Katrina info thread II

[Ted Striker]

Looks like the historical part of the city is safe from any structural damage. I believe it is built on higher ground than anywhere else:



French Quarter, Garden District appear largely intact

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.french.quarter/index.html

[Edan]

20 cases of suspected dysentery in Biloxi, Miss

Officials closed a shelter Saturday because more than 20 people there fell ill, and doctors believe the patients may have contracted dysentery from tainted water.

Another 20 people in the area also were treated for vomiting and diarrhea.

[Guynemer]

I present the following link without further comment:

http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html

Times-Picayune


Saturday, September 03, 2005

Bush visit halts food delivery
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melancon’s chief of staff, Casey O’Shea.

“We had arrangements to airlift food by helicopter to these folks, and now the food is sitting in trucks because they won’t let helicopters fly,” O’Shea said Friday afternoon.

The food was expected to be in the hands of storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday night, he said.

[:) Smiley]

. . .

[Winston]

Not much info to this, just a touching picture I saw in the paper...

"5 year old Tanisha Blevin holds the hand of her compatriot Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the Convention Center of New Orleans."

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Guynemer
I present the following link without further comment:

http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html

Times-Picayune


Saturday, September 03, 2005

Bush visit halts food delivery
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush�s visit to New Orleans, officials said.

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melancon�s chief of staff, Casey O�Shea.

�We had arrangements to airlift food by helicopter to these folks, and now the food is sitting in trucks because they won�t let helicopters fly,� O�Shea said Friday afternoon.

The food was expected to be in the hands of storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday night, he said.

WTF!

[:) Smiley]

Some people need to be thrown from helicopters.

[Ted Striker]

One firm is estimating the damage of Katrina at 100 BILLION DOLLARS!!!

GOOD LAWD!!!!!!

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding in the Southeast could cost the economy more than $100 billion, which would make it the costliest storm to hit the United States, a company that assesses the impact of natural disasters said Friday.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/02/news/katrina_estimates/index.htm

[germanos]

Originally posted by VetLegion

the CNN clip I saw said that they have to plug them first and then *pump* the water out, since NO being in depression water has nowhere to retreat naturally.

They must have some monstrous pumps, or it will take months to do it or over a year.

Today on national radio an engineer from the University of Delft (civil enginering) said the area under water is approx. 80 square km. This is roughly 1/3 of the Wieringermeer (a big polder in the north of the Netherlands.)
That one was pumped dry in 4 months in WW II (in 1942 IIRC), so I guess that once the levees have been plugged, in one or two months New Orleans should be dry again.

Another interesting thing he mentioned is that in the US (or in New Orleans at least) the levees are build with a risk assesment of failure of once in 30 years. In comparison, in the Netherlands it is once in ten thousend.
(I guess he meant the coastal defenses, for river ****s it's less I think)

[Ted Striker]

You Dutch need to come over and show us how to build the damn things properly this time.

[germanos]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
You Dutch need to come over and show us how to build the damn things properly this time.

I'm sure we (well, the contractors for sure ) would love to.
But as I understood from the guy, one of the reasons it is like this is because the Americans have a different view on the return on investment.

While we can for sure build up your ****s to Dutch standards (and I´m sure you can do it yourselfs as well), it will be very difficult for us to change the American attitude on fiscal policy.

[Ted Striker]

I moved my reply to the other thread ...

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=3994846#post3994846

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Winston
Not much info to this, just a touching picture I saw in the paper...

"5 year old Tanisha Blevin holds the hand of her compatriot Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the Convention Center of New Orleans."

More about these two, from The Associated Press:

Nita LaGarde, 105, was pushed down the street in her wheelchair as her nurse's 5-year-old granddaughter, Tanisha Blevin, held her hand. The pair spent two days in an attic, two days on an interstate island and the last four days on the pavement in front of the convention center.

"They're good to see," Ms. LaGarde said, with remarkable gusto as she waited to be loaded onto a gray Marine helicopter. She said they were sent by God. "Whatever he has for you, he'll take care of you. He'll sure take care of you."

Ms. LaGarde's nurse, Ernestine Dangerfield, 60, said Ms. LaGarde had not had a clean adult diaper in more than two days. "I just want to get somewhere where I can get her nice and clean," she said.

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by germanos


I'm sure we (well, the contractors for sure ) would love to.
But as I understood from the guy, one of the reasons it is like this is because the Americans have a different view on the return on investment.

While we can for sure build up your ****s to Dutch standards (and I´m sure you can do it yourselfs as well), it will be very difficult for us to change the American attitude on fiscal policy.

Quite true. Buildings in America are depreciated over 30 years. Therefore with the exception of buildings for institutions, most are designed to last about that long.

[chequita guevara]

Some things I learned today on the Sunday morning news.

New Orleans was hit by the equivalent of a Cat 2 storm!!!! Winds never topped 100/mph. The levies were supposed to be designed to stand up to a fast Cat 3 The levies weren't topped. They just failed.

On Meet the Press Russert was talking to the President of Jefferson Parish (just south of New Orelans). He said FEMA stopped three trucks of water sent by Wal-Mart to help them. FEMA pulled the resuce ships, and even disconnected the emergency communications set up there. The Sheriff reconnected the communications and posted armed guards to stop FEMA from disconnecting it.

Just after that, he told a story about one of his employees who's mother was trapped in a retirement home that was flooding. The guy kept telling her, "Hold on, Mom, help's coming." He told that every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday . . . she drowned Friday night.

At that point, the parish president just broke down crying saying over and over, "No help's coming. No help's coming."