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The Navy is sending four, huge ships from the East coast to the Gulf of Mexico to carry food, water, and supplies for the people; they're considering sending a hospital ship, as well; and those at the Superdome are about to be evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome [approximately 320 miles away]. There are 23,000 people inside the Superdome ~ and hundreds/thousands[?] outside it camped on the highway. There are at least 40,000 refugees, displaced by the flooding. Slashes of red paint are being put on houses, where dead have been seen inside and will need to be collected later, when it's possible.

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Parts of New Orleans are now under 20 feet of water. The water still continues to pour in, and is expected to for at least another 12 hours. Attempts are still being made to repair the breach in the levee; they're currently considering trying to put a barge in place to block it. They've been trying to sandbag it and use Black Hawk helicopters to lower concrete slabs into place. However, the levee is made of earth; and water, of course, erodes it, and with rushing water, trying to keep anything in place, simply to address a small portion of the whole is almost futile. Still, the engineers are scrambling to come up with alternative solutions.

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Possible thunderstorms are now expected to be hitting the area. I know it's thundering and about to storm here [11:30 AM], and we usually don't get them until about 4:30 PM and, again, around 8:00 PM.

I'm feeling very ashamed of our Democratic Party right now, for the absurdity of what's been declared by one of its leaders. I'm a Democrat, but ~ wow ~ does this go beyond the pale in both absurdity and poor taste.

This person ~ didn't get his name or position ~ blamed the Republican Party for Hurricane Katrina and its destruction. The reason? For not having signed a particular treaty [I'm guessing the one that deals with global warming?]. With living people not even rescued yet; and the dead not even collected, much less buried, there is more than enough time to get 'political' about all this, with the pointing of fingers. Yet, if politics and finger-pointing are to enter in, at least keep it on a reality level. The commentator noted that the person/Party is going to have a hard time explaining the multiple hurricanes that hit back in the beginning of the 20th century. Whoever that person is needs to have a gag order imposed by the Party.

Pitiful!

12:40 PM ~ Air Force One [for anyone who may not know, that's the official airplane for transporting the U.S. Presidents] is now flying over the New Orleans area, for Bush to get his own, "bird's eye view" of the trauma.

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1:28 PM The Astrodome in Houston is about a 7 mile drive from the Superdome. The first bus for it has not left New Orleans, yet. A convoy of about 430 buses, trucks, etc. will be leaving to go to Houston.

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They have compiled 250 concrete barriers and 1,200, 20-pound sandbags, plus another 100 sandbags [presumably the much heavier ones], and another 100 slings for lowering things into place in the breach of the levee. There are three barges awaiting going into the area with some of these things, but the logistics of accessing the area are keeping them from going.

1:45 PM ~ Just now, I heard a reporter say that a thin, silver lining has appeared, that within the last couple hours, in one area of New Orleans, the water has receded a couple of inches and some sewage with it. That's a rate of about an inch an hour, for which they are feeling grateful, as little as that may seem.

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Parts of the French Quarter have been able to 'avoid' taking on more water, due to the location and direction of water flow in the breaches of the levees.

The water from the breach in the levee, to the north of New Orleans, is flowing out to the west and east. The water from the breach in the levee to the east of the French Quarter is flowing out primarily to the east.

With these directional flows, the French Quarter has been spared of the heavier accumulations of water.

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Last night, I saw the full footage of the man whose wife floated away on their house, which had split in half. In his 'split-second decision' to save his children, his wife had told him to save/take care of the children. I have no doubt that this was one of many, self-sacrificial acts that occurred in the midst of the horror of this storm and its aftermath.

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Mayor of New Orleans is saying hundreds, maybe thousands, dead. I believe thousands. They are saying the city will not be functioning for 3 to 4 months. No electricity, food, drinkable water, facilities, or businesses or restaurants of any kind in operation. Sewage is floating over the entire city.
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3:40 PM ~ In Louisiana, 3,000 people have been rescued by helicopter or boat. Many of those on rooftops have been given some food/water to sustain them until rescue arrives, and even those who haven't received sustenance have managed, despite dehydration and hunger, I guess by virtue of the human spirit and their determination to live. The flood waters have stabilized. Thank G~d.

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You hear one good thing, and it's followed by another bad. The conditions are deteriorating in the hospitals. One has 250 patients awaiting evacuation, with 4 of the intensive-care patients already evacuated, and another 20 still waiting. They had some back-up electricity, at first, but now that's gone. So, no electricity, and no air conditioning in an already-diseased environment. Rounds being made by flashlight. No way of doing electricity-assisted IVs and those requiring assistance for breathing do not have the equipment. It is being done by hand by nurses, with a hand-operated device. No way to determine any lab results. First-aid is the only thing they're able to administer to people there. Rules are being bypassed, i.e. getting Medicaid approval prior to transferring to another facility [a given under the circumstances].

Discussion of the threats of cholera and typhoid, as well as mosquito-borne diseases, is now happening.

Still, 700+ people are dead in Baghdad for no more than having made a pilgrimage to honour a recently-deceased religious leader. Three suicide bombers were, in fact, stopped from going onto the bridge from which people jumped and fell. Many of the killed were women and children. The religious requirement is that the dead be buried within 24 hours of their death, so a massive number of burials are occurring. As Paula has said, it's horrible. One disaster after another.

What about Cindy and Bush, Lz? (Between two announcements about Katrina's devastation.)

There is a lot of sadness in the news, 'cause they focus on calamities.

I tought I could bring some network specialized in good news, for you LC's fans, to balance all this. Interesting, in any case.

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

Lizzytysh, It's incredible to think that a city the size of New Orleans is so devastated. And Biloxi is gone. Just wiped off the map. Unbelieveable.

I'm not sure who you mean by Cindy, Tchoc ~ though I may after you remind me. I was already shut down [my computer] when Bush did the recap of conditions and plans to address them. He started speaking at approximately 5:00 PM, my time, right when I got off work. I can't think of much that he said that's really new or different. He actually had a concerned look in his eyes when he spoke, however; that's as opposed to other times he's spoken of horrible things, and didn't. He said it would be years before New Orleans recovered. Because this city and the others are either being, or have already been, destroyed, virtually before our eyes, I have definitely focused on the 'bad' news ~ for one thing, a written record and account, for me to keep.

I tend to be 'sensitive' to the 'news' to begin with, kind of empathic with what's happening. I don't just slough it off and go on with my day, as though all is fine. I can't help that tendency and, actually, don't really care to. However, much hangs in the balance with this tragedy, and I'll be 'seeing it through.' A younger co-worker and I went to our Center Director today with ideas for fundraising, to send money to the badly-hit states. She contacted the district office and relayed the ideas. They'll be implementing them, with our center being the one of primary responsibility for it. I also told her that if they end up sending anyone from our organization to help out, that I want to be one of those to go.

I am equally drawn to the good news that's out there, however; and I'll check out the site you've offered. Thanks. It's very true that media focus goes to the tragic. This is the most cataclysmic, natural disaster that's ever occurred in our country, however, so the focus is warranted.

Yes, Nan, it's truly unfathomable. All of it. I haven't focused on Biloxi and Gulfport, and the other states and towns ~ not because I'm unconcerned with them, but because New Orleans remains 'unresolved.' My brother has a friend who was a shrimper in New Orleans. He owned two boats and was out in the bay when they ordered the evacuation. He docked his boats and drove to where his house and family were, gathered them up, and left to find safety. His house was in one of the towns that was destroyed, and he does not plan to return ~ ever. They will start all over ~ from scratch, as he had no insurance. He's certain nothing remains of either his house, or his boats. Fortunately, he and his family are all alive. As devastating as the losses are, priorities push life straight to the top.

I was stricken by the story of the man who ended up in tears as he was interviewed by phone and told of how he and his wife had evacuated when told, figuring they'd return in 3-4 days, as usually happens. He is grieving that he left their cats behind, leaving them with enough food and water to last what he thought would cover them for 3 weeks to a month. He sounded as though he can't forgive himself. I relate deeply to that story and the regret and remorse he has to be feeling.

There were several seals that were blown out of the aquarium where they lived and the footage showed one that was still alive, with a woman pouring buckets of water over it, trying to keep it cool. The announcer, at the end of the clip said that a couple hours after it was filmed, the seal had to be shot twice in the head to put it out of its misery, and there was just nothing more that could be done to help it.

The interviewer spoke with a number of people on the highway near the Superdome, and in one segment of it, a woman pointed to a palette where one of the refugees had been waiting, until he committed suicide, just unable to deal with it all any more. No one knows what another person's breaking point may be, and this situation is overwhelming and unfathomable in its extent.

They continue through the nights to search and rescue people from rooftops and from inside some houses. There are many dead bodies floating both inside and outside of them. Some people have stepped over them in houses, in the process of looting the house. One officer was reported to have said he feels like just shooting them and putting a tag on their toe that says "Looter." Frustration, anger, emotions, and tempers are running very high. It's all very sobering. Katrina and the worsening outcome of the tragedy in Baghdad.

My heart is with everyone in all of those areas. It's devastating.

One ~ one ~ good thing I heard a report on, also after work and while in my car, was that there was one restaurant in the French Quarter that was actually open and serving food today. The reporter said that she had the best BBQ shrimp she has had in her entire life. One can only imagine. It's a miracle that it was able to prepare food and serve, but it did.

I feel blessed, absolutely beyond measure, to be safe with my pets, and none of my family or friends in harm's way. I am very anxious to hear anything about Squidgy.

Thank you, Tchoco, it's good to hear of some gladness in the world with all the devastation we must see every single day. It's almost too much. Yes, like you say, to balance it out.

Linda.

In the end, my feeling on its being too much is, "Imagine how too much it is for those going through it." I'm deeply grateful that all I'm doing is feeling compelled to watch, read and write about it, and figure out a way to help. I'm not in a position of having no choice but to deal with it first hand from a rooftop ~ or a mere memory of a home, belongings, and maybe animals and loved ones I once had, and will never see again. Perhaps, my being so deeply concerned also relates to my having lived in the Florida Keys for seven years [and, even now, here] and being intimately familiar with the hurricane warning and evacuation process, as well as hurricanes coming nearby, and one Category 1 hitting while I was there. For another one, I was dating a pilot who owned a small airport in the Lower Keys, and I ended up flying out with him, as he removed his last plane, friends having flown the others out for him. A heavy-bellied plane, similar to a B-52, whose fulcrum point was in a very forward position, almost immediately behind the pilot's seat; so flying it out was very touchy in the quickly increasing winds.

I sat on the floor of the plane, behind the pilot's seat, with my cats, and remember the fear and tension, despite the many years ago that it happened. The others I left for, and remember too well the tension I felt on the road, wondering if I'd make it out or break down or get stranded for other reasons, and just drown in my car. It's terrifying. Listening to the reports on this, and significant damage being felt 150 miles inland, also causes me to not be in denial that I could still be affected living where I do now. The hurricanes that make it into the Gulf are highly unpredicatable. Not only can they grow in magnitude and size, but can change direction in unbelievable ways. Even though the hurricane didn't, this situation hits home.

The worst part of the hurricane season is starting right now; so, I continue to look on the horizon for anything else that may be developing. There's a tropical storm out there [Lee], but it will be going north and east, away from land.

Over 900 [953?] Shiites are now determined to have died in Baghdad. For the hurricane area, and extra 10,000 National Guard troops have been called up. The New York City firefighters are also there helping out.

Lizzytysh, in long terms the government is responsible because they didn't sign Kyoto agreement. This storms are happening because of global warming. That Democrat guy has right. That's the US administration problem I refferd to in Marlene Arp thread.

It is my emoticons period

Between us and the dove
1/1
You are the only owner of the only original.
I hope you appreciate.



Well, my idea was not to stop being aware of the bad news but to be more realistic. To balance. Because reality is made of both, and is not at all reduced to one side.

I certainly feel very sorry for what is happening in New Orleans, Mississipi and so on. Yesterday, the rest of Katrina passed here, like I said, it gaves an idea of what it was as a hurricane of category 5 and "even" 3, and today I learned that it caused some damages in the area yesterday. It was only the rest of it.

I also understand how one could have trauma about those extreme experiences, I don't want to minimize the emotional suffering of all this.

Only I'm careful with charity when it cames to depossess people of their precious responsibility which lead to keep them in trouble in order to be able to "save" them again and again. The prejudice of the "savior" - which needs victims to help to feel good must be broke in my eyes.

In this disaster, the powerful US army has a chance to show the world it is not just there to perform agressive imperialism activity. Where is the powerful US army when its people need it?

Go boys, go!!! Hurry! Do men out of yourselves, go there and clean up the mess, hurry up, it is an emergency, for G_d sake!

Regarding the fear of the bombing. Well. I can't help but think : don't bomb, you wont die of it. It is even less difficult. People are not stupid, they can understand that.

Cindy, Lz, is that mother who went to Bush's ranch to ask him why, yes, why, her son had to left his life in Iraq war.

Very interesting news, Cindy.

Hi Tom ~

Even though I feel that global warming is a crucial, very crucial, extremely crucial issue ~ and is, indeed, related to weather changes ~ I cannot carte blanche blame the presence and fury of Katrina on any administration for not signing the Kyoto agreement. I was appalled and mega-confused [on the level of human and animal rights to a clean environment] at the time, when they didn't .

Yet, there was a hurricane at the beginning of the 20th century that killed 12,000 people [I believe in the Galveston, Texas area]. Categories have been enumerated and defined because the weather and atmospheric people have previous things to go on, long before global warming would be having this serious of an impact. Had the treaty been signed, would not enough of global warming already have been in place for this hurricane to have occurred, regardless? Could Hurricane Katrina's development been interrupted? Some say it's necessary to look at long-term weather patterns before drawing assumptions that may be erroneous. These are questions I can't answer. I can much more easily look at U.S. involvement over the years in the Mid-East, supporting a leader one day and condemning him the next; supplying arms to support the overthrows of governments; the curious level of interest that gravitates to countries with oil;and draw my position on the politics and cause-effect of it all more clearly.

I feel it was essential that the treaty be signed, and feel that the U.S. is culpable for many things that will continue to deteriorate as a result of not having done so. However, I feel it's in extremely poor taste at this juncture to blame the current administration for Hurricane Katrina and its devastation. To people like that, I say put your money where your mouth is and help the victims. There are people dying, while waiting for rescue. This morning, I've been hearing about the lawlessness that's erupting with both criminals and people feeling desperate, including some shooting at the helicopters [!?!?!?] ~ I'll need that one confirmed for myself.

Cindy ~ yes, of course. I knew it would come to me once you 'said' it. Had you said Sheehan, I'd have stood a much better chance. However, here, it's actually as though CindySheehan has become one word. She is leaving her post to begin a 3-month, Bring Our Troops Home bus tour, ending in Washington. Many cannot help with Hurricane Katrina because they're deployed elsewhere, all over the world ! I agree with Cindy, though a number of military families have removed the crosses bearing their own children's names.

Thank you for your Titanic and white dove graphic/emoticon. Hopefully, it would still apply if you were stranded on your rooftop without food, water, and medical supplies; with rescue uncertain.

Due to the self-will nature of these threads, I don't feel beholden to provide the balance myself. I'm making a personal record of what I'm seeing and reading, and not really addressing much as to how I'm feeling. If others choose to read my accounts they are free to do so, and if they choose not to, that's legitimate, as well. If balance is desired, that's what the thread is for ~ anyone else can bring what's "Joy"ful in the news. At the moment, there cannot be a pretty face put on what's happening, and I'm not in that mode. If someone feels discomfort or downtrodden by my recording, I encourage them to bring the balance. The scale of this in those four states hasn't even begun to be comprehended. Perhaps, because it is my country, and very nearby, I'm experiencing it more intensely. However, the Tsunami and the Iraq War and the Shiites in Baghdad [with over 1,000 dead in one, relatively quick incident] are intense, as well. As is so often true, the poorest among us take the brunt and suffer the greatest. However, the mid-range and well-to-do have lost with Katrina, as well.

I can't pretend to feel great when I don't. In this situation, I don't even feel inclined. This, too, shall pass ~ yet, if my perspective is off balance during this time, well, I'm recording that fact. I just keep making my entries. I know from experience that this will help me to return to balance. However, I don't feel obligated to record other things for the sake of it. Others can do that, and I encourage it. We all have and can take responsibility in following our own ethical and moral leadings. Thanks.

~ Elizabeth

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I just went to the GoodNews link you provided. Even though it speaks of August 8, it looks like reconstruction of the site is still underway. Even though it may not seem so at this moment, I agree with what the people who have commented are saying about the change in consciousness needed in the news and reportage. Thanks for the link. I love reading good and heartwarming stories. There will be many emerging from the Hurricane Katrina situation, after awhile. Won't be seeing much of that right now, however. With the Baghdad bridge disaster, it's tough to imagine a heartwarming story related to that. It was pure tragedy.

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It's true. A helicopter was shot at, and some rescuers in boats, as well. There are armed state troopers now accompanying the rescuers, to fend off attackers. Footage showed an area of homes engulfed by water, where this morning, people had been in boats for rescuing, and the water is now empty, their leaving as soon as shots began. After looting of stores for all their firearms, gangs have apparently been taking up arms and firing on people trying to help. Some groups of people, who have looted food and supplies, are also selling them to those in need. Now, some fires are burning in the water, where gas mains have broken and caught fire. There's no way of extinguishing them.

The engineers have yet to succeed in patching the breaches. Rescue workers going to the area are being told to expect to go for three weeks without a hot meal or shower. People are beginning to die on the highways, where they have gathered, due to lack of food and drinkable water. Water is beginning to create islands of highway, where it had previously been solid pavement. Rescuers are trying to get to the people stranded on those. The word "Apocalypse" is being used as a description. Outright death is bad enough. Slow, lingering, painful death, with suffering due to starvation and dehydration is much worse.

[Regarding dis/comfort levels, this is my update. Anyone wishing to give an upbeat one, feel free to do so.]

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From CNN:

"Living like animals
A dead elderly woman in her wheelchair at the New Orleans Convention Center.

New Orleans a 'refugee camp.' (4:36)
RELATED
• Up to 60,000 trying to flee New Orleans


SPECIAL REPORT
Posted: 1:07 p.m. ET
CNN's Chris Lawrence in New Orleans, Louisiana

It's hard to believe this is New Orleans.

We spent the last few hours at the New Orleans Convention Center. There are thousands of people lying in the street.

We saw mothers holding babies, some of them just three, four and five months old, living in horrible conditions. Diapers littered the ground. Feces were on the ground. Sewage was spilled all around.

These people are being forced to live like animals. When you look at the mothers, your heart just breaks.

Some of the images we have gathered are very, very graphic.

We saw dead bodies. People are dying at the center and there is no one to get them. We saw a grandmother in a wheelchair pushed up to the wall and covered with a sheet. Right next to her was another dead body wrapped in a white sheet.

Right in front of us a man went into a seizure on the ground. No one here has medical training. There is nowhere to evacuate these people to.

People have been sitting there without food and water and waiting. They are asking -- "When are the buses coming? When are they coming to help us?"

We just had to say we don't know.

The people tell us that National Guard units have come by as a show of force. They have tossed some military rations out. People are eating potato chips to survive and are looting some of the stores nearby for food and drink. It is not the kind of food these people need.

They are saying, "Don't leave us here to die. We are stuck here. Why can't they send the buses? Are they going to leave us here to die?"

'We have to deal with the living'
Posted: 10:49 a.m. ET
CNN's Rick Sanchez in Metairie, Louisiana

We spent the night at the New Orleans Saints' training facility. It is the encampment for the FEMA officials and National Guard troops who will deploy out to certain areas.

They just deployed a new unit out here from California. They're called swift water operation rescue units. These folks are trained to go in and get people out of the homes that they have been stuck in for days now with water all around.

We were with a unit last night on a boat. We watched as they performed many of these rescues. It's quite a sight to see. Bodies are floating along the flooded road. And I asked them, "What do you do about that?" They said, "There's no time to deal with them now. We have to deal with the living."

See the video of thousands stranded among sewage and bodies on the riverfront -- 2:54

We went off into many communities to see if we could find people. As we were navigating through these narrow areas with power lines and all kinds of obstructions above and below us, we suddenly heard faint screams coming from homes. People were yelling, "Help! Help!"

We found one elderly woman in one home. She told us, "I've been here and I need to get out. Can you get me?" Then she said, "But there are people next door and they have babies, so leave me until morning. Get them out now."

So we contacted the swift water rescue units and they went out there. To our surprise and their surprise there were no fewer than 15 people huddled in their home. We could only hear them. We couldn't see them. We were able to assist and get the right people over there to get them out.

Just like them, there may be literally thousands that need to be rescued. It's a very daunting task for these officials.

Chaos at the convention center
Posted: 10:02 a.m. ET
CNN's Jim Spellman in New Orleans, Louisiana

I don't think I really have the vocabulary for this situation.

We just heard a couple of gunshots go off. There's a building smoldering a block away. People are picking through whatever is left in the stores right now. They are walking the streets because they have nowhere else to go.

Right now, I'm a few blocks away from the New Orleans Convention Center area. We drove through there earlier, and it was unbelievable. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people spent the night sleeping on the street, on the sidewalk, on the median.

The convention center is a place that people were told to go to because it would be safe. In fact, it is a scene of anarchy.

There is absolutely nobody in control. There is no National Guard, no police, no information to be had.

The convention center is next to the Mississippi River. Many people who are sleeping there feel that a boat is going to come and get them. Or they think a bus is going to come. But no buses have come. No boats have come. They think water is going come. No water has come. And they have no food.

As we drove by, people screamed out to us -- "Do you have water? Do you have food? Do you have any information for us?"

We had none of those.

Probably the most disturbing thing is that people at the convention center are starting to pass away and there is simply nothing to do with their bodies. There is nowhere to put them. There is no one who can do anything with them. This is making everybody very, very upset.

There were some kind of fires at the Superdome, as well. "Anarchy" has become another, prevailing word.

HI ~

I don't have the patience to back-track to see if this has been mentioned already...

I just went to Amazon.com and found they do have an easy (one-click) method for getting funds to the American Red Cross to go to those effected by hurricane Katrina, just as they had done for last year's tsunami disaster.

I'm sure there are other (simple) methods out there to donate money...the only thing those of us not in the vicinity can do to really help.

regards,
Laurie

Lz, the emoticon was more in touch with us (human beings) vs our-attitude-toward-environment-that-can-not-be-changed-because-of-economy-and-wars (even though these two last words are used as synonyms so to speak, so please excuse the redundancy).

Indeed, sens of humour, mine and others' help me to pass through some very bad weather (ice storm of 98 ) and some personal tragedies, as well I witness it helps some others to do the same also. I know that it chasing the gost of suicide, among many other healthy effects, so I prefer to use it as often as necessary. My intention is not more than to express what I feel as well as you are doing it. If the title have been only "Sad news in the world" I would have not bring the thing here.

I do not think you have to justify any of your state of mind, Lz. Not to me, anyway.

Canada may go there to help, now. I still think the US army could have done the job alone by now, if it has been a priority for your leaders before economy/war. It is just an opinion, though.

Could you bring the link here, Laurie?