|
|
|
|
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/27/2008 10:23:26 PM | While most of the U.S. is gearing up for summer's end and the Labor Day festivities, there are several million of us who have other things on our minds.......Hurricanes.
According to the Weather Channel this evening, the projected path/landfall of Gustav is anywhere from just west of Houston to the Florida Panhandle, with New Orleans a distinct possibility, anytime from Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon.
Remembering the Katrina mess several years back, Houston Mayor says, "Houston will NOT be open to Louisiana evacuees"; guess we learned the first time that was a disasterous mistake for the state of Texas, which we are STILL dealing with over 24 months later.
Since I live approximately 57 miles northwest of the Big H, I'm making plans to ride it out, whatever 'it' is. While a few of my neighbors believe this is just another false alarm, my gut tells me we can only be 'lucky' so many time before we get kicked in the a** and water up to our belly buttons. I believe once Gustav leaves Cuba, it's going to hit the warm Gulf waters, strengthen and make a bee line for an area between the Louisiana state line and Houston.
If you're like me and you live within the projected landfall area, what plans, if any, are you making? Staying? Leaving? What are you doing to prepare yourself if you're staying? Have family/friends down this way? You might want to call them and let them know you have a warm bed if they need to head north. Of course with the possibility of a major storm heading into the Gulf, oil companies are preparing to evacuate oil rigs, which will raise the price of gas again. In fact, it's already up $2.00 a barrel since last week.
Well, it's my beddy-bye time as I have to make a trip to Lowes in the morning to get some plywood before it's all gone. I wish everyone a wonderful Labor Day weekend and for those of us who may not have time to relax and BBQ, I'm wishing you nothing more than a few raindrops.
LIB | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 1:09:11 PM | | I doubt you will see school buses sitting under water if it was to happen this time. Theres a new Governor in Louisiana! | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 2:28:18 PM | Just heard on the Weather Channel the Governor of Louisiana is making preparations to call for a TOTAL evacuation of New Orleans. I guess you have no choice in the matter; you either evacuate or whatever happens to you is YOUR problem, not the State's. That should have been the tone the last time!!!!!
Then on top of all this, "Here comes Hanna"....another potiental Hurricane!
LIB | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 3:16:17 PM |
you either evacuate or whatever happens to you is YOUR problem, not the State's. That should have been the tone the last time!!!!!
I agree. However, this approach leaves far less room for people to blame the government for their own poor choices. | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 3:35:18 PM | Our governor is an idiot, but thankfully the officials who are actually responsible for the evacuation plans are much better prepared this time around.
I live across the lake from New Orleans. So we didn't have the same flooding problem as New Orleans during Katrina but we did have several neighbors with trees going through their roofs and we also have a bayou behind our house which is a greater concern since some are predicting that we'll be on the wet/tornado side of the storm this time.
How is the mayor Houston planning to keep refugees away? Armed guard stopping all cars with Louisiana license plates? I grew up in Houston so I'd like to see him stop me if I decide to crash with some friends. Not providing temporary shelter when Louisiana says its prepared for an orderly evacuation and swift return...its just cruel and inhumane.
My family usually evacuates to Lafayette but will probably either head to Houston or head north to St. Louis to stay with extended family. I'll probably meet up with them to evacuate, just to help out. But it all depends on whether they choose to leave before a mandatory evacuation is called, otherwise, I still have to work. Thankfully, the state is being overly cautious and our connections say evacuation is looking like a sure thing now unless anything changes in the next 24 hours.
It breaks my heart to have this going on with the three-year anniversary of Katrina tomorrow. Its going to be weird watching the Katrina specials being interrupted with updates on Gustav.
I have my fingers crossed that New Orleans is spared. The citizens and national volunteers have worked to see it all drowned again. | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 4:57:01 PM | | The new Governor has already did more than the one before with Katrina. And dont get me started on the Mayer of New Orleans with the dunce cap on! | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 5:04:02 PM | Sadly, that's not saying much. And I'm glad he's handling the Gustav-situation well, he certainly can't do anything else right.  | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 5:08:15 PM | | I moved to Iowa after we went through Katrina. I do not miss the hurricanes, heat, humidity, snakes or mosquitoes. I am sorry to hear about them though. | |
|
| |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 5:17:21 PM | Hey ldynblk -- fellow Houston area guy here...I live in SW Houston. I did not evacuate for Rita so did not get caught in that awful traffic jam. I do have my plywood cut to fit sitting in my garage along with my plyloks. I doubt if I will evacuate for anything less than a Cat 4 direct hit. You are right, Houston has been very fortunate --Dolly went south, Eduoard went east, Rita went east, etc.
I must say that, although there were a lot of post-Katrina evacuee problems in Houston, it was a generous humanitarian thing that we did at the time.
This time of year the Weather Channel is more exciting than Law and Order reruns...
 | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 8:39:32 PM | Shortly after 10 this evening, CST, one of the local Houston news channel is now predicting landfall west of New Orleans and east of Texas City, TX. That's pretty much what my thought was night before last. However, New Orleans is still making preparations to call for total evacuation sometime Sunday or Monday if the storm continues driving towards Burbon Street.
Hanna, it seems, is making her way to the east side of Florida, as if they need anymore rain and wind! However, there's a slight possibility she'll turn south and breeze past the Keys, then make a sharp turn north. If that happens, right now, they have no idea where she would land.
It's going to be a very interesting 4 or 5 days.
LIB | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 9:00:44 PM | I would rather take my chances in New Orleans with a direct hit than deal with the crime in Houston that occurs on a daily basis...
| |
|
D_lily
|
Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 13 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 9:21:33 PM | you either evacuate or whatever happens to you is YOUR problem, not the State's. That should have been the tone the last time!!!!!
I agree. However, this approach leaves far less room for people to blame the government for their own poor choices.
Souzou
Joined: 8/23/2008
Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 3:35:18 PM
Our governor is an idiot, but thankfully the officials who are actually responsible for the evacuation plans are much better prepared this time around.
who are actually responsible { indeed, who are actually responsible?}
I lived on Pensacola Beach when arron, opal, georgz came through. I agree it is our own responsibility to protect ourselves and {1} if you are going to live in a high risk zone don't expect anyone to bale you out.
I remember well hoping to be able to rent a Uhaul before they ran out. I do feel for anyone caught up in one but people have got to learn to you don't build on a not solid foundation. | |
|
| |
Souzou
|
Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 15 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 9:55:15 PM | To d lily:
A huge percentage of New Orleanians live without cars. Which is fine in a city like ours with lots of neighborhood businesses, bus routes, and street cars. This is also a reason why, in the past, the Superdome has been used as a safe-haven for riding out the storm.
And with only three roads out of the city (which are often congested on the best of days) getting out of the city with a vehicle is still incredibly difficult. Imagine the horror of being trapped in your car on the interstate when a hurricane rolls through.
I am glad the the officials are taking responsibility for helping citizens who don't have the means to evacuate on their own. The Superdome is no longer a safe-haven removing the need for massive food/water resources and crowd control authorities. They've also prepared public transport for families and their pets (another positive change) and are readying for immediate evacuation of hospitals and other medical facilities. Of course, these are all pretty words and I hope they can pull it off.
My family usually leaves before every storm (no matter how small) because they have the money and resources. My job requires that I stay until the evacuation becomes mandatory. I just hope they announce in time that I don't get stuck on the highways.
Its a combination of personal and government responsibility. I have glared at and shared many harsh words with people who have the resources to leave and yet refuse to if Gustav comes. Thankfully, most of them are in low-flood, out-of-city zones and have lived without power for over a month in the past so they're welcome to rough it if they want. | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 9:59:43 PM | iam sorry that there were some loosers that took atvantage of the states helping hand we are not all that way but if you think so the storm should wipe you out have a nice day
 | |
|
D_lily
|
Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 17 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 10:23:29 PM | iam sorry that there were some loosers that took atvantage of the states helping hand we are not all that way
You are right about that also, in every disaster we know about poachers. That is why on the scale N.O and other low lying areas where in danger, the people living there should have took the responsibility to keep putting pressure on government officals to make a solid plan for it's people.
To d lily:
A huge percentage of New Orleanians live without cars. Which is fine in a city like ours with lots of neighborhood businesses, bus routes, and street cars. This is also a reason why, in the past, the Superdome has been used as a safe-haven for riding out the storm.
Yes, I understand that and I am greatful for the professionals and citizens that help those that can't do it on there own. However, the people living in La. and these low lying areas should have gotton there government officals to do something about this problem years ago instead of sit idol.
Everyone I have know that has ever known anything about that area has always said "one day a bad hurricane will come and wipe New Orleans off the face of the map", now why didn't the people do their part and force La. leaders to resign if there were not going to do anything to protect it's people and start working on that problem years ago?
You don't build a HOUSE on a less than solid foundation. It would have been a lot cheeper to begin buying up property and relocating people to higher ground years ago through fedreal and local grants than the mess ALL the UNITED STATES TAX PAYERS have to pay now.
Then to turn around and blame it all on the government is really a slap in the face. Where are the people that live there? Why are they not/were not in an uproar with a government they let fail them knowing "if it ever hit's" ?
We all knew what would eventually happen, no one that lived there did anything, all those years. Just held there breath. Then, cry foul and government failure. The communities have the power to elect people that will do their will. The communities have the power to force them out if they do not the people's will.
We all need to stop whinning and take better care of bussiness or we'll all be "down the river anyway". | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 11:03:32 PM | WhosDrunk.....as far as I know, the crime rate in Houston skyrocketed when the New Orleans overflow moved in. The majority of people this city housed, fed and doctored for a year, without cost to them I might add, as well as Fema who gave them apartments, furniture, clothing and education, were pretty much the lower class, riff-raff of Burbon Street. And how do they repay us? By stealing, injuring and killing Houstonians, as well as their own. Maybe if those people had gotten off their lazy butts years ago, by working honest jobs instead of living off their state, they would have had money to buy cars so they could have gotten the hell out of Dodge like everyone else!
And.......Houston is no worse than Miami, Detroit, New York, L.A., Washington, DC., Chicago, just to name a few. Frankly, you couldn't pay me to live in any of those cities.
LIB | |
|
Souzou
|
Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 19 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 11:12:44 PM | The oldest areas of New Orleans are not below sea level. There was not a huge flooding danger when the city was founded in 1718, making it one of the oldest cities in the country and an important part of our national history. Do you suggest that the entire city be bought up and moved?
The Bush administration withdrew its promise to protect coastal wetlands, a powerful natural resource. Every two miles can reduce surge by half a foot! Katrina was not an especially strong hurricane but the levees still failed. The pumps failed. There are cities all over this world at much greater risk for floods or high tides but the government has funded public projects to handle it. And no matter how much you may what to blame the locals, there was no excuse for the slow reaction of the state and federal governments. They left all those people there to die. As a nation, we rush in to save foreign nations after natural disasters and yet don't take care of our own. Atleast, not on a government level. I have not heard one person say "Oh thank goodness for the government helping me get back on my feet." Even those who left returned to ruined homes. Thank goodness for the hardworking locals and national volunteers who came and helped rebuild. Many of the American people care about New Orleans, so why not the Bush administration?
I wish the citizens of Louisiana and New Orleans could elect officials who would protect our wetlands and our levees. But if want to come in and solve the ethics problems here in Louisiana, be my guest. I've yet to see anyone do it. We're stuck for voting for "this criminal" or "that criminal." Its depressing. | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/28/2008 11:42:59 PM | Souzou, NO ONE left ANYONE there to die! That's pure hogwash!!!!
There was a call for total evacuation because the city and state knew New Orleans was going to get hit and hit hard. Instead of packing up a few belongings and making a quick exit, people sat around on their asses and whinned the city and state didn't care about them. "Whoa is me....what shall I do?" When it was obvious they weren't going to get a free ride out, THEN they decided to move but it was too late. Whose fault is that?
I'm sorry so many people died. I am sorry so many lost everything but until people are ready to assume some responsibility for themselves, they don't have a right to **** because someone else doesn't.
As for the wetlands..........this is 2008, not 1950. Times have changed. The Earth is changing. What might have worked before, doesn't work now. Those levees were built YEARS ago for the storms we had then, not the ones we get now. If it isn't safe to live with the ocean at your front door, then MOVE!
LIB | |
|
Souzou
|
Joined: 8/23/2008
Msg: 21 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/29/2008 12:04:26 AM | Again I ask, for the large number of citizens who don't have a car, how do you suggest they get out? Walk? Swim across the lake? Sadly, when some residents began to walk out of the city after the storm, they were fired upon by authorities.
The mandatory evacuation was called the day before the storm hit. Not alot of prep time. And I have no idea what Nagin was thinking when he called for a mandatory evacuation and then opened up the Superdome. Not exactly a clear message.
And once more, had the levees held, everything would have been fine. Very few homes had wind damage. People bought supplies, boarded up and prepared to ride it out. They weren't prepared for faulty levees leaving them to drown in their attics. They weren't prepared for police men to loot and then hold up in hotels, shooting anyone who approached. Alot of poor, elderly and innocent citizens died waiting for rescue that came too late. And I am sick of the blame being placed only on them. Alot of people screwed up. I don't point all the blame the government but they are a part of it. As are the state officials, the criminals, the police, the CORP, and so forth.
The Corp of Engineers has ADMITTED to a faulty design and substandard construction. I'm sorry, but when someone screws me over, I usually hope they'll make it up to me. | |
|
D_lily
|
Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 22 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/29/2008 1:43:03 AM | The oldest areas of New Orleans are not below sea level. There was not a huge flooding danger when the city was founded in 1718, making it one of the oldest cities in the country and an important part of our national history. Do you suggest that the entire city be bought up and moved?
No, I don't suggest the entire city be "bought up" and moved. Let's see 1718. Ok, I'll give you it's part of our national history. History is made up of several places that NO LONGER exist. I would expect people to look at their circumstances and make a reasonable decision about their own security of life.
The rest of The United States new and other places as well, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I wish the citizens of Louisiana and New Orleans could elect officials who would protect our wetlands and our levees. But if want to come in and solve the ethics problems here in Louisiana, be my guest. I've yet to see anyone do it. We're stuck for voting for "this criminal" or "that criminal." Its depressing.
Well, get of the couch, and start a petition when you see the politicians are no doing the will of the people and take it to as many people as you can.
I'm not going to build a house on an volcano, but , if I did, I would never expect anyone to rebuild for me. Use common sense, that is something you know the government can't give you, that is all on you. | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/29/2008 1:51:00 AM |
I agree. However, this approach leaves far less room for people to blame the government for their own poor choices.
or for people without transport, or a bunch of old people who die in a retirement home. | |
|
D_lily
|
Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 24 | |
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/29/2008 2:22:26 AM | I have only one more thing to say. I would hope these storms just dissipate. I will hope for the best and hope everyone will have clean water and power and no loss of life.
Please just get out. If you know a elderly neighbor or even someone that lives alone help each other and safely come through it.
Good day/night | |
|
| Gulf Coast(ers), are you ready?????
Posted: 8/29/2008 11:34:09 AM | Whoa.....hold on Charlesedm.....why are you blaming the government because retirement homes dropped the ball on getting their residents out in time? They had ample time to 'hire' transportation if necessary but just like almost everyone else down there, they sat around EXPECTING someone else to do their jobs for them.
As for people w/o transporation.......unless they are disabled and can't walk, using one's feet to escape has long been the choice of many, from caveman to astronauts!
LIB | |
|
|
|
Home
login 
