Hurricane Katrina

I don't watch the news, read the paper or listen to the radio. Why?


"NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina plowed into the Gulf Coast at daybreak Monday with shrieking, 145-mph winds and blinding rain, submerging entire neighborhoods up to the rooflines in New Orleans, hurling boats onto land and sending water pouring into Mississippi's strip of beachfront casinos.

At least two highways deaths in Alabama were blamed on the storm, and an untold number of others were feared dead in flooded neighborhoods.

"Some of them, it was their last night on earth," Terry Ebbert, chief of homeland security for New Orleans, said of people who ignored evacuation orders. "That's a hard way to learn a lesson."

Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and made a slight turn to the right before coming ashore at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the Louisiana bayou town of Buras. The storm passed just to the east of New Orleans as it moved inland, sparing this vulnerable below-sea-level city its full fury and the apocalyptic damage that forecasters had feared."

The news story goes on and on about stranded people in New Orleans shouting from rooftops for help. In this age of technology these people WATCHED the storm come at them and stayed anyway. It's like standing in the middle of a highway lane and believing that Tractor-trailer WILL miss you at the last second.

My faith in humanity in nearly non existent at this point....

"Calling it a once-in-a-lifetime storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation over the weekend for the 480,000 residents of the vulnerable city, and he estimated about 80 percent heeded the call.

The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Officials said the cause was probably dehydration.

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said the forecast track issued Friday night was only 15 miles off from where the storm actually hit.

"If that is not a superb forecast, I don't know what is," he said."

It isn't that these people haven't been through a tragedy. I am not heartless. But they should be 100 miles away crying about the material possessions they lost, not sitting in the storm dying.

I posted on a different thread about this in which the topic title eludes me. Last night on the news there was a broadcaster in the french quarter asking people questions who had obviously decided to stay and party. He asked 2 guys why they were walking their dogs rather than trying to find shelter. One of them remained silent as the other one so kindly noted, "What the f^^k business is it of yours?". I have come to the conclusion that either:

1) More and more people have a deathwish
2) They have some sort of God/Superman complex
3) The average I.Q. of the world population is dropping at an exponential rate with each generation.

Of course it could be a combination of the 3 but regardless, there are so dumb sonsa******s out there.

I took a job in Jacksonville Florida in the summer of '93. There was a hurricane on its way and I got to listen to all the talk about boarding up the windows and securing outside fixtures. I asked why they didn't go inland to escape the storm and got LAUGHED at. That hurricane turned and ended up in the Carolinas so my co-workers ended up being happy, but I was never comfortable with their attitude.

I only stayed in FL for three years then came back to Michigan where the worst we get is a 5 foot deep blizzard or the occasional tornado. My parents stayed in Florida and I got two phone calls last year with them screaming at me that they could have died in the storms and I never would have known. I asked them to leave the area, come visit me, when they had a hurricane threat as they are both retired. Even THEY won't do it.

People, for the most part, disappoint me.

What amazes me are the people who decided to wait it out, and then called 911 frantically when they needed to be rescued. Do they not understand a mandatory evacuation? They now expect emergency workers to risk their lives to get them out of homes that are quickly flooding because they wanted to "stick it out"?

Another example of why "Felony Stupid" should be a classification.

Originally Posted by kiote9

I don't watch the news, read the paper or listen to the radio. Why?

The news story goes on and on about stranded people in New Orleans shouting from rooftops for help. In this age of technology these people WATCHED the storm come at them and stayed anyway. It's like standing in the middle of a highway lane and believing that Tractor-trailer WILL miss you at the last second.

You would also have missed the mandatory evacuation order and not even known the storm was coming.

It is called thinning the herd....

Originally Posted by shrap

It is called thinning the herd....

Survival of the fittest??

One of the biggest reasons for sticking it out is to deter/prevent looting. One of the constants in life is that there are those who prey on the misfortune of others. The pictures of folks sitting on their porch, gun in lap, and a sign saying looters will be shot is no joke. After Andrew, looting and crime became so rampant that OPM released a memo officially stating that anyone considering a job at Homestead AFB requuired special counseling.

Additionally, the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to your home and personal possessions wreaks havoc on your mind while you sit and wait for the all clear.

Another is the sheer logistics of bugging out. When I left town during Hurricane Frances, the few gas stations that had gas were rationing it out to 2 gallons per customer... just enough to get you to the next station that was open for business. The bright side is that driving 5mph on the interstate somewhat improves mileage. The downside is that what should have been a five hour drive lasted well over eleven hours.

Finding lodging is another sticking point. I had planned on only going as far north as Jacksonville, but ended up in Hinesville, GA due to nothing being available between here and there. The cheapest available room, even at my discounted rate, cost $110 per night. This was booked "just in case" days before I knew for sure I'd be evacuating.

Including car repairs necessitated by a frozen brake caliper that I had to drive several hours on, my evac related expenses, which were unforeseen and unbudgeted, were over $1K. Not everyone has the spare cash for an evac. In my case, Uncle Sam paid me back for a portion of it.

In the case of New Orleans, I can see why there was not more of an evacuation. Many of the folks there are too poor to own a car. As such, they've no choice but to stay.

Personally, I wouldn'tgive a second thought to sticking out a Cat 1 or 2. A Cat 3 would get me thinking about it. A Cat 4 or 5 would definitely give me the incentive to evac.

Originally Posted by Jim O

You would also have missed the mandatory evacuation order and not even known the storm was coming.

Where do you think I got the news article from? The internet. I scan titles to look for someting pertinent that won't offend my sensibilities.

www.weather.com is checked every day. I would have know when it was expected and what was going on. I also hear information from those persons around me who DO watch the news and read the paper. I don't believe everything I hear, but I can filter through most of the nonsense.

How is this for news? The price of FUTURES for barrels of oil went up to $70.80 because of the hurricane, then dropped down to $67.20 after the storm hit shore. This is the price per barrel of oil being quoted in the news. Futures. Stocks.

I prefer not to get involved in arguing propaganda with the masses. The news provides fragments of information hyped up with sensationalism to keep the general public interested and occupied. They can have it, I have a life to live.

(No, I don't have a superiority comnplex. It's just the way I function.)