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Aug
31
2005
|
New Orleans falls apart - Any support? |
It’s scenes from like the Asian Tsunami in January. Btu this time, the water levels arn’t dropping quickly. While deaths are minimal in comparison, something tells me there won’t be such a world wide funding campaign for the U.S., more so a message to re-allot their billion dollar military budget.
I’m going to find it very interesting how Bush reacts, funding-wise, to the support of an almost all black community. Could be a good judge of character.
This from CNN today… It seems the worst is still to come.
CNN.com - Unrest grows in flooded New Orleans - Aug 31, 2005: “‘There are dead bodies floating in some of the water,’ Nagin said. ‘The rescuers would basically push them aside as they were trying to save individuals.’
Nagin said that as of late Tuesday ‘a significant amount of water’ is flowing into the bowl-shaped city and sections of the city now dry could be under 9 or 10 feet of water within hours.
‘The bowl is filling up,’ he said.
Frustration was also rising among people who now find themselves refugees in their own city.
Thousands of people were being housed in the Louisiana Superdome, where toilets were overflowing and there was no air conditioning to provide relief from 90-degree heat.
Nagin estimated the number of people in the Superdome at between 12,000 and 15,000 people as of late Tuesday. He said they could be there for a week unless evacuated sooner.
Blanco said officials are making plans to evacuate people from the Superdome and other shelters, but she did not say when that might happen or where they might be taken.
The city’s main public hospital, Charity Hospital, was no longer functioning and was being evacuated, Blanco said.
Also under way was the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from Tulane University Hospital with the help of the U.S. military, hospital spokeswoman Karen Troyer Caraway said.
‘It’s an unbelievable situation,’ she said. ‘We’re completely surrounded by water. There’s looting going on in the streets around the hospital.’
Hundreds of people were looting businesses downtown, throwing rocks through store windows and hauling away goods.”
Latest Comments (1):
Well the city is surrounded by water and 20ft below sea level, so they speculate that it might be months till the place is pumped completely.
I dunno how New Orleans is going to get back on it’s feet. The UN is calling it one of the biggest natural disasters in years and the insurance price tag is going ot be well upwards of $20 billion.
Interesting thing is that the National Guard levels in the 3 worst affected states are at about 60% of normal numbers because so many have been called up for duty in Iraq. Complaints already about slow responses from the emergency services and with Bush’s approval rating aparently the lowest of any US President since Nixon after Watergate, this won’t help him or the Republicans in the Senate and House elections next year. And with the balance of power in the Senate so tight, the Democrats might retake it and finally stymie some of Bush’s proposals and federal nominees.
And then there’s oil prices…Jeez they’re high!
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