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After watching people blame everyone from the government to the rich for failing to "take care" of the victims of Katrina, the real message is being missed:

Each of us is personally responsible for taking care of our selves, our family, and others. Counting on someone else comes from dependence and leads to greater dependence. The message the media should be sending is that the majority of the people in the affected area are safe because they took responsibility for themselves and others. I am afraid that one of the consequences of this tragedy is a further demands on limititation on our individual rights. The entire focus of this event is currently on 20% of the people effected by this storm and it's consequences.

OK - I've vented...

The real lesson here is don't build a city below sea level. :?

HighVelocity wrote:The real lesson here is don't build a city below sea level. :?

Can we send the bill to France? They picked the site!

Seriously, though... the city wasn't built below sea level. It sank, as the delta silt naturally does. The normal order would be for the soil to be replenished from the top from spring floods. We built levees and dikes to stop the flooding, which also stopped restoration of the land. Think about it: the areas outside the levees are still above sea level, because they still get flooded every year.

Kevin

SRVA wrote:Each of us is personally responsible for taking care of our selves, our family, and others.

That is the message. The first busload to arrive at the Astrodome were those who didn't wait for the official government evacuation. The commandeered a school bus (apparently with NOPD's blessing), pooled their money to buy fuel, and picked up as many people as they could squeeze in.

National Guard troops from as far away as northern New Hampshire are en route, while Kathleen Blanco and Mary Landrieu collapsed in a quivering blubbering girlheap, paralyzed, and didn't use the resources under their control from the 90% of the state that suffered no damage.

Everyone keeps looking up to the next level of government for help, when they should be looking at their own hands, and their neighbors, and taking action.

My libertarian friends and I are trying to reduce dependence on government. We're trying to create world where the first reaction is not to call the government. Come join us as we try to transform one state that is already strongly libertarian, and spread from there.

Kevin

HighVelocity wrote:The real lesson here is don't build a city below sea level. :?

Let's be honest....the REAL LESSON is don't let your city host horribly wicked activities that God hates.

Lesson learned ?
I'd really like to think so, but not that optimistic. :(

Something is not quite right. Last year, 4 hurricanes hit Florida. I do not remember such an outcry for help from FL. There seems to be a lot more helpless individuals from LA. I do not remember Jeb squalling like Blanco on TV. Seems like FL sucked it up and is still doing so.

Nothing against LA, but seems like a lot of folks are still attached to the governments teat.

This is completely OT for CHL issues, but I wanted to point out a very good source for people offering (or looking for) temporary housing after Katrina.

http://www.MyFamilyCanHelp.com

I'm registered there, offering our spare bedroom. My wife also has a full-time job to offer.

Kevin

Last night (Monday 9-5-2005) at our local Emergency Management (Palo Pinto County)
meeting we also had representatives from city government, law enforcement, churches
and a host of other volunteers from around the county to talk about the issues in
dealing with the incoming victims from the hurricane. Jacksboro has already been
housing some. A DPS trooper at the meeting stated Jacksboro has since been faced
with some "home invasions". That was the wording he used. I would have expected
wording like "armed robery" or some other arrest title. He went on to say the suspect/s
were black and making forced entry during the daytime.
Small town Texas, who would have guessed !javascript:emoticon(':evil:')
Evil or Very Mad
The point is, they may be bad weather victims, but some of them are scumbags !
Keep your guns loaded !!!

gigag04 wrote:Let's be honest....the REAL LESSON is don't let your city host horribly wicked activities that God hates.

If that was the case, Las Vegas would have been gone LONG ago....

It's been noted that, I am a list kind of guy

So here is my disaster list...



9/11 covered around 10 blocks
Katrina wind and storm surge damage covered an area the size of great britton
but FLOODS covered most of a major American city.
1.8 Million folks were displaced because of the flooding.
In the US we have had much practice with wind and storm surge damage.
We have never had a displacement of this many folks.


The next disaster of this size may not occur for a generation and may never occur where you are. but...


Here are some ideas.

If you have had water near your property line
Put an Ax in the atic.

If there has ever been storm surge damage in your area
don't have anything at the place that you can't afford to loose.
Leave before the storm hits. Every time. Don't wait until the last minute.

The next disaster probably won't be by flood. Don't put all your plans in that basket. Plan for other posibilities as well.

Other possibilities:
Deadly Super Bug
Crop dusted "bad stuff"
Suitcase Nuke
Dirty Bomb
something else


Have you figured out what you will do with your pets?
What is your plan if the situation is so bad they send trucks to rescue you and won't take you pets?


In case you plan to shelter in place.
Is there enough food and water at the house for your family?
24 hours
72 hours
1 week
1 month
1 year

Can (or will) your family eat the food you have stockpiled?


In case you plan to leave.
Some familys set up a backpack for each member of the family. Just in case they need to leave quickly. What goes in the pack? Food and water for a couple of days. CASH and change, extra credit card? photo copy of your ID? Family Phone List Ammo, etc. Change of clothes in a water proof pouch. Small first aid kit. A supply of any perscription drugs.

Do your vehicles have enough gas?
Are they ready to travel?


How will you hook back up with your family if seperated?
(In case of fire, you need a plan to meet in a specific location, so no one dies trying to rescue someone that's already out of the house.)
In case of disaster, do you have friends or family WAY out of town, that can help you hook back up?
What about a shooting buddy from another state?

Cell phones don't work in disasters.

"The Government" isn't going to save you in the first couple of days.


Even if the disaster doesn't hit your area, you may end up with displaced people as neighbors.

I had to go help someone who lives about 45 miles from New Orleans. I left on thursday of last week and returned on Monday. I may have gone overboard, but i packed a light weight pack with a tent, sleeping bag, lights, stove, freeze dried food and all of the other standard multi-night back packing items (first aid kit, camp soap, water...). I also brought a bunch of water in an ice chest.

I made sure that I bought gasoline about 100 miles or so. Few things i noticed during the trip.

1. The closer you get to N.O., the more refugees you see.
2. A lot of gas stations were out of gas. You really had to hunt for gas late at night or early in the morning.
3. I saw people buying large plastic laundry soap containers to dump out and use for gas cans. I hope the HDPE plastic held up to gasoline.
4. Gasoline was only 2.55/gallon in Louisiana. On monday when i exited on Hwy 146 in Baytown, it was $3.16.
5. I was in awe that pretty much every town between New Orleans and the Texas state line more than doubled in size and I wasn't caught in a single traffic jam.
6. The news coverage in Baton Rouge was much better than the national news.


One thing that i have decided is that i never want to be in a situation where i have to wait for evacuation with 30 or 40,000 others. I will have the means and the supplies to walk out or float out. Better yet, i'll leave early and bring those means with me.

I didn't have to open my pack while i was there, but i did feel more confortable knowing that i could out last most if i needed to.

I just spent a week conducting rescue/security operations in some of the poor areas near New Orleans. I have seen some gruesome stuff while in the Navy and Coast Guard, but this was the worst by far. Some of these areas are going to remain flooded for many weeks to come.

I can go on and on, but no words could describe what we saw.

God Bless these folks and hopefully we can all learn from what has happened.

Rich

Some interesting personal accounts of what happened in NO:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publis ... 8337.shtml

I though this part, if true, was especially disturbing:

"Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the -------- freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water."

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Update: LARRY BRADSHAW and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY are apparently associated with 'the socialist worker', so take their comments with a major grain of salt.

My lessoned learned in all of this was when I finally got a chance to see the "Katrina model" over Houston/Harris County...

Not that I really needed it, but if ever a Cat 4-5 were to ever come close to passing over Casa Steve...

The easy part is to reside yourself to the fact that your home and worldly posessions (minus what you "should" be taking with you, not what you "can" overload your vehicle with.)

See ya...

We'll be Northbound and won't stop till we git to north of Tyler...If we're lucky...If Tyler is a difficulty, we got Dallas...

Whats going to be a challenge, is the in-laws...Not that they are a pain, it is that they are 80+ years old...And don't move very fast...

I'm hoping to have a backup for them planned out...

And planning ahead is half the battle...

Have a plan, then have a backup to that plan, then be flexible and have a contingency to that...

But by all means keep it simple...Make the trip out of town as low stress as you can make it, and stick to the plan...

And,

Make sure someone else (out of the effected area, if possible) knows what that plan is before you leave...

I originally thought that a "Katrina" would bring a bit more wind, and about the same amount of water "Allison"...The model I saw multiplied that misconception by 10...

If that works out...Where we are now...We got 16-18 inches of water during Allison...Twice...

There's not enough room in our attic to retreat to in that case...

We be buggin' out folks...No doubt about it...