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I have made some posts about the realities involved in the failure of the levees and also have given some information regarding the ways the pumps in New Orleans work, where water is usually pumped, etc. I did this largely because people simply don't know how things are done in New Orleans and a great deal of misinformation was being posted. Some people didn't understand what a levee was, others did not really know where the pumped water went. New Orleans has a unique situation, and it has been a lack of understanding and knowledge about the levee system that has led to the lassaize-faire attitude in the news media - sort of a sense of "well, they'll get wet all right, but then it'll all go away and everything will be okay and shame on those bad looters and tsk tsk, those silly people should have evacuated so now it's their fault they're going to drown" that has prevailed in news reporting until today.
Finally, I've seen some news reports that actually acknowledge the fact that New Orleans must be completely evacuated and that this is more than a matter of a little bit of water in the streets. This acceptance of the grim reality of the situation has, unfortunately, come many days too late. The officials in New Orleans have been realistic from the outset, but unfortunately, the federal government and President have certainly not taken much noticeable heed so far and the news media seems to have done their usual routine of trying to make grim reality into an entertaining disaster movie or "reality TV".
I have a mentally ill son in New Orleans. He is an adult. I don't want to go into a huge explanation of his situation, but he has consistently refused treatment when it has been provided, and basically, he's a street person. I have very limited ability to contact him, and rely on other people to keep me informed as to his whereabouts and to get what support and monetary help I can give him to him. I live on the other side of the planet. I have had no news regarding him since a week ago.
There is a chance that he went to the Superdome. There is a chance that he is out on the streets. There is a chance that he's already one of those bodies seen floating around. There is even a chance, depending on who might be home in his brain at this particular time, that he might be one of those reviled looters. He would have been one of those people who did not evacuate, because he wouldn't have had the means or even the ability to think clearly enough about what might happen.
With my particular knowledge of the New Orleans levee system and the watercourses around New Orleans, the last few days have been particularly harrowing for me, knowing that the serious flooding occurring now was highly likely, while the news media and federal government have literally fiddled while New Orleans drowned - to say nothing of the less famous communities like Slidell, Gulfport, Biloxi, Mobile and all those towns in Plaquemines Parish and south of New Orleans. And having someone that is related to me out there in New Orleans, unreachable and possibly dead or terrified and desperate - well. I won't even go into describing that. There are other posters here at DU in the same boat.
Anything I have said regarding New Orleans as we know it being finished was certainly not done with any sort of glee or excitement. Anything I have said has been said with an attempt to make people understand just what is going on there. This isn't a situation of waiting for the water to go down, changing a little bit of carpet in all the houses and going on. People need to understand that, and to understand the gravity of the situation. Because people have not understood, there is now a terrible situation in New Orleans that will take months to rectify and which will have permanent repercussions. Right now it is impossible to predict just what the outcome of all this for New Orleans is.
Like you, I find the threads about looters really disturbing. Right now, far too many people are in serious trouble for there to be concern about this. I haven't even bothered to read much of those threads - after all, what will arguing about the looting do? The way things are going in New Orleans, the people doing the looting are going to have to leave and they're certainly not going to have much of a way to save or use what they've stolen. I would feel much better if DU had a lot of threads on what to do for hurricane relief. The concentration on looting and the arguments about it underscore what I have come to realize about the way DU has been going in the last couple of years, which is why my visits here are now very rare, and my post count is so low, even though I've been around for a long time. But right now, this isn't important either.
The threads about who evacuated and who did not - I do think these things need to be said. This situation has painfully pointed out terrible inequities in our society, and as the relative of someone who would not have been able to evacuate without assistance, it is frustrating to see news reports where it is intimated that those who didn't evacuate are now getting what they deserve. I would venture that the majority of people who did not evacuate New Orleans simply could not, for one reason or another - they had no transport, they had no money to afford transport, they are mentally or physically infirm. There are many, many very poor people in New Orleans. Many of them would have a limited perception of what was going to happen, due to lack of education and realistic information. In disaster situations there are always a few die hards who refuse to leave, and there are those who don't leave because they plan to loot in the aftermath of whatever happens, but the majority of people who don't leave simply cannot without assistance. It's obvious that assistance wasn't going to be available to poor New Orleanians - like my son. This is not something that should be ignored, particularly in a country with the amount of resources that America has.
I am sorry if anything I've posted has caused you or anyone else distress; however, my intent was to get people to understand just how grave the situation in New Orleans and the surrounding area is. My statements were not made in an attempt to get vicarious jollies from a disaster situation, but to answer valid questions people had, and to try to make people understand just what we're looking at here. I am certainly not happy over the reality that is occurring in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast, but I don't believe that allowing people to continue in ignorance regarding what is going on in the area is a good idea either. The last thing I want to see is New Orleans being forever changed or indefinitely uninhabitable, but this is exactly what the officials who are there in New Orleans have been saying for days now.
Only by accepting reality will people be able to begin to do something to realistically help those in need and comprehend that right now, fussing about looters and blaming those who couldn't evacuate for their fate is pointless and mean-spirited.
You mention that you have power and are 200 miles inland. Is there any information regarding how relatives can find out where people in New Orleans are? There is a paucity of information in what news I can find. Perhaps you can find out something and post it here? That would be a definite positive help for many who have relatives and friends in the area.
I hope that you and yours are well, and that you will recover from the losses you've suffered.
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