Category Archives: Disaster in the Gulf

Jefferson Parish

Fierce Planet Posted on by

UPDATE: Okay, I just watched the interview with this man, and I’m shaking with pain and rage. How in the world did this happen? UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video. ____________________________________ This is the President of Jefferson Parish, speaking this morning on Meet the Press. How in the world can this be? Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn’t need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast … Continue reading →

Katrina news cont.

Fierce Planet Posted on by

UPDATE: This AP story says the last people have left the Superdome, though many people in the area are still dying. No one knows how many were killed by Hurricane Katrina’s floods and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating among the ruined city, crumpled on wheelchairs, abandoned on highways. And the dying goes on – at the convention center and an airport triage center, where bodies were kept in a refrigerated truck. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday that she expected the death toll to reach the thousands. And Craig … Continue reading →

Outrageous

Fierce Planet Posted on by

From Americablog (I don’t have a link or a copy): From a press release LA Senator Mary Landrieu sent out today: But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we … Continue reading →

New Orleans Saturday

Fierce Planet Posted on by

UPDATE: Evacuation of people at the Convention Center has started. Conditions there are grim. UPDATE: WWLTV says Charity Hospital has finally been evacuated. All hospitals have now been evacuated, they say. UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has video of an extraordinary report from the convention center and from the highway last night on Fox News. _________________________________ I haven’t heard of any actual evacuations from the Convention Center. There are still several thousand people stuck in the Superdome without evacuation help at this time. There are a couple of swamped parishes with survivors who have had no help at all, and the … Continue reading →

Sweet deal!

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Nice work if you have the connections to get it. From the Los Angeles Times: The city also has called in top corporations to help with the effort. Microsoft has been asked to develop a program to help reunite families, and Halliburton has been requested to share the expertise that it has used to house troops in Iraq in order to set up tent cities in Houston. Mmmm… Halliburton! Always in the right spot to rake in the cash.

Continue reading →

Friday in N.O.

Fierce Planet Posted on by

UPDATE:: One of the buses carrying survivors out has rolled over. No word on casualties that I can find; I saw the footage on CNN. UPDATE: They have fire boats in trying aggressively fighting the industrial fire. There are other fires burning in the city and the wooden homes are very close together and we may yet lose some of those that were spared in the flooding. ___________________________ CNN is showing footage of amphibious military vehicles which are taking supplies to the Convention Center. At last! They’re under command of a three-star general, and have orders not to shoot or … Continue reading →

LA wanted equipment returned from Iraq

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Note the date on this article: LA National Guard Wants Equipment to Come Back From Iraq Yunji de Nies August 1, 2005, 9:07 PM CDT JACKSON BARRACKS — When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem. “The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission,” said Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider with the LA National Guard.

Continue reading →

Moving on

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I had been blogging the hurricane over on World Turning, but as we’ve moved on from much of the immediate scientific and ecological info, I’ll be mostly blogging political and cultural reactions over here. Science and ecology will continue at that site. This may seem odd, but it helps me keep my thoughts straight.

Continue reading →

New Orleans last night

Fierce Planet Posted on by

AP photo by Eric Brown Just getting into the news this morning, but apparently New Orleans is descending into further lawlessness, with fires and explosions reported south of the French Quarter. Many many nations have offered help in the forms of both money and forces, but so far the President has not accepted any help. The explosion was apparently in a chemical factory, and is not thought to be toxic. It was apparently the result of natural gas pipe problems, and not deliberately set.

Continue reading →