News from Louisiana

[Blaise (imported)]

Jesus, thank you for you kind telephone call. The voice mail recorded messages, but I could not access them until the electric power returned. Most of you may know more than I know about the storm.

Complaining about not having air conditioning is whimpy when many people endured great danger. I do not know how many people the storm killed. The worst damage seemed to be in Mississippi on the east side of the storm. The east side of hurricanes are worst than the west. That is because hurricanes move counter-clockwise.

Louisiana is a wonderful place with wonderful people. Most people here are acting in fine form. New Orleans is a complex society. The geography of New Orleans is, of course, unique. The crisis is less severe in New Orleans than what I anticiplated. I had read about this possible storm since 1978. It is one of several reasons why I did not want to live in New Orleans. I hope that we take time to plan a reduction in the size of the city and find ways to rebuild our marshlands.

The federal governement has finally begun to respond to the crisis in the city. Mississippi is where the primary damage is. That Mississippi coast is not as populated as New Orleans, but the damage I have seen on videos resembles damage in Baton Rouge in 1993 after Andrew passed west of here.

Our places such as Waveland seem much worse than Andrew.

One of the local reports covered Ochsner Hospital in Metairie. For many years, I lived within walking distance from Ochsner Hospital in Metairie. The hospital is above sea level. Seeing images of places I know well keeps surprising me.

I am exhausted from not doing anything but endure the sultriness. I cannot understand how people in New Orleans are functioning in their jobs in this heat.

The entire notion of transferring work to places outside the city amazes me. Think about how to teach children displaced by the storm. Parishes outside Orleans are hiring teachers from the city to teach students displaced by the storm. Some people told me today that they had cound apartments in Baton Rouge. One young woman said her apartment complex was destroyed but she had found a place. An attorney told me that his family had rented an apartment in Baton Rouge.

The River Center in Baton Rouge is next door to where I work. It is filled with refugees. Children are here without their parents. They do not know how to contact parents. The New Orleans Metropolitian Area had 1.3 million people.

The images of refugees shopping in the mall today seemed surreal. One woman told me she just wanted to know what she has and what she no longer has. You simply want to comfort the refugees.

I have sleep apnea which required that I sleep using a respirator. For that reason and that reason only, I am tired tonight. More later.

Jesus, again thank you.

[JesusA (imported)]

I'm glad to hear that you are all right. I've talked on the telephone with several members here who have been very concerned about you. Just knowing that you're O.K. is a great relief.

The members of my extended family in Mississippi all made it through physically unscathed, though the neighborhood where one lived with her family in Biloxi was on the evening news, showing not a single house left standing.

Now is an important time for financial contributions to the Red Cross. Consider, also, Christina's suggestion, a donation of blood is always useful for catastrophes like this one.

[Patient (imported)]

I have sleep apnea ...I am delighted to hear that you have come through this emergency uninjured and now even have power again. Congratulations!

In most communities the disaster recovery plans recognize that some people (such as you & I) have medical need for electric power. If you lose power again you might check with your local fire or police department to see if they can arrange for you to sleep in a facility which has power. Sleep apnea is debilitating at best, and the fatigue it causes can be fatal.

Best wishes.

.

[Christina (imported)]

Old Softee,

Glad to hear you have, at least, some sort of normalcy returning to you. I hope many of those people affected will soon have the basic needs that everyone deserves.

[Blaise (imported)]

We had to evacuate my office. An incident happened across the street at the River Center where refugees from New Orleans. The major ordered us home.

I do not know what happened. I talked to the constable, whose officers were protecting us with shotguns and other weapons. He did not know what happened.

Not spreading rumors is essential. We have more than an extra 400,000 people in Baton Rouge. We expect some problems. The storm brings out the worst and the best in us. I made an obscene gesture this morning to someone who ran a red light. I do not do that sort of thing. I think people, even people who are not in danger of in great discomfort, are tired. Even on public radio, people are venting anger.

I have not yet volunteered to help yet because of my illnesses. However, I will do something. I cannot help with clean-up, but I have other skills.

Louisiana is not a poor state, but it is a state with many poor people and with great disparity in wealth. The contrast between people who have endured the stench of the Superdome and those of us who look like Henry Cabot Lodge when he was ambassador to South Vietnam is striking. Ambassador Lodge had the reputation of never sweating.

I confess that I did sweat—I even got a heat rash the way babies do. Both The New York Times and CBS News coverage are excellent.

New Orleans did not take a direct hit. That helped. Many people are complaining about political leadership. However, the geography of the city and the culture of the region are complex. I love this region. We are not the caricatures—not even the looters--that people sometimes think we are.

Thank you for your concern.

[Taylor (imported)]

Please stay safe. Things are replaceable but life is not.

[talula]

It is very, very good you are ok. We all were worried!

Very true about donations, cash and blood! I have made my donation

tal

[A-1 (imported)]

Softee,

Good to hear from you. I will echo what Talula says.

Also others.

Softee, please be safe.

Later, my friends.

A-1

[Blaise (imported)]

I am listening to an interview on a local television station with police Lieutenant Henry Waller from New Orleans. For police, that is a high rank. His report makes serious charges about the situation in New Orleans. To avoid spreading rumors, I will not repeat what he says. If he is accurate, we have to take a hard look at emergency planning.

The head of the Louisiana State Police confirmed that some New Orleans Police officer are resigning. They complain that they lacked supplies. They lack fire power. They lack supplies. They complain about a lack of preparation by the City of New Orleans. This young police lieutenant appears credible.

[A-1 (imported)]

Softee,

Better look at this (http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oldriver.htm), too.

The river (http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html) has been trying to correct itself since at least before 1962 and if it was left alone the marsh land that has been disappearing (http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/art ... icleid=467) at a rapid rate WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE TO PROTECT NEW ORLEANS FROM STORM SURGES JUST LIKE IT HAS IN YEARS PAST.

You know, New Orleans is one of the oldest cities in America. This has not happened in the hundreds of years that it has existed. It has happened now because business, industry and goverment have combined to make money at the price of putting the poor folk in New Orleans in severe risk. The old river bed has been continuously dredged and the natural flooding was eliminated that built marshland in the delta by delivering sediment every spring. Par of the problem is explained in this site (http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oldriver.htm).

It says...

Much of the present problem exists because of the past efforts of the Corps of Engineers. Until the nineteenth century about thirty miles of the channel of the the Atchafalaya was blocked by a prehistoric log jam. The Corps and others cleared away this plug of timber. The Red River was also cleared. The Red River had been a direct tributary of the Mississippi for two millenia, but due to the clearing of the Atchafalaya it was captured by the Atchafalaya in the 1940s. Fred Bayley, the chief engineer of the Lower Mississippi Valley Division of the Corp of Engineers, put this way, "The more water the Atchafalaya takes, the bigger it gets; the bigger it gets, the more water it takes."

This is not the fault of mother nature. It is not an accidental catastrophe. It is a tragedy of neglect of the Earth and the greed of aspects of American society. In short, it is the result of interference with natural processes.

The American Indians have warned (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/st ... eearth.htm) us of this for years and years. Now we no longer wonder why the Sioux stuck needles in General Custer's ears after they slew him. It seems the officials of the U.S. government have had hearing problems since the mid-1800's. That didn't cure it, did it? I doubt if this will, either.

A-1