Tales of katrina (negative, gas, propane, community)

[Escort Rider]

I think SCGranny summed things up pretty well. In assessing blame, isn't it true that there was a combination of government blame and personal blame? There are things that government (at all levels) could have done better both before and after Katrina, but on the other hand you can't save some people from themselves. Some posters have emphasized the government failures, and SCGranny has emphasized the personal failures, but it seems to me both existed.

With regard to the 1965 flooding, I don't think it was as widespread or as deep as what Katrina brought, or caused nearly as many deaths.

Incidently, I drove by car through the lower 9th Ward several months after Katrina. There was little or no renovation/rebuilding that had been done. Besides the destruction what I remember clearly was the eerie silence; when we stopped several times and got out of the car, there were no dogs barking, no kids playing, and no cars driving by.

[SCGranny]

Thanks, Escort Rider, but if you'll note in my previous post I DID point out the government failures. In my 2nd post, I was responding to those who implied that it was the government's responsibility to get all of those people out of harm's way. Yes, government was responsible for the levees, for the failure of their mitigation plan, for not controlling what should be controlled by government - but the ultimate failure was every single individual who had choices, even simple choices like watching the weather, or calling Uncle Buzz in Baton Rouge or Dallas or Memphis, and asking if they could come and stay if there was a hurricane.

[Countrysue]

You can not prepare for a disaster until you live thru one. We did all the things we were told to do. NOTHING, NOTHING, can prepare you for the reality. I will try to describe to you what happened. When we heard Katrina was coming, we gathered the supplies, and planned an evacuation. A problem immediately surfaced. My mother is wheelchair bound, we needed a place to go to that was handicap friendly. Couldn’t find one. All of the hotels, motels, etc were booked up. She can’t ride for more than an hour without serious pain medication. Checked with shelters. We were told that she was not handicapped enough for a handicap shelter. We were then told that she was too handicapped for a regular shelter. We decided to ride it out at home. Our area does not flood.

We set up shifts so someone would be awake during the storm. I had the 10 pm – 5 am shift. It was a night I will never be able to forget. We are surrounded by towering pine trees called loblolly pines. They have a bare trunk topped by a round ball of branches. They can grow up to 120’ tall.

The electricity went out shortly after my shift started. I sat there in the dark listening to the wind howling outside. The only lights were our landscaping lights. They glowed brightly throughout the storm. The hurricane winds made a whistling howl that grew as the night went on. Then the barrage began. Green pine cones fell from the trees, were caught by the wind and began bombarding the area. They flew thru the night as tho they had been launched from a catapult. I could hear them slamming into our car and house. The winds increased to a shrieking roar. The logical part of my mind knew that we had done all that could be done, but there was something gibbering in the dark corner of my mind that was screaming ‘we’re all going to die’. I checked repeatedly on the family. Everyone was asleep, even the dogs and cats!

I heard a crackling, snapping sound and went to the window. I saw a pine bend, and then snap in half. The top part came crashing down on my neighbor’s house cutting thru the roof like a hot knife thru butter. I listened to pine trees crashing down all around me. It was the longest night of my life.

The next morning, the road was impassable. Pine trees had crisscrossed over it, completely blocking it. We climbed through them to try to find our neighbors only to meet them climbing through to find us. No one died. We had a retired military man living in the neighborhood who organized us. We created a militia, designated people to go for supplies and started clearing the streets.

We bought 55 gallon garbage cans, scrubbed them with soap, rinsed them with bleach and filled them with water. We had 4 in our shed and tied another 2 tied to our oak tree. The oak tree fell over during the storm taking the water with it! We had plenty of water with them, plenty of food and a freezer full of ice.

The landscape lights were solar powered. We put them out during the day, brought them inside at night for light.

One of the first supply runs was to hunting and fishing supply stores in Mississippi. Motorcyles were sent since they could use the back roads. They brought back dry ice for refrigerators and freezers

What I learned? Getting out is not as easy as you would think. Where do you go? How do you pay for the trip?

The government, both state and federal, were useless. FEMA refused to come into our neighborhood until we got rid of our guns. No problem, we needed the guns more than FEMA. We ran into 2 kinds of government fools. One is the pompous bureaucrat who thinks he has been anointed by God to rule over us for the duration of the emergency (duration to be determined by him, or her); the other is the well meaning bureaucrat who really, really, really wants to take care of us. Both require multiple forms that must be completely filled in before aid can be rendered. The forms require all mannerof personal information, the kind of information you don't want the government to have! The only way to handle them is to say over and over ‘No, but thank you for your concern’. This works best if you are carrying a gun while you say it

After the storm, there was no law, and very little medical care. The police, doctors and nurses who stayed were overworked, overwrought and overwhelmed. Our Red Cross first aid course turned out to be a most valued asset! We took the course just because it was offered locally. We didn’t know how much we would use it after the storm.

Things we were not prepared for
1. Losing jobs. I had friends who were fired after the storm. They were told they might be rehired when the business reopened.
2. No banks, no money. There was stuff to buy, but our money was in the bank, and the bank was closed. Bless DISCOVER’s heart – they waived payments until things settled down
3. No mail
4. No cell phone towers - no communication unless you have a short wave radio

If I am here for the next one:
1. More ammo for the guns
2 Pack important documents (including pictures) in a box, wrap the box in plastic wrap, then in multiple layers of garbage bags. Drying wet essential documents is a pain.
3. Stock up on lime and make an outdoor toilet before the storm. No electricity, no flush. Lime cuts down on the smell.
4. Stock more money in various denominations - ones, fives, tens, change
5. Enough gas to refill the car completely, extra gas for the chain saw
6. Keep my perspective. Things can be replaced, people can’t. Don’t mourn the THINGS that are lost, let them go.

We were lucky. I had friends who believed the government when they were told that the levees would never fail. They lost everything, including family members.

All in all, the emotional part of Katrina was the hardest. Friends dead, the familar gone, the fear that life would never be normal. Having lived thru it, I don't think I will ever be that afraid again, wary - yes, but not that kind of fear.

(I think I just talked too much, please forgive!)

[Nighteyes]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

I think SCGranny summed things up pretty well. In assessing blame, isn't it true that there was a combination of government blame and personal blame? There are things that government (at all levels) could have done better both before and after Katrina, but on the other hand you can't save some people from themselves. Some posters have emphasized the government failures, and SCGranny has emphasized the personal failures, but it seems to me both existed.

Yes, both did exist, and will continue to exist in every major disaster preceded by warnings. My point was that, in every community, there are some people for whom self-evacuation is physically impossible. Their inability to self-evacuate cannot by any means be dismissed as "personal failure," a point I attempted to emphasize through my example of New York City.

It is these New Orleans residents whom government failed; many of them we saw floating face-down in the flood-waters.

I don't mean to argue the entire point; I just insist that we don't dismiss the deaths of these people as "personal failures." To do otherwise is like blaming turtles for their failure to fly.

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

With regard to the 1965 flooding, I don't think it was as widespread or as deep as what Katrina brought, or caused nearly as many deaths.

You are correct. However, it was a clear warning that was only partly heeded.

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Incidently, I drove by car through the lower 9th Ward several months after Katrina. There was little or no renovation/rebuilding that had been done. Besides the destruction what I remember clearly was the eerie silence; when we stopped several times and got out of the car, there were no dogs barking, no kids playing, and no cars driving by.

I have family and friends east of New Orleans. Fairly regularly, my wife and I fly into New Orleans, rent a car, and drive Interstate 10 East. As you may know, the "bypass route" does exactly that. When returning, we have often taken Highway 90 along the coast, and Business 10 into/through New Orleans proper.

We share the same experiences you described.

[SCGranny]

(((((((( CountrySue ))))))))
Not too long at all... and thank you. That must have been hard to write.

[Nighteyes]

Thank you, CountrySue, for your story. Not only must it have been difficult to write (and infinitely more difficult to experience), but you have also illustrated my point extremely well.

From the safety of distance, it is far too easy to dismiss the victims of Katrina as having ignored the warnings and failing to evacuate, and therefore entirely deserving of what they got -- until and unless they actually listen to and understand what Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story".

To those other than CountrySue -- rather than taking the much easier "you- shoulda-listened-so-you-got-what-you-deserved" road, step back for a moment and really consider the facts. Yeah, I know its easier to take that other road, but those who take it are NOT dealing with reality.

As syndicated radio humorist Red Neckerson used to say, "That's my opinion; oughta be yours!" And it would be if you had truly done your homework.

And that's MY opinion. YMMV.

-- Nighteyes

[waitingtundra]

See I'm in a different situation I live on the West Bank of New Orleans. Only a stark raving idiot would ride out a storm like Katrina in such a location, course I have family so no question evacuate, dogs kids wifes parents all gota go, I keep a low mileage 4 door truck v8 top on bed 4 extra cans of gas all documents extra food and water and 5 gallon buckets with toilet paper.

Evacuations ain't no joke in southeast Louisiana, guns ammo and cash with plenty of ones, fives and 10's, did I mention plenty of cash and amo?

[Mathguy]

Great stories people.

I would add that depending on the government should also be tempered by what state\city etc. you live in since competancy and corruption vary greatly from place to place. We all have to deal with the feds but locals and state can vary.

I think of the pictures I saw of hundreds of school buses submerged to their roof in NO and thought, wow...they could have saved those buses, loaded them with thousands and got the heck out of dodge.

[AK-Cathy]

No judgement here.

I'm sure many of the people that didn't evacuate had no where else to go. Imagine being very poor having lived all your life in NO with no connections elsewhere. No money for lodging. No gas money if they had a car that could make it to Houston and back which is unlikely. No money for the bus ride or tents to make a camping trip out of it if you could afford the ticket out to points clear of the storm's path. Little imagination or resourcefulness to work the problem through. If they were clever and resourceful, it's unlikely that such a person would be destitute. I imagine that this describes the lion's share of those unfortunates stuck in the convention center and stadium or trying to ride it out in the ninth ward.

In addition, my understanding is that a number of tourists got stuck not able to get flights out that rode it out in hotels. And people with pets and farm animals without outside contacts or means had trouble finding places to go, and as a responsible person, could you leave your pets or livestock alone? The people that I know in NO were volunteers who's families were evacuated but they stayed to work round the clock to evacuate airports until the storms hit. Like Country Sue, the devil is in the details and yes, there were some decisions that in hindsight were less than optimal.

It will be the same up here. We get another big shaker like '64 and the Monday morning quarterbacking will begin in earnest about why people build and live in hazard zones like this. It's safe to say that we can't all huddle up in relatively benign locales like upper Wisconsin or Vermont.

Below is a blog link written by a Katrina evacuee that I found fascinating. The story is interesting reading and it's fairly comprehensive in regards to preparation for another disaster and would be of interest to some folks here.

HURRICANE KATRINA

[NYChistorygal]

Thank you, Countrysue, for posting your story. I'm so sorry you had to suffer all that, but am glad that you have come through it. I understand that you couldn't evacuate. I would likely have the same situation.