Storms 411

Day 14 – 9/5/05, They Aren't Refugees

Jesse Jackson and Bruce Gordon make a good point:

People evacuated out of New Orleans to escape Katrina's devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina should not be labeled "refugees," two black leaders said Sunday. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Bruce Gordon, head of the NAACP, said the term is demeaning to people who were forced to remain in a flooded city in inhumane conditions.

At Dictionary.com:

Refugee: One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

and

Refugee: an individual seeking refuge or asylum; especially : an individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)

There's nothing about relocating as a result of a natural disaster.

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Google Maps now has a Katrina button

Google Maps has added a "Katrina" button, and been updated with new imagery showing damage by the hurricane.

A Message From A New Orleans Mortage Company

A message from a New Orleans mortage company...

TO ALL STANDARD MORTGAGE CORPORATION CUSTOMERS:

OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED A LOSS IN THIS TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE.

AS MANY OF YOU MAY KNOW, MOST OF US AT STANDARD MORTGAGE ARE RESIDENTS OF THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA AND WE PERSONALLY KNOW AND FEEL YOUR PAIN AND LOSS.

WE PRAY THAT ALL OF YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES ARE SAFE AND SECURE WHEREVER YOU MAY BE.

If the message had ended there it would have been a nice gesture. However the message goes on to say...

WE ASK THAT ALL PAYMENTS BE SENT TO US, AS YOU WOULD NORMALLY DO, TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:

STANDARD MORTGAGE CORPORATION
P.O. BOX 53426
NEW ORLEANS , LA 70153-3426

Do they really think that people who have just lost their homes and everything in them will be worrying about paying their mortage bills? Not only that, don't they realise that there's no postal service in their area.

Day 13 – 9/4/05, Katrina Pictures Sunday

AP Photo - A Navy sailor carries a cross he found among the debris as sailors from the USS Iwo Jima came ashore in Biloxi, Miss., Sunday, Sept. 4, and stopped to clean up the site of Episcopal Redeemer Church near the beach.

AP Photo - In this photo provided by Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Kayla Donahue, of Mankato, Minn., loads goods for victims of Hurricane Katrina into a warehouse in Natchitoches, La., on Sunday, Sept. 4. Donahue is one of 20 volunteers from southern Minnesota who helped gather more than 70,000 pounds of supplies, then plan on travelling more than 1,200 miles to deliver them. The goods will help approximately 750 victims in a Red Cross shelter in Natchitoches, a city of 16,000 about 275 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Ap Photo - Rescue crews file into Chalmette, La. to rescue people trapped in their homes since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

AP Photo - Military personnel assist evacuees from New Orleans as they exit a Delta Airlines flight that landed at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga.

AP Photo - A line of buses, loaded with Hurricane Katrina victims, pull into Fort Chaffee in Barling, Ark.

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 14 – 9/5/05, Wright-Pat Medics, Others Describe New Kind of Battle

NEW ORLEANS | Medical specialists from Wright-Patterson Air Force feel like they are fighting a new war here.

But instead of wounded troops, frail elderly people fill the stretchers, sometimes stacked four high, inside the 445th Airlift Wing transport jets that are flying daily missions to the Gulf Coast to evacuate medical patients from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Even the most seasoned medics have trouble absorbing what they find here, where patients lie on stretchers inside the terminal while throngs of bedraggled storm victims outside wait for help amid piles of garbage.

"I've never seen anything like this," Senior Master Sgt. Terry Kennedy, said Saturday inside a noisy C-141 transport jet as it touched down in New Orleans.

An Air Force Reservist with 26 years of service, Kennedy is an aeromedical evacuation technician who saw duty in both Persian Gulf wars. Saturday's mission was her second to New Orleans.

Kennedy said she's used to planeloads of young men with battle wounds. She isn't used to racks of litters filled with elderly people, some dressed in nothing but diapers and paper gowns.

"You want to wash them and bathe them and take care of them, and there's nothing you can do," she said.

"We can't give medicine to these patients because we don't know ... the medical history or anything about these people.

"When they cry, it just breaks your heart." [Read more - Dayton Daily News]

A helicopter unloads evacuaees from Hurricane Katrina at New Orleans International Airport on Saturday. A C-141 crew and medics from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base flew two planeloads of medical patients from the airport to Nashville and Tampa on Saturday. Photo by Timothy R. Gaffney, Dayton Daily News

Unidentified relief workers wheel medical patients to an awaiting airplane saturday at New Orleans International Airport. Military and commercial airplanes are evacuating victims of Hurricane Katrina. The 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has been flying daily evacuation missions to New Orleans. Photo by Timothy R. Gaffney, Dayton Daily News

Relief workers at New Orleans International Airport carry patients on litters into a C-141 transport plane from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The 445th Airlift Wing is flying daily medical evacuation missions as part of a massive military hurricane relief effort. Photo by Timothy R. Gaffney, Dayton Daily News

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 14 – 9/5/05, Pictures of Slidell after Hurricane Katrina

Scott Sweeney, 39, stares at the damage caused by Hurricane Kartrina to his waterfront home in Slidell. Sweeney owned a 32-foot yacht that was moored outside his backyard. The yacht hasn't been found. Photo by Russell Carollo, Dayton Daily News

The hurricane picked up a boat and deposited it alongside highway 11, the main thoroughfare running through Slidell. Photo by Russell Carollo, Dayton Daily News

The Parish National Bank, like many businesses in Slidell, stacked its broken furniture outside as the water — which reached the second floor in some buildings — began to recede. Photo by Russell Carollo, Dayton Daily News

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 12 – 9/3/05, Shelter in Biloxi closed after 20 fall ill

BILOXI, Mississippi (AP) -- -- 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.

The shelter at a Biloxi school had been without water and power since Katrina hit Monday. About 400 people had been staying there, and doctors said some may have ignored warnings to stay away from water.

Some running water came back on late Friday, but it was not safe to drink or even to use to brush teeth or wash, said Dr. Jason Dees, a volunteer working at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.

Most of the patients were treated with antibiotics. About 30 ill residents were taken to a hospital in Mobile, Alabama, while the rest were bused to a shelter in Thomasville, Georgia. [Read more - CNN]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!