Mayor: DESPERATE SOS, SEND HELP NOW

[Windy]

Being reported on CNN, he's literally using the term "Desperate SOS". He's taking 20,000 people out of the convention center that he's at and marching them up to I-10 because they're out of supplies and the situation is "desperate".

[MBismyPlayground]

Listening as well........
Now allowing people to "MARCH" up Cresent to seek help, aid......
In this heat, with no water, what will marching do??????How many more will die from lack of water

[Liberty30]

Meanwhile FEMA Director Chertoff paints a rosy picture. That press conference was an absolute joke. The video, eyewitnesses, and scanners are not lying. We gain nothing by pretending things are under control. According to the White House press sec, we have not requested international help, but we would accept it. Say what? If we NEED it... ASK FOR IT.

As for that march... remember Bataan?

[wwicko]

As for that march... remember Bataan?

Although efforts by the personnel sound heroic as reported on the Bataan webpage, military response is utterly inadequate.

From the Bataan website:

"One of the missions of the MH-60 aircraft is search and rescue. HSC-28 personnel have rescued 71 people in their first two days of operation, seven in the first 30 minutes. HSC-28 has three crews and two aircraft and is alternating flight and crew rest time."

"The only downfall for all the crews is that they can't save everyone but they know saving one life is worth it."

http://www.bataan.navy.mil/

Note that in total the Bataan has rescued 200 people in two days.

[Liberty30]

Actually I was referring to the World War II march.
(Obviously we're talking apples and oranges here, it's callous of me to compare them, but I used it to reference the fact that people will die during this walk.)

[Derek Ortt]

we need a real martial law. This is now life and death, the only thing that really matters in the end. Please, someone, declare this whether or not you have the authority to save these people

[jpigott]

hey Derek, haven't seen a post from you in a little while. I guess you are probably doing a complete analysis of Katrina. Derek - one question, what the heck was up with the storm surge with Katrina, after looking at sat. pics it looks like from Biloxi west to st. louis bay for 1/4-1/2 mile inland everything is gone. It looks like a 70-80 mile stretch of coast line was submerged under 15-20+ of storm surge.

[msbee]

send in the troops for God's sake.
what are they waiting for?
the whole world is watching and wondering!
those poor poor people

[Hfcomms]

send in the troops for God's sake.
what are they waiting for?
the whole world is watching and wondering!
those poor poor people

What troops and from where?? What you seem not to grasp is that we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for quite some time now. Most of the forces are overseas and much of what is left is really not in a position to respond. Why?? Simply as a military man myself all the brigades and divisions have support units that are necessary to operate.

Many of those support units like water purification, field laundry, medical and transportation have been pulled and sent to the middle east. So an infantry brigade whether guard, reserve or active duty without it's support units can not sustain it's operations.

Political or not we have robbed peter to pay paul and now peter needs help and the forces that the guard and reserve has to support domestic operations is now not available. Even if they were to decided to pull units out of the middle east today it would be 90 days to redeploy here and by then it's too late.

Moral of the story....you need to take care of yourself and not depend on government to do anything.

[TSmith274]

I'm proud of our mayor. He's overwhealmed. And now, he's with the people, and will march some out. We'll see what happens.

[Persepone]

send in the troops for God's sake.
what are they waiting for?
the whole world is watching and wondering!
those poor poor people

What troops and from where?? What you seem not to grasp is that we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for quite some time now. Most of the forces are overseas and much of what is left is really not in a position to respond. Why?? Simply as a military man myself all the brigades and divisions have support units that are necessary to operate.

Many of those support units like water purification, field laundry, medical and transportation have been pulled and sent to the middle east. So an infantry brigade whether guard, reserve or active duty without it's support units can not sustain it's operations.

Political or not we have robbed peter to pay paul and now peter needs help and the forces that the guard and reserve has to support domestic operations is now not available. Even if they were to decided to pull units out of the middle east today it would be 90 days to redeploy here and by then it's too late.

Moral of the story....you need to take care of yourself and not depend on government to do anything.

THIS MAY BE THE REAL TRUTH OF THE MATTER!!!

IF SO, WE NEED THE TRUTH TOLD HERE....

[Downdraft]

send in the troops for God's sake.
what are they waiting for?
the whole world is watching and wondering!
those poor poor people

What troops and from where?? What you seem not to grasp is that we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for quite some time now. Most of the forces are overseas and much of what is left is really not in a position to respond. Why?? Simply as a military man myself all the brigades and divisions have support units that are necessary to operate.

Many of those support units like water purification, field laundry, medical and transportation have been pulled and sent to the middle east. So an infantry brigade whether guard, reserve or active duty without it's support units can not sustain it's operations.

Political or not we have robbed peter to pay paul and now peter needs help and the forces that the guard and reserve has to support domestic operations is now not available. Even if they were to decided to pull units out of the middle east today it would be 90 days to redeploy here and by then it's too late.

Moral of the story....you need to take care of yourself and not depend on government to do anything.

That is an ABSOLUTE untruth and do not post that garbage without facts. The facts are NO state all 50 of them have been asked to or even come close to sending greater than 50% of their forces to the active military in support of missions in Iraq or Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world. Louisana alone has all the national guard troops it needs for this disaster but is not being asked to pay the full price. Get your facts straight before you start posting blatant lies.

[PTrackerLA]

Yeah that FEMA conference was a joke. Gov. Blanco is also trying to downplay the situation in order to keep those stuck in New Orleans under control. Bottom line is there is anarchy right now in New Orleans, I've heard many reports from the city, not from news sources, and things are just terrible.

[shaggy]

it amazes me that the most vulnerable city in the US to a strong hurricane like katrina is this unprepared to deal with its aftermath.There was no evac plan and the way it seems there is no plan B to get them out.People have been reportedly dieing from heat exhaustion and dehydration on the hike out of town.The local government from the mayor on up has ignored this threat as just a doomsday theory and now its real and they are just dumbfounded on what to do.

If they catch some of the people who have been raping and beating and looting and god knows what else they should just be left to fight amongst themselves in this flooded city.There is no punishment enough for these people IMO.

[HurricaneBill]

During Hurricane Hattie in 1961 in Belize, to stop looting, didn't police hold public executions of looters?

[Mattie]

ncdowneast - the threat hasn't been ignored - in fact - the superdome was built with the intentions of using it as a "last resort" shelter right after Betsy hit. Levees and drainage have ALWAYS been a problem - not just in New Orleans - but other low lying river parishes. That's just topography.

In fact, there was a model posted that was showing the possible effects of the winds, how the water would flood if it was blowing east/west, etc. They were perfectly alerted to the danger. This storm floode areas that had never had water and those that had in the past were dry. You can't second guess a storm and the effects - each one is different.

Everyone seems to have a critisism for New Orleans, but hey - why don't they just build a huge concrete wall all along the Gulf so no one ever has to suffer through a tidal surge?? They had several devastating hurricanes in the past (RECENT) years and it's been 40 years since Louisiana suffered any damage from a hit.

[FloridaHawk82]

I'm as patriotic as they come and my father is a proud ex-Marine who served in Vietnam. I spoke with him a while ago and he is furious. His comment was:

"If a foreign military force had executed a surprise attack on New Orleans, it sure as hell wouldn't have taken our military 5 days to respond... we'd have been in their a$$es hard within hours".

[mf_dolphin]

I'm as patriotic as they come and my father is a proud ex-Marine who served in Vietnam. I spoke with him a while ago and he is furious. His comment was:

"If a foreign military force had executed a surprise attack on New Orleans, it sure as hell wouldn't have taken our military 5 days to respond... we'd have been in their a$$es hard within hours".

I will admit my Dad is a pretty hardcore military guy, as he has a copy of the following framed by his gun case:

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT open the link if profanity offends you:

http://www.3rdmarines.net/hollywood.jpg

If we had been attacked by a foreign power then the President would have the authority to respond. In this case the law prevents active duty mililtary intervention until a series of events has taken place.

[FloridaHawk82]

I'm as patriotic as they come and my father is a proud ex-Marine who served in Vietnam. I spoke with him a while ago and he is furious. His comment was:

"If a foreign military force had executed a surprise attack on New Orleans, it sure as hell wouldn't have taken our military 5 days to respond... we'd have been in their a$$es hard within hours".

If we had been attacked by a foreign power then the President would have the authority to respond. In this case the law prevents active duty mililtary intervention until a series of events has taken place.

mf, you are correct and I agree... I said something similar to my dad, and his response was "true, but it does NOT have to take 5 days, especially if our nation's security is at risk" He elaborated that the energy, transportation, and economic impact and risk increase with every hour passed.

[jeff]

hey Derek, haven't seen a post from you in a little while. I guess you are probably doing a complete analysis of Katrina. Derek - one question, what the heck was up with the storm surge with Katrina, after looking at sat. pics it looks like from Biloxi west to st. louis bay for 1/4-1/2 mile inland everything is gone. It looks like a 70-80 mile stretch of coast line was submerged under 15-20+ of storm surge.

I do not know why everybody is so surprised with the surge. This thing was a strong cat 5 over the Gulf and built up a large bulge of water. Even though it weakened as it approached the coast, the surge does not go away that quickly. The SW MS is like a cove shape so the surge was forced to rise similar to when it is forced into and inlet or bay.

Nobody should have been surprised with a 20-30 foot surge. It was clearly defined in the NHC advisories and stated multiple times on this board and in the media prior to landfall.

Most of what has happened, minus the civil unrest was clearly written out in the days prior to landfall in the tropical analysis forum by several mets on here. Derek took flack for saying this could be America's darkest day, but given the scope of this, I think Monday was just that. We may have been surprised on 9/11, but such widespread destruction over such a large area tops that event.