Hurricane Katrina

[an_cat]

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday that his administration was moving quickly to save lives and provide sustenance to uncounted victims of Hurricane Katrina, but that it "will take years" to recover from the storm that laid waste to the Gulf Coast.

 

"We're dealing with one of the worst national disasters in our nation's history," Bush said at a news conference hours after an aerial tour of the area.

 

"This is going to be a difficult road," he added, and made it clear the impact could broaden well past the four states along the battered coast.

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"Our citizens must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and to distribute gasoline," the president said.

 

Run-down of actions

Flanked by senior members of his administration, Bush ran down a list of actions already taken to help victims of the storm.

 

He said, for example, buses were on the way to help take thousands of storm refugees from the overwhelmed Superdome in New Orleans to the Astrodome in Houston.

 

Medical teams had been deployed, as have search-and-rescue teams, the president said.

The Coast Guard had already rescued nearly 2,000 people, he added.

 

Bush said the Pentagon as well was contributing to the rescue and relief operations, and said he had instructed Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to work with refineries to "alleviate any shortage through loans."

 

In addition to the government's efforts, Bush encouraged Americans to donate money to help recovery efforts.

 

Bush cut short his working vacation in Texas by two days to fly over the devastated region.

 

His plane flew over New Orleans at about 2,500, and it descended even further, to about 1,700 feet, over Mississippi. Bush surveyed the damage from a couch near the left front of the plane.

 

The plane flew over New Orleans, then traveled along the coast to Mobile, Miss., before turning north toward Washington.

 

“It’s totally wiped out,” Bush remarked as the modified Boeing 747 moved east past Slidell, a Louisiana community reduced to a pile of rubble and sticks.

 

“It’s devastating, it’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground,” Bush said, according to his spokesman Scott McClellan.

 

President's personal imprint

Even so, Bush expressed optimism upon his return to the White House, in words directed at the victims of the storm who had lost their homes, possessions and employment.

 

"I'm confident that with time you'll get your life back in order, new communities will flourish, the great city of New Orleans will get back on its feet and America will be a stronger place for it," he said.

 

Bush stepped to the microphones to put a personal imprint on efforts his administration is making to cope with the disaster in the Gulf Coast.

 

"Truckloads of water, ice, meals, medical supplies, generators, tents and tarpaulins" are loaded aboard 1,700 trailer trucks in an initial emergency response, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference.

 

He pledged a "full range of federal resources" -- a list that ran from bridge inspection and repair to restoration of communications networks to mosquito abatement in a region with vast stretches underwater.

 

Hardship will persist

At the same time, officials warned of continuing hardships across an area laid waste by the powerful storm.

 

Michael Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that he had declared a public health emergency in the area stretching from Louisiana to Florida. "We are gravely concerned about the potential for cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases that could come as a result of the stagnant water and the conditions," he said.

 

Chertoff and Leavitt spoke at a news conference attended by an unusual array of department and agency heads, each of whom came equipped with a list of actions already taken by the administration.

 

In addition to steps designed to alleviate the suffering of victims, the administration moved to cushion the impact the storm might have on the nation's oil supply.

 

Bush signed off on a plan to release oil from emergency stockpiles, a decision intended to offset the loss of production from Gulf Coast refiners.

 

Temporary waiver for pollution standards

At the same time, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson announced a temporary nationwide waiver of certain pollution standards covering gasoline and diesel fuels.

 

Johnson had issued the waiver for the four storm-damaged Gulf states on Tuesday but said the broader move was necessary "to ensure that fuel is available throughout the country, to address public health issues and emergency vehicle supply needs."

 

Additionally, Energy Secretary Samuel E. Bodman said the Transportation Department had waived rules governing trucker hours, a step he said would increase the supply of gasoline.

 

Overall, "the first stage is, of course, life saving," said Chertoff, who emerged as the administration's point man on the disaster response.

 

Additionally, he said the administration had already shipped 13.4 million liters of water, 10,000 tarps, 3.4 million pounds of ice and 144 generators.

 

He said the second phase of the administration's response would be to restore "at least minimal transportation infrastructure to the region."

 

Efforts are under way to clear roads and inspect bridges, establish communications and expand operations at airports, he added.

 

"We are also looking at maritime assets that we can deploy to New Orleans to re-establish port operations there," he said.

 

Longer term, Chertoff said, will be the rebuilding efforts.

 

That seemed a long time off for those who have lost their homes and personal possessions and have been living without adequate food, shelter or sanitation since the hurricane blew ashore early Monday.

 

Massive effort

The scope of the effort cut across the government:

 

* The Transportation Department dispatched more than 400 trucks to move 5.4 million MREs, or ready-to-eat meals; 13.4 million liters of water; 10,400 tarps; 4,900 rolls of plastic sheeting; 3.4 million pounds of ice; 10 mobile homes; 144 generators; 20 containers of disaster supplies; 135,000 blankets; 11,000 cots; 200 tables; 450 chairs; 1 all-terrain vehicle; 19 forklifts and three 100-person and nine 50-person field office kits to flood damaged areas for FEMA.

* Eighteen Urban Search and Rescue task forces and two Incident Support Teams have been deployed and prepositioned in Shreveport, La., and Jackson, Miss., including teams from Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. An additional eight swift water rescue teams have been deployed, FEMA said.

* The number of people rescued or assisted by the Coast Guard climbed to 1,250.

* The Defense Department's Transportation Command was flying eight swift-water rescue teams from California to Lafayette, La.

* These teams will provide approximately 14 highly trained personnel with vehicles and small rigid-hulled boats capable of rescuing stranded citizens from flooded areas.

* USS Bataan sailed to the waters off Louisiana to provide support. Four helicopters from the Bataan were flying medical evacuation and search and rescue missions in Louisiana. Bataan's hospital may also be used for medical support.

* The hospital ship USNS Comfort was leaving Baltimore to bring medical assistance capabilities to the Gulf region, and should arrive in seven days.

* The Health and Human Services Department said 250 mobile hospital beds and associated equipment have arrived at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Thirty-eight Public Health Service officers are at the facility and along with disaster medical assistance teams and State health care professionals.

 

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9132021/

 

Just read, thought I should share. Weird how you don't see any of that reflected in the live footage.... It's too bad that Louisiana's National Guard has been deported to Iraq...

[berrywoman]

when I read this article.. this is what I heard in my head.. 'blah blah blah blahblah blah blaaah' lol thats all talk.. and I totally agree, if all these things have been 'put into action'.. then why arent we seeing this taking place??

 

thanks for the article tho.. ;)

[an_cat]

^Yep. Me too. It would have been nice if all this was done to PREPARE for the disaster. BEFORE HAND? Oh sorry. Bush and his cronies were too busy following their political agenda of bicycling through fields of poppies. My bad. At least the tsunami took us completely off guard. There was at least 2-3 days heads up for this! Some people are all alone in the world, they couldn't have gotten out by themselves. If there were more people deployed THEN to help them, maybe there wouldn't be such a toll of life. But that's only guessing at the past... *sighs*

 

No problem! I actually was in the middle of reading it when I saw you discussing this. Ironic?! LOL

[berrywoman]

 

 

[Guest LiquidSky]

Do you guys remember Colleen? She was a member here from a while back.. She was living in New Orleans.. I hope she is allright... :/

[berrywoman]

:cry: before my time I am afraid.... I hope she is ok as well. :cry:

[Guest LiquidSky]

yeah I'm writting her an email.. Hopefully she'll write something back.. at least to say she is okay.. :/

[berrywoman]

I hate the not knowing part.. this is what makes me sad... I guess all we can do is pray.

[Guest LiquidSky]

Did any of you watched the news when Katrina was just hitting?

[Egghead]

gotta love how the national guard was deployed days AFTER the storm hit.

 

and not before when they KNEW a category 4 was going to hit

[an_cat]

I actually couldn't sleep a few nights ago. I went downstairs at 2 in the morning and put on the news. It was just as Katrina was moving out. There was a reporter standing in the french quarter saying how they were pretty lucky, he was only up to his knees or so in water and it seems to have "missed" that area, thankfully.

 

The next morning I woke up and my mom told me it was all engulfed in 20+ feet of water. The levee broke after I turned off the TV, I guess.

 

And the only song that's friggin' been going through my head is "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin. It's scary and annoying the shit out of me, oh my god.

[berrywoman]

gotta love how the national guard was deployed days AFTER the storm hit.

 

and not before when they KNEW a category 4 was going to hit

 

 

I can understand why they are deployed after.. thats not the problem.. its the fact that more than 80% of the States National Guard.. is in Iraq. So whether they got there then or later is beyond the point.

[berrywoman]

check this out.. some guy on another forum pointed this out......

 

 

 

 

 

:stunned: fuckin' society.... :angry:

[Guest LiquidSky]

I actually couldn't sleep a few nights ago. I went downstairs at 2 in the morning and put on the news. It was just as Katrina was moving out. There was a reporter standing in the french quarter saying how they were pretty lucky, he was only up to his knees or so in water and it seems to have "missed" that area, thankfully.

 

The next morning I woke up and my mom told me it was all engulfed in 20+ feet of water. The levee broke after I turned off the TV, I guess.

 

And the only song that's friggin' been going through my head is "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin. It's scary and annoying the shit out of me, oh my god.

 

I didn't watch it.. I usually watched the Hurricanes when they are hitting or record them but I missed Katrina..and then when I woke up and turned on the news.. New Orleans was all flooded! It's quite scary!

[Sienna]

katrina is only getting worse, i dont know about the rest of you guys but over here in florida there's a major gas shortage... in fact they arent selling gas for the next three days... even school buses wont function because there's not enough gas...

[berrywoman]

gas prices here in NY have gone up to over $3 a gallon

[Guest LiquidSky]

check this out.. some guy on another forum pointed this out......

 

 

 

 

 

:stunned: fuckin' society.... :angry:

 

You know what's scary about that? It's that there are a bunch of alligators on the water! The gas price is getting higher too... I was watching the news and they said I didn't catch where exactly but that the price was $6 dollars per gallon! :stunned:

[Sienna]

here's at 3.25 aprox. they just said on the news that as of tues. i might have to walk to school, bcause theres no gas $ for the buses!!! :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:

[berrywoman]

that shits just crazy.... CRAZY I TELL YOU!!!!

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Lets all pray for camille's friends...

[berrywoman]

defend your president now Nick!! lol do you agree with his way of handling this situation?? :P

 

oh and thanks for the prayers.. :kiss:

[Sienna]

exactly, i think the govt should have planned the economy better?????

[berrywoman]

jinkies, its not about planning the economy.. lol its about helping these people...whom have no one to help them (national guard) because the 'president' has them elsewhere.. where we are not wanted no less....

[Guest LiquidSky]

Camille, you should go and protest with that lady who was protesting outside the president's ranch... She got a letter from an Iraqi Dentist..and he said that he was very sorry for her lost but that her son was a hero and that he was very thankful for him and for all of those who were fighting for their freedom..and the lady said that her son didn't die for the Iraqi freedom and that she didn't even care about the Iraqis and that the soldiers should get back home..

[berrywoman]

noooooooooooooo that lady is nuts!!! lol