Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Katrina: The Storm That Marked Time
You know, every once-in-a-while, an event occurs that marks time. You know, you refer to a period of time when there was a major event. The event - whatever it was - helps the listener's mind retrieve memories. Typically, there are feelings associated with the memories that acts like a catalyst to open that part of our brain and a rush of memories comes to the forefront. Here are some events that have marked time in my mind: the Iranian Hostage Situation, the Challenger Accident, the Columbia Accident, The Chernobyl Incident, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Exxon Valdez accident, the 1985 Mexico earthquake killing 7,000 people, the 1989 San Francisco quake, Hirricane Andrew, Mississippi flood of '93, Oklahoma City bombing, TWA 800, and, of course, 9/11.
Now I have to add Katrina to the mix. This is an enormous disaster. It was a Cat 5, then a Cat 4, and went east of New Orleans ... we thought it wasn't going to be as bad ... then it got worse ... and then worse ... and then worse ... and officials speculate if New Orleans is even salvageable. We are now day three after the hurricane. It's an emotional toll. People, places, property, economy are all effected. What can you say to respond to such a natural disaster?
I'm posting some tidbits, thoughts, and photos from what I am seeing and reading. All tidbits and photos are courtesy of AP and Reuters. All thoughts are Phil's Obersvations ...
As of August 31st, a recap on the wrath of Katrina:
LOUISIANA:
— Deaths: The mayor said the hurricane probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Relief crews put aside the counting of bodies to concentrate on rescuing the living, many trapped on rooftops and in attics.
— Estimated 80 percent of New Orleans under water, up to 20 feet deep in places. Water still rising as engineers struggle to plug two breached levees along Lake Pontchartrain with giant sandbags.
— Authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in the Big Easy and all but abandon the flooded-out city. Many of the evacuees — including thousands now staying in the Superdome — will be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, 350 miles away.
— Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people rescued by boat and air.
— Sections of Interstate 10, only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, destroyed.
— At least 370,000 customers estimated without power.
— BellSouth Corp., the region's dominant local phone provider, estimated that about 750,000 lines may be out of service in the most heavily damaged areas.
— Looting broke out in some New Orleans neighborhoods. Thieves took guns from a Wal-Mart. One police officer shot in the head by looter but expected to recover. Looters also used a forklift to smash open a pharmacy. City officials themselves commandeered equipment from a looted Office Depot. During a state of emergency, authorities have broad powers to take private supplies and buildings for their use.
— Quote: "You know, it's not like people are just there because they want to be there. They're there because they're trapped in the city." — Gov. Kathleen Blanco on ABC "Good Morning America"
MISSISSIPPI:
— Deaths: At least 110.
— More than 900,000 customers without power, utilities said.
— Hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums obliterated.
— Casinos built on barges along the coast damaged or destroyed, some floated across beach onto land. Dozen casinos employed about 14,000 people, generated $2.7 billion in annual revenue.
— More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen activated.
— Major bridges damaged in three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.
— Looters picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses.
— Quote: "It is indescribable — blocks and blocks and blocks of no houses. Ninety percent of the structures are gone. I saw Camille and the aftermath in 1969 and this is worst than Camille." Gov. Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today." Camille killed 143 and destroyed 6,000 homes.
ALABAMA:
— Deaths: Two.
— About 405,000 homes and businesses without power.
— Flooding reached 11 feet in Mobile, matching record set in 1917, according to National Weather Service. Water up to roofs of cars in downtown Mobile and bayou communities. Piers ransacked and grand homes flooded along Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.
— Major bridge over the Mobile River partially reopened; it was struck by oil drilling platform that floated away from a shipyard.
FLORIDA:
— Deaths: 11.
— 38,000 customers without power in the Panhandle, hit by eastern edge of storm Monday. In South Florida, about 70,000 customers still without power Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
— President Bush cut Texas vacation to return to Washington.
— Federal Emergency Management Agency sent medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water into disaster areas.
— Navy sent four ships to the Gulf Coast with water, other supplies.
OIL MARKETS:
— Crude oil prices dropped to a little below $70 a barrel after U.S. government decided to make petroleum available from strategic reserve.
— Oil and gas companies found some Gulf of Mexico oil rigs as far as 17 miles from their original locations.
---
NEW ORLEANS — A public health emergency was declared for the entire Gulf Coast Wednesday as New Orleans officials estimated that hundreds, if not thousands, of city residents were killed by Hurricane Katrina and the storm's aftermath.
"This recovery will take a long time," President Bush said. "This recovery will take years."
There will be a "total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months," New Orleans Mayor Nagin said.
In some counties, search and rescue teams were marking an "X" on homes and roofs where dead bodies were found so that they can later be retrieved.
The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued over 1,200 people from rooftops as rescue workers toil around the clock with the help of Navy, U.S. Customs, Marine and Army helicopters.
It could take close to a month to get the water out of the city. If the water rises a few feet higher, it could also wipe out the water system for the whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert.
A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.
According to New Orleans power grid managers, it will take six to eight weeks to get power back on in the city after the water is drained. Water service likely won't be reestablished until a week or so after that, at the earliest.
----
NEW ORLEANS — As a public health catastrophe unfolded Wednesday in New Orleans, hospitals in the Crescent City sank further into disaster, airlifting babies without their parents to other states and struggling with more sick people appearing at their doors.
"We've identified 2,600 beds in hospitals in the 12-state area. In addition to that, we've identified 40,000 beds nationwide, should they be needed," said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
Reporting from New Orleans Wednesday, Fox News' Shepard Smith said the breakdown in communication equipment was exacerbating the problem, as survivors had no information about where to go or how to get help. Thousands of victims were not being reached by rescue and relief efforts, Smith reported, and many were desperate for drinking water and food. A group of 14 people, including a five day-old baby, told Smith they had spent two days trapped in the attic of a house flooded with water 14 feet high before being rescued. Trapped in sweltering heat, without working phones, cell phones or television, survivors begged for help and information.
------
The enormity of setting up to what's essentially a small, working city is daunting, said Margaret O'Brien-Molina, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
"After Sept. 11, we had a lot of logistical work to do, but we weren't setting up a whole city for people who have no homes to go to anymore. This is different, so we'll adapt to it," she said.
-----
Transportation Department workers were ordered to help highways, airports, seaports and oil pipelines in the region. Generators were being moved to pipeline pumping stations to restore the flow of oil to the region.
Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta said that more than 400 trucks are mobilizing 5.4 million read-to-eat meals, 13.4 million liters of water, 3.4 million pounds of ice, 135,000 blankets, 11,000 cots, 200 tables and 450 chairs among other items.
The Pentagon sent four Navy ships from Hampton Roads to the Gulf of Mexico to help with hurricane relief efforts. They will join the U.S.S. Bataan, which was already in the Gulf for training. Two ships left Norfolk Thursday morning and two more headed out in the afternoon.
In addition, the hospital ship USNS Comfort was departing Baltimore for the Gulf region on Wednesday while eight swift water rescue teams from California headed to Louisiana to help pull stranded residents from their flooded homes and neighborhoods. The Army and Air Force were also providing search and rescue helicopters.
Bodman said that his agency is keeping an eye out for price gouging. In some areas on Wednesday, gas prices had surpassed $3 per gallon, with rates rising as much as 40 cents per gallon overnight at some stations.
-----
NEW YORK — U.S. retail gasoline prices will probably vault well over $3.00 per gallon in most parts of the country as early as this weekend after Hurricane Katrina devastated the energy industry in the Gulf Coast, analysts said Wednesday.
Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday, shutting nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production -- about a quarter of the nation's oil output -- and closing down nine refineries and several pipelines along the coast, according to government figures.
The price rise could bring the cost of gasoline above the inflation-adjusted peaks in the early 1980s.
------
NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 police officers to leave their search-and-rescue mission Wednesday night and return to the streets to stop looting that has turned increasingly hostile as the city plunges deeper into chaos.
"They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas — hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The number of officers called off the search-and-rescue mission amounts to virtually the entire police force in New Orleans.
Managers at a nursing home were prepared to cope with the power outages and had enough food for days, but then the looting began. The home's bus driver was forced to surrender the vehicle to carjackers.
"We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."
"We will restore law and order," Blanco said. "What angers me the most is that disasters like this often bring out the worst in people. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior."
Phils' Observations
New Orleans is destroyed. Golf Shores is destroyed. Mobile almost gone. Gulfport, Biloxi destroyed. Not sure what's salvageable or not. Thousands displaced. No power, no gas, no communications. Dead bodies everywhere. Thousands walking in water struggling to find dry land, water, food and sleep. Fuckin' looters taking guns, electronics, and other non-survival crap. Hospitals struggling. Nursing homes looted. Geez, what else can you say?
Now I have to add Katrina to the mix. This is an enormous disaster. It was a Cat 5, then a Cat 4, and went east of New Orleans ... we thought it wasn't going to be as bad ... then it got worse ... and then worse ... and then worse ... and officials speculate if New Orleans is even salvageable. We are now day three after the hurricane. It's an emotional toll. People, places, property, economy are all effected. What can you say to respond to such a natural disaster?
I'm posting some tidbits, thoughts, and photos from what I am seeing and reading. All tidbits and photos are courtesy of AP and Reuters. All thoughts are Phil's Obersvations ...
As of August 31st, a recap on the wrath of Katrina:
LOUISIANA:
— Deaths: The mayor said the hurricane probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Relief crews put aside the counting of bodies to concentrate on rescuing the living, many trapped on rooftops and in attics.
— Estimated 80 percent of New Orleans under water, up to 20 feet deep in places. Water still rising as engineers struggle to plug two breached levees along Lake Pontchartrain with giant sandbags.
— Authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in the Big Easy and all but abandon the flooded-out city. Many of the evacuees — including thousands now staying in the Superdome — will be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, 350 miles away.
— Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people rescued by boat and air.
— Sections of Interstate 10, only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, destroyed.
— At least 370,000 customers estimated without power.
— BellSouth Corp., the region's dominant local phone provider, estimated that about 750,000 lines may be out of service in the most heavily damaged areas.
— Looting broke out in some New Orleans neighborhoods. Thieves took guns from a Wal-Mart. One police officer shot in the head by looter but expected to recover. Looters also used a forklift to smash open a pharmacy. City officials themselves commandeered equipment from a looted Office Depot. During a state of emergency, authorities have broad powers to take private supplies and buildings for their use.
— Quote: "You know, it's not like people are just there because they want to be there. They're there because they're trapped in the city." — Gov. Kathleen Blanco on ABC "Good Morning America"
MISSISSIPPI:
— Deaths: At least 110.
— More than 900,000 customers without power, utilities said.
— Hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums obliterated.
— Casinos built on barges along the coast damaged or destroyed, some floated across beach onto land. Dozen casinos employed about 14,000 people, generated $2.7 billion in annual revenue.
— More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen activated.
— Major bridges damaged in three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.
— Looters picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses.
— Quote: "It is indescribable — blocks and blocks and blocks of no houses. Ninety percent of the structures are gone. I saw Camille and the aftermath in 1969 and this is worst than Camille." Gov. Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today." Camille killed 143 and destroyed 6,000 homes.
ALABAMA:
— Deaths: Two.
— About 405,000 homes and businesses without power.
— Flooding reached 11 feet in Mobile, matching record set in 1917, according to National Weather Service. Water up to roofs of cars in downtown Mobile and bayou communities. Piers ransacked and grand homes flooded along Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.
— Major bridge over the Mobile River partially reopened; it was struck by oil drilling platform that floated away from a shipyard.
FLORIDA:
— Deaths: 11.
— 38,000 customers without power in the Panhandle, hit by eastern edge of storm Monday. In South Florida, about 70,000 customers still without power Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
— President Bush cut Texas vacation to return to Washington.
— Federal Emergency Management Agency sent medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water into disaster areas.
— Navy sent four ships to the Gulf Coast with water, other supplies.
OIL MARKETS:
— Crude oil prices dropped to a little below $70 a barrel after U.S. government decided to make petroleum available from strategic reserve.
— Oil and gas companies found some Gulf of Mexico oil rigs as far as 17 miles from their original locations.
---
NEW ORLEANS — A public health emergency was declared for the entire Gulf Coast Wednesday as New Orleans officials estimated that hundreds, if not thousands, of city residents were killed by Hurricane Katrina and the storm's aftermath.
"This recovery will take a long time," President Bush said. "This recovery will take years."
There will be a "total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months," New Orleans Mayor Nagin said.
In some counties, search and rescue teams were marking an "X" on homes and roofs where dead bodies were found so that they can later be retrieved.
The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued over 1,200 people from rooftops as rescue workers toil around the clock with the help of Navy, U.S. Customs, Marine and Army helicopters.
It could take close to a month to get the water out of the city. If the water rises a few feet higher, it could also wipe out the water system for the whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert.
A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.
According to New Orleans power grid managers, it will take six to eight weeks to get power back on in the city after the water is drained. Water service likely won't be reestablished until a week or so after that, at the earliest.
----
NEW ORLEANS — As a public health catastrophe unfolded Wednesday in New Orleans, hospitals in the Crescent City sank further into disaster, airlifting babies without their parents to other states and struggling with more sick people appearing at their doors.
"We've identified 2,600 beds in hospitals in the 12-state area. In addition to that, we've identified 40,000 beds nationwide, should they be needed," said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
Reporting from New Orleans Wednesday, Fox News' Shepard Smith said the breakdown in communication equipment was exacerbating the problem, as survivors had no information about where to go or how to get help. Thousands of victims were not being reached by rescue and relief efforts, Smith reported, and many were desperate for drinking water and food. A group of 14 people, including a five day-old baby, told Smith they had spent two days trapped in the attic of a house flooded with water 14 feet high before being rescued. Trapped in sweltering heat, without working phones, cell phones or television, survivors begged for help and information.
------
The enormity of setting up to what's essentially a small, working city is daunting, said Margaret O'Brien-Molina, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
"After Sept. 11, we had a lot of logistical work to do, but we weren't setting up a whole city for people who have no homes to go to anymore. This is different, so we'll adapt to it," she said.
-----
Transportation Department workers were ordered to help highways, airports, seaports and oil pipelines in the region. Generators were being moved to pipeline pumping stations to restore the flow of oil to the region.
Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta said that more than 400 trucks are mobilizing 5.4 million read-to-eat meals, 13.4 million liters of water, 3.4 million pounds of ice, 135,000 blankets, 11,000 cots, 200 tables and 450 chairs among other items.
The Pentagon sent four Navy ships from Hampton Roads to the Gulf of Mexico to help with hurricane relief efforts. They will join the U.S.S. Bataan, which was already in the Gulf for training. Two ships left Norfolk Thursday morning and two more headed out in the afternoon.
In addition, the hospital ship USNS Comfort was departing Baltimore for the Gulf region on Wednesday while eight swift water rescue teams from California headed to Louisiana to help pull stranded residents from their flooded homes and neighborhoods. The Army and Air Force were also providing search and rescue helicopters.
Bodman said that his agency is keeping an eye out for price gouging. In some areas on Wednesday, gas prices had surpassed $3 per gallon, with rates rising as much as 40 cents per gallon overnight at some stations.
-----
NEW YORK — U.S. retail gasoline prices will probably vault well over $3.00 per gallon in most parts of the country as early as this weekend after Hurricane Katrina devastated the energy industry in the Gulf Coast, analysts said Wednesday.
Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday, shutting nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production -- about a quarter of the nation's oil output -- and closing down nine refineries and several pipelines along the coast, according to government figures.
The price rise could bring the cost of gasoline above the inflation-adjusted peaks in the early 1980s.
------
NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 police officers to leave their search-and-rescue mission Wednesday night and return to the streets to stop looting that has turned increasingly hostile as the city plunges deeper into chaos.
"They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas — hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The number of officers called off the search-and-rescue mission amounts to virtually the entire police force in New Orleans.
Managers at a nursing home were prepared to cope with the power outages and had enough food for days, but then the looting began. The home's bus driver was forced to surrender the vehicle to carjackers.
"We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."
"We will restore law and order," Blanco said. "What angers me the most is that disasters like this often bring out the worst in people. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior."
Phils' Observations
New Orleans is destroyed. Golf Shores is destroyed. Mobile almost gone. Gulfport, Biloxi destroyed. Not sure what's salvageable or not. Thousands displaced. No power, no gas, no communications. Dead bodies everywhere. Thousands walking in water struggling to find dry land, water, food and sleep. Fuckin' looters taking guns, electronics, and other non-survival crap. Hospitals struggling. Nursing homes looted. Geez, what else can you say?
Kicknit 8/31/2005