Hurricane Katrina

[lil lady lax fan]

I think the only viable option would be to rebuild on higher ground. New Orleans and its culture would be a terrible thing to lose. Kind of makes you realize why some ancient cultures chose to abandon some of their original settlements...

Let's see...

Pompeii (totally submerged by Mt. Vesvius)

the Mayan civilization in South America (the folks moved on...)

Troy (probably fictional, but there was a site similar to Troy on the western edge of Turkey which once was called Antalonia and Asia Minor)


New Orleans?? I am pretty sure the Big Easy will still be around, but the way the city looks will be much different than it used to be, e.g. the French Quarter. I even saw a picture of that street prior to Katrina's fury and the day after picture where some cars were crushed by bricks.

It is true that we humans are restless wanderers, so the folks would probably move on to other places away from the ocean.

Troy actually existed. In fact there were a whole series of Troys built on the same sight over a number of millenia. The archeologists think Troy VI--destroyed around 1250BC--was the one made famous by Homer.

Pompeii, Submerged??!! Buried under the dander of Mt. Vesuvius more like! You want a city that was submerged by a volcano try Santorini on the island of Thera and the Minoan civilizations of Crete--now THOSE were dumped in the drink.

And don't forget the Anasazi who left because of extensive drought conditions. Mother Nature likes to play mind games with human societies!!

As for the French Quarter, with today's technology we could move the whole kit and kaboodle and recreate it on a better sight--think Anwar Dam project in Egypt...

[Tarzan]

New Orleans will be back, but it will be a smaller city. Baton Rouge is seeing its listings move like hotcakes. BR has already seen a growth in neighboring Parishes (the fastest growing in the state) and the downtown area is already seeing a needed coming back...Much of NO’s loss will be BR's gain.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

has there been any serious discussion about making a donation on behalf of the uslia??

[Brent Burns]

Back to what I previously talked about the ancient peoples moving on after natural disasters or other factors, I suddenly realized that I should review my history books.

The Maya civilization was actually in Central America, not in South America. I must have been thinking about the Inca civilization that was in South America. I also know that the Aztec civilization was in Central America.

[Sonny]

has there been any serious discussion about making a donation on behalf of the uslia??

That would have to come from US Lacrosse (USL). The USL MDIA is one of numerous councils under the USL banner.

[Tarzan]

My point of view on USL involvement:

Anything they could muster up would be a drop in the budget. I would rather see them continue the jump start program they are working on in New Orleans...Which I am told should be adding 3 more teams if they can get the funding.

USL doing a charity tournament would be another story. Once the fields dry out we could do it in New Orleans...If they would like to do it sooner we could try to make it happen in BR or even Thibodaux.

[lil lady lax fan]

USL doing a charity tournament would be another story. Once the fields dry out we could do it in New Orleans...If they would like to do it sooner we could try to make it happen in BR or even Thibodaux.

Now there's an idea for you. With all the Fall Ball tournaments going on maybe the organizers could set up a booth specifically for disaster relief at their tournaments where folks could make a donation. Just a few other ways those far from the scene could help.

[Danny Hogan]

The New Orleans refugees are just as bad as the maniacs left in the city. they just reported that N.O. refugees are taking hostages and hi-jacking government vehicles in baton rouge.

[Tarzan]

http://www.nola.com/cgi-bin/prxy/photog ... 19/039.jpg

Gas prices are going up!!!

[Sonny]

Need to get all of those refineries back up and working again. Gas here in Atlanta has gone up .50/gallon in the last 24 hours.

[Sonny]

A note read elsewhere in blog land from a doctor trapped in the French Quarter....

This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don’t know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandeered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police escort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the French Quarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of cliche way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care physician. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don’t know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will take. And the horror of so many dead people.

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THINK MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH.

[Brent Burns]

To Billy Tauzin, Matt Shearer and others from Louisiana,

I just got an email from my mom who got a very grim email from her friends from Baton Rouge. What is the current situation out in BR? I read that there are a lot of folks streaming over to BR and there has been reports of violence out there. In that email, the writer said that there was a riot at Wal-Mart. There were reports of bus drivers abandoning the buses and leaving the riders out there on the road. This writer even told about a young couple from Mississippi having a breakdown; folks seeing bodies everywhere, etc.

The entire states of Louisiana and Mississippi definitely need our prayers, thoughts, and of course, humanitarian assistance. I have been reading several emails that a lot of people are really asking like the blogger that Sonny sent in this thread, "Where are the National Guard?" I am even asking what is really the hold up out there?

[Tarzan]

BR situation is a rumor:
http://2theadvocate.com/livepages4/850.shtml

I heard it today as well.

New Orleans and surrounding area needs lots of prayers.

From www.nola.com :

The Defense Department aims to build a
military force of more than 30,000 across the South
and the Gulf of Mexico to help federal emergency
officials deal with the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

National Guard units are there and more are on the way. I even heard someone saw a convoy of Texas Rangers (not the baseball team) headed towards New Orleans. If you ask me, I would be more affraid of the Rangers...Those guys don't take no for an answer!!

[TexOle]

Family Night at the Bar at my club had some fun discussions. I was talking with family friends about Katrina and the stupidity of people.

Sniper shooting the evacuation busses. What is this guy thinking? He is shooting at people who have enough problems.

Looting of electronics. Last I checked water ruined those and there was no power.

A guy chasing a looter with a gun on tv. Is he really planning to shoot someone on national tv?

Grocery stores remaining closed. Just give the people the food. It is going to waste if you don't.

Police stopping the guy who just took some beer. I think everyone could use a little booze right now.

No footballs in the Superdome. How about a little game guys?

Refugees traveling to places not designed to accomodate. San Antonio was not expecting anyone, but they got some. I guess they were finally able to open the Alamodome.

Astrodome officials not letting busses from areas other than the Superdome in.

People shooting at rescuers. Always good to shoot guy who wants to help you.

Looting of stuff that can be traced and on tv. I think that is easy to prosecute.

Stealing a postal truck and using it to loot on tv. I guess at least they are putting all resources to work.

I am sure there are others, but this is just what we have seen so far on TV in Dallas.

[Brent Burns]

I know that lil lady lax fan briefly stated that we all have to be aware of scamming, be it by phone or by email or whatever form it comes in. For example, I got an email from someone yesterday in which an email purports that the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) is giving out free food stamps and free gasoline to evacuees. It also had a link, so I decided to test it and found out that it was a broken link. This morning I went to the TDSHS website and found out that it is actually a bogus email. It is really sickening how someone can use a state agency to make it sound like it would be doing that kind of thing. Exprience tells us that state agencies would not do that, though.

It is also sad that we would have to take any email with grain of salt including an email that my mom got in which it turns out to be a false story about violence taking place in BR. It is worth checking with those folks such as Tarzan, et al.