pm by jholmes

Johnny White's Sports Bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has remained opened through the Hurricane and flooding.

The warm beer did not bother the regulars who have stayed faithful since Hurricane Katrina hit the city on Monday which was followed by flooding, looting and widespread pillaging.     posted 1:08pm by jholmes

Lance Armstrong has donated $500,000 to help cancer patients displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  posted 12:44am by jholmes

Again, why did New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin not put the cities 500 buses to use before or right after the Hurricane landed?   The buses were less than a mile from the Superdome.  You can see below what the buses are doing now.  More on the Ray Nagin Memorial Bus Pool including high resolution satellite photos of the buses.

Page 13, Paragraph 5 of Louisiana's disaster plan:

'The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...   posted 12:31am by jholmes

A look at New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit.

"In terms of the big cities of this country, New Orleans is clearly one of the cities with the most unique character," said Paul Farmer, executive of the American Planning Association. "What's happened goes well beyond the devastation of one city — it's a national tragedy."

The city was born in 1718, a swampy French-Canadian outpost next to the mouth of the Mississippi River. In the ensuing years it would be held by both France and Spain before becoming the largest and richest city in the Confederacy, thanks in large part to its bustling international port.     posted 12:22am by jholmes

Over 200 New Orleans police officers have left their jobs and two have committed suicide since the Hurricane hit.  posted 12:15am by jholmes

Some say New Orleans will have to be abandoned for 9 months and that many of its people will remain homeless for up to two years. 

Officials said that the job of recovering, let alone counting, the dead may not start for weeks. The death toll is likely to far exceed the numbers killed in the 11 September attacks almost exactly four years ago. Sergeant Nicholas Stahl of the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said that rescuers are focusing on finding an estimated 50,000 people still stranded by the flood waters and admitted "there is no system to collect and store bodies".     posted 12:11am by jholmes

Vampire writer Anne Rice's article: Do You Know What it Means to Lose New Orleans?  posted 12:10am by jholmes

September 3, 2005

The Army Corps of Engineers has changed the amount of time they think it will take to flood the water out New Orleans from 36 to 80 days.  posted 10:52am by jholmes

President Bush:

"Where our response is not working, we will make it right. Where it is not working, we will duplicate it. We will not rest until we get this right. We've all been humbled by the power of Mother Nature."

Three Carnival Cruise ships have been leased by the federal government for six months to house evacuees.  posted 10:46am by jholmes

Author John Grisham and his wife have donated $5 million dollars and have set up a relief fund for Hurricane victims.  Grisham grew up and lives in Mississippi.   posted 10:43am by jholmes

LSU quarterback JeMarcus Russell has opened up his home and been hosting R&B legend Fats Domino along with 20 other refugees in his two bedroom apartment. 

Domino apparently was rescued by boat on Monday. After that, Bonnette said, he was brought to the Superdome, where he eventually was put on a bus to an evacuee triage center in LSU's basketball arena.

Domino, who had checked in under his given name of Antoine Domino, was reunited there with his family. Then he, his family and a dozen other people from New Orleans went to Russell's apartment just off the LSU campus.

The quarterback told Bonnette that, all told, about 20 people had been staying in the two-bedroom apartment. Russell said he had spent most of the two days helping them with errands that included grocery trips and a 2 a.m. pharmacy run to get medicine for Domino.    posted 1:25am by jholmes

The city of Houston, Texas is opening up two more refugee centers.

Mayor Bill White declared that the city's convention center and an exhibition hall would accept more hurricane survivors, and conventions for the coming weeks would be canceled.

"We see the tragedy which is ongoing in New Orleans, and we are doing the best we can to make sure when people get to Houston they have a decent place to stay," White said.     posted 1:21am by jholmes

Different versions of the devastation from the mayor of New Orleans, to CNN chief, to the FEMA chief.  posted 1:15am by jholmes

Kanye West showed how ignorant he is during the Hurricane telethon fundraiser last night.  As aforementioned West is extremely overrated as a rapper.  posted 1:10am by jholmes

Bus carrying Hurricane refugees flipped on the highway and killed one.  posted 12:55am by jholmes

September 2, 2005

As I speculated a few days ago, the New Orleans Saints could be moving to Los Angeles and the move might not be temporary. 

Owner Tom Benson prefers San Antonio, where he keeps a home. But, according to sources, the league is rethinking this option because this could be the perfect time to literally place a franchise in Los Angeles.     posted 8:38pm by jholmes

Tulane University has cancelled its fall semester and is urging students to enroll elsewhere.  However, the Tulane football team will compete this season.  posted 7:17pm by jholmes

President Bush toured the destruction caused by the Hurricane today and said that New Orleans will 'rise again.'  posted 4:05pm by jholmes

The White House is set to release 30 million barrels of oil to help reduce the stress on the oil supply and help keep prices moderate.  posted 3:26pm by jholmes

Why did the mayor of New Orleans not deploy all the school buses on Monday that are now in a lot flooded by water?  posted 3:22pm by jholmes

U.S. Senator David Vitter from Louisiana says the death toll might top 10,000 in Louisiana alone.  posted 3:19pm by jholmes

It could take over a month to drain the city of New Orleans according to the Army Corps of Engineering.  posted 9:55am by jholmes

From the Bumpshack Message Board.  Share your story on the Bumpshack Message Board:

Good morning all, thought I would come in and open my office up for a short time and check in here, while I am in. My wife and I spent last evening in the Red Cross Shelter at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center. Our experience was nothing like that of LATinkerbell's, thank God. For the most part, very uplifting. Most people there, although they had lost everything, were quite thankful and hopeful. Most scared, and while they needed a roof over their head and food to eat, the most important thing you could give them was a few moments of your time, they just needed someone to tell their story too. I met so many people, and made so many new friends. One of the many I met was a grandmother (the first person in there I spoke with) who was coloring (not a lot to do in a shelter such as that) and coloring the name of a girl so I of course asked whose name that was, she told me it was her grand-daughter's, so (foot in mouth here) asked where she was, and tearfully she admitted she didn't know. They had been seperated, they were preparing for a party for great-grandmother when the storm forced them all apart. We of course spent time talking about what would be involved in reuniting them and that it would happen, and of course we prayed. Mathilda (the grandmother) made me promise I would come back this evening and I did (I will).

In the few hours I was there, I heard many stories such as this, I cried, I laughed, I colored, and I am so much more thankful today than yesterday.

Well, enough for now, I am off to see what I can help with in establishing some sort of "job board" for shelter inhabitants looking for work and talking with local manufacturers, but will check in here off and on throughout the day.
 

Shannon

A look inside the Louisiana Superdome during the hellacious days evacuees were being placed there.  posted 9:13am by jholmes

Instapundit.com has a list of recommended charities posted today during his Carnival of Hurricane Relief.  I urge everyone to give to Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge.  I attended HPC when I lived in the area during school and they do amazing things for all of the people in Louisiana.  President Bush mentioned this church by name in his State of the Union address either this year or last year.    posted 1:04am by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina's impact on gasoline and other essential items could pump up inflation for months economists are saying.

"In the immediate future, this will show up as a big blip in CPI (the consumer price index). But that is not relevant for long-term price stability in this county," said Robert Rasche, director of research at the St. Louis Federal Reserve.     posted 12:56am by jholmes

Katrina has curbed Hollywood's enthusiasm for filming movies in New Orleans and Louisiana.  The state had become a haven in the last couple of years for its tax breaks that lured Hollywood in. 

Walt Disney Studios is still hopeful that the Jerry Bruckheimer film "Deja Vu," and "The Guardian," starring Kevin Costner, can shoot in the city. "Deja Vu" was scheduled to start filming in November. "The Guardian," scheduled to start production next month, has been delayed.     posted 12:53am by jholmes

Doctors in Louisiana are pleading for help as the hospitals are running out of food and power.  posted 12:47am by jholmes

R&B legend Fats Domino has been found in New Orleans.

His daughter, Karen Domino White, who lives in New Jersey, identified her father in a picture taken Monday night by a New Orleans Times-Picayune photographer. The singer is seen being helped from a boat by an emergency crew.     posted 12:40am by jholmes

September 1, 2005

Louisiana governor Blanco declares war on looters, as she should:

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared war on looters as 300 National Guard troops landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will," she said.   posted 9:12pm by jholmes

Photos from The Advocate in Baton Rouge.   posted 9:03am by jholmes

The U.S. Senate approved $10.5 billion in relief aid money for the Gulf Coast Hurricane area.  posted 8:04pm by jholmes

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue says not to expect Saints to host any games in New Orleans this year.  posted 5:24pm by jholmes

Baton Rouge has become Louisiana's largest city over night.

In a day, this city has become the largest in Louisiana, and grim local officials here predicted it would double in size, to about 800,000, permanently. "The Baton Rouge we live in and grew up in is no longer," said city councilman Mike Walker. "These people are here to stay, perhaps forever."

About 3,000 refugees suddenly appeared about midnight on the campus of Louisiana State University, where a shelter already was at capacity. They were turned away. Most of those 3,000 eventually made their way to the emergency rooms of the area's three biggest hospitals, where "they created extreme chaos and disturbance" throughout the night, said Dr. Louis Minsky, medical director for East Baton Rouge parish.

There were reports of attempted carjackings at 24-hour gas stations. Authorities decided to impose a 10 p.m. cutoff for gas sales.     posted 4:51pm by jholmes

Katrina damage could hit $50 billion.  posted 3:10pm by jholmes

House Speaker Dennis Hastert has asked the question if New Orleans should even be rebuilt?  posted 3:07pm by jholmes

Police are saying that storm victims and refugees are being raped and beaten inside the convention center:

Police Chief Eddie Compass says he sent in 88 officers to quell the situation at the building, but they were quickly beaten back by an angry mob.

Compass says, "We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten."     posted 3:02pm by jholmes

President Bush says not to buy gas if you don't really need it:

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he said in Oval Office remarks with his father and Clinton at his side.

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Bush said.    posted 2:56pm by jholmes

Hurricane Katrina Safe List.  Thanks to a Bumpshack Message Board poster for the link.  posted 1:32pm by jholmes

More links to places to donate for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.  posted 1:02pm by jholmes

Superdome evacuation has been slowed again as violence has intensified in the city.  posted 12:59pm by jholmes

77-year-old R&B legend Fats Domino is missing in New Orleans.  Other musicians missing as well.  posted 10:56am by jholmes

Superdome evacuation disrupted due to arson fires and shots at rescue helicopters.  posted 10:48am by jholmes

Another firsthand view from a volunteer that was posted on the Bumpshack Message Board regarding the destruction from Hurricane Katrina:

Little did I know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more gratifying or more surreal experience I went through tonight. We went up to the office today and held a press conference regarding the postponement of the game and it was the right decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as shelters we decided as an office to do everything we could to help the situation.

At first, we were just supposed to make copies of this disaster relief form for all of the people. The copiers will never print a document more important than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off copies of game notes for a football game that is now meaningless. We printed the copies and carried them over to the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave the area for another 8 hours.

On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it looked like the scene in the movie Outbreak. FEMA officials, U.S. Marshals, National Guard, and of course the survivors. Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on roofs. Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As Michael and I rode back to the PMAC, a lady fell out of her wheelchair and we scrambled to help her up.

We met Coach Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in constantly and for the first time in my life I saw someone die right in front of me. A man rolled in from New Orleans and was badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he was dead. And that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started hauling in supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The CDC from Atlanta arrived directing us what to do.

One of the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not become loot. I asked him what his primary job was. He serves on the committee of counter terrorism, but once he saw of the disaster, he donated his forces to come help. He said the death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to hear that.

After unloading supplies, I started putting together baby cribs and then IV poles. Several of our football players and Big Baby and Tasmin Mitchell helped us. At the same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were giving berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym "Dungeon" was being used as a morgue. I couldn't take myself down there to see it.

I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left three more buses rolled in and they were almost out of room. People were standing outside, the lowest of the low from NO. The smells, the sights were hard to take.

A man lying down on a cot asked me to come see him. He said, "I just need someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and nothing left. He turned out to be a retired military veteran. His story was what everybody was saying. He thought he survived the worst, woke up this morning and the levees broke. Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to the attic, smashed his way through the roof and sat there for hours. He was completely sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12 hours later a chopper rescued him and here he was.

We finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on the way. As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and scarily enough he suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was shot several times because a looter or a convict needed his boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man with him said it was "an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there right now." A few minutes later he was unconscious and later pronounced dead. I then left as they were strolling a 3 year old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn't take it anymore.

That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new perspective on things. For those of you who I haven't been able to get in touch with because of phone service, I pray you are safe. Send me an email to let me know.

God bless.
Bill Martin
LSU Sports Information

Post from the Bumpshack Message Board from one of the Hurricane Survivors and volunteers:

It should be pointed out, that as bad as looks right now, I am confident that we have not yet looked this beast in the eyes and do not realize exactly what all we are up against. While things like this bring out the best in most people, it brings out the worst in many.

The path of Katrina was never closer than 60 to 70 miles from my home, yet still, schools are closed until, who know, at least next week sometimes. Most still have no power or phones and we have discovered that the water supplies have been compromised and are currently under a boil order. Gasoline prices rose over 40 cents per gallon yesterday alone. And to enter a grocery store or discount store, is utterly dangerous.

I have reopened my office, but will be closing early today to volunteer with various efforts as well. Today thru Monday. Not much, but it is what I can do. I have sent my children to the northern part of the state to get them away from all of this (with grandparents), slowly the stench is making its way even here. I cannot begin to imagine what it is like further south.

My wife is typically very emotional and usually it is sort of cute, now it is incredibly taxing on her as she works for a dialysis access center in Baton Rouge. Here is an excerpt from an email she sent to some people yesterday:

"..........come to you today with a very saddened heart and want to not only
share my thoughts with you, but ask for help for those in desperate need of help.

I'm sure most of you have seen the footage and at least heard of the massive devastation throughout the south from hurricane Katrina. I just finally heard from a good friend of mine today who "lived" in Gulfport. Both her and her husband worked at a large Baptist Church there that was completely destroyed beyond recognition, as was their home. They did, however get themselves and their new born baby out in time and made it to a relatives house in Ruston. They lost everything, as I'm sure many people did. It is a very sad situation, but they are thankful that they have their lives.

I finally got to come to work today, only to be in tears the entire time. I work for a surgery center who takes care of people when they have problems with their kidney dialysis access. You can not begin to imagine the number of people who have been displaced by this tragedy, only to get here and not be able to get dialysis. When they can't get their treatment, they die. At the moment, I have a sixteen year old dialysis patient here in my office. He came
in with his mother and older teenaged sister. They didn't know where they would go after this, came in hungry and tired because they've been sent from one place to another trying desperately to get dialysis for this child. We give them what we have here available to eat and drink and have collected money to feed them lunch and pay for a cab to take them back to the shelter. Our
Doctors are just wonderful, and we've all pitched in to get them fed for lunch, but they don't know what tomorrow will bring. It just absolutely breaks my heart.

I am asking of you, please, please, if you have things in your house that your kids have out grown, or you have outgrown, collect them and take them to one of the many shelters. They need bottled water, blankets, personal items such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. Just do what you can..........."

I closed early yesterday to be with my kids and to get them packed for the trip to the grandparents house last evening so I got home before my wife. I met her at the door, she was crying and was bare footed. For some reason I could not help but ask why she was not wearing shoes, and between sobs she told me that the teenage girl in the above email excerpt, didn't have any.

Sorry for the long post.

Shannon

Pre and post satellite photos of New Orleans from space.  President tabs Papa Bush and Bill Clinton for relief help.  The two were instrumental in strumming up aid for the tsunami torn areas earlier in the year.  posted 9:25am by jholmes

Email me Bumpshack@gmail.com your survival or experience from Hurricane Katrina to share with the readers of Bumpshack.com

A log of what corporations are donating and how much to the relief effort.  posted 2:58am by jholmes

Here is a list from Instapundit.com of places to donate money or services to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The U.S. Coast Guard says that 20 oil rigs are missing in the Gulf of Mexico.  posted 2:47am by jholmes

August 31, 2005