I’ve read most of the posts on Katrina here and want to clear up a couple of things.
The city made it through the storm in pretty good shape. It was afterwords with storm water still in the lake that the levees broke in two major places. One flooding the city and one flooding the 9th ward and St. Bernard parish. People have said they were getting ready to go outside and assess damage when they were literally chassed into their attics by the water flooding through the levees.
The shootings, looting, robberies are not as bad as the news reported. They were happening but some news reports were ridiculous, especially CNN’s. I knew two nurses at two seperate hospitals and they struggled but those hospital invasion reports are b.s. People really went after all stores for food and water and others took this opportunity to steal the drugs.
The people that remained in the city are mainly the poor or stubborn. Story after story you hear people say that they couldn’t afford to leave. I’ve seen rescues of huge people, infirmed people. I know of many people who thought they’d be ok and stayed behind only to be rescued or make their own way out of the city. The news makes it out to be a black/white thing but the news crews are in the city. The people that mostly stayed in the city are the poor that couldn’t get out. The news is not reporting the thousands of mostly white people that are trapped or rescued in St. Bernard parish. I still have not seen much footage down there. That is where I know the most people. I think everyone I know has lost their house or their parents have lost their houses in St. Bernard. It’s almost 100% under water while the city is not.
As far as the monies people say Bush cut, it’s a litte off base. Bush, or whoever, cut funding for future levees and storm protection. The money was not earmarked for the levees that failed rather new levees and pumps for new suburban areas on the outskirts of the city.
Police have quit but not in those numbers being reported. There are 200 or so that haven’t been accounted for that are trapped, left, or are taking care of their own families or whatever. Or are working without anybody knowing they are out there. One of the cops that killed himself was the spokesman for the force. He lived by me and lost his house like I did. Reports were he was heading into a funk that in retrospect people noticed to late.
I’ll check back in here later to answer some questions if y’all would like but I will not debate anything.
Mr. White,
Thank you for your input. It is good to see firsthand accounts not biased by the media. Others may argue on this thread that you have only seen parts of this event and don’t know the ‘whole’ or ‘real’ story. Of course, the story you tell is your perspective, but that holds much more trut to it than outsiders perspective, which is what they are told, not what they
have firsthand seen.
My best wishes go to you and your family, friends, neighbors, etc.
Thanks for your account, and we’re glad to hear you made it through ok. We all feel terrible about what the people of your city have been going through, and it’s refreshing to see someone give a different viewpoint than we get from the mainstream media.
The media seems to only focus on the shocking to get attention and higher ratings. I would rather see stories about those that stayed to help others, risking their own lives to help their fellow man. Instead we hear mostly about the rapes, murders, lootings and shootings. Makes me glad I DIDN’T get into journalism.
Mr. White might want to talk to the boston barrister. He broke the stories of the hospital breakins. I know boston barrister to be very reliable.
calling out the boston barrister-what gives?
I am glad that you made it out safely. Are you doing ok? Is there something that I, We, can do to assist you right now? I know that you have lost alot – more than most of us on this forum can imagine,
I want to thank you for taking the time to give us an idea of what is really happening. The media shows what will make people tune in – it is about the ratings, even in a disaster.
Please do let me know if there is something I can do or send to help you.
Thank you VERY much fr your perspective. It is nice to hear a point of view from someone who was there. We are often at the media’s mercy for what is going on in someplace we cannot be. I am sorry for all you have lost and wish you the best of luck for the road ahead.
Dastang
[quote]MikeShank wrote:
Mr. White might want to talk to the boston barrister. He broke the stories of the hospital breakins. I know boston barrister to be very reliable.
calling out the boston barrister-what gives?[/quote]
Perhaps there are more hospitals in the city than two… I simply passed on what I still believe to be reliable reports. I do hope they were incorrect, but with all the reports of rapes and shootings, none of which have been refuted, do you really doubt that they are?
MrWhite ,
Thank you for giving your 1st hand view of what happened . I have several friends staying around me from N.O now that are giving the same account as you . Also If you are in the Baton Rouge area and need any help with food/water , garmets or anything to help you and your famly let me know .
I’m in the process of setting up a clothing donation box at my agency for the evacuees. There is a truck going down to LA on Monday. This morning we had a breakfast charity event where we collected $500 for the Red Cross. Please, let us know what else we can do to help.
I’m safe, have a bunch of clothes, my truck, money and still have my job. Just need a place to stay when I leave work every night.
We went back in by boat today to retreive things from someones business and home. Had a small flat boat pulling a 20ft. Sea Doo that wouldn’t run. Might post the pics when I get them. Water stinks and there’s slime and mold in all the houses already. Never thought I’d get a chance to tear up someone’s bushes in their front yard with a boat motor either.
Weird sight seeing all the orange X’s on the houses. They mean no bodies inside. Black X is a body inside and a green X means that it’s to damaged to even enter. All newer cars and trucks must have safety switches in them for running off the road into water because almost all the flooded vehicles have windows down and their trunks are all open.
The water is down about 6 inches already in this neighborhood. This is an upper scale neighborhood that probably hasn’t been shown on t.v. $330k-$700k homes with their doors wide open and no one around to see if someone actually went inside. That’s what everyone’s afraid of. The looters. Still chest deep on some streets. Reports are that about 5-8 of the city’s 148 permanent pumps are running right now with some portable ones thrown in there too. One of the levee breaks is fixed and by now the other might be fixed too.
If y’all haven’t stumbled upon these pics already, there’s a lot to see here.