August 31, 2005

• …and more:

  I know that anyone interested in this could go to WWLBLOG or turn on
  CNN, but I guess that’s not the point for me.  The string of
  entries I copied in here this morning was complete, verbatim, nothing left
  out.  This bunch is edited, just a choice few included.

  
  Updates as they come in on Katrina
  

  
  04:13 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
  

  
  Tom Planchet
  

  4:12 P.M. – President Bush: We are witnessing one of the worst
  natural disasters in our history.

  Bush: This recovery will take years.

  Bush: FIrst priority to save lives.
  

  
  

  4:11 P.M. – BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — The scenes of
  devastation from the Gulf Coast are all too familiar to survivors of the
  December tsunami in Asia.

  A World Bank executive in Sri Lanka says she prays and hopes not many
  women in the U-S will suffer as she has. She lost her brother in the
  December 26th tsunami that raked over Asian nations. She and others have
  strong memories of the event when they see the destruction left by
  Hurricane Katrina.

  An Indonesian man who lost his wife the tsunami says he would like to
  help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but all he has is prayers.

  Another man, who lost his wife and daughter in December, says, “God has
  made us equals in birth, life and death.”

  Though damage from Katrina is enormous, the rising death count is far
  short of the 200-thousand dead or missing following the tsunami.
  

  
  

  …

  4:03 P.M. – (AP) Michael Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human
  Services, announced he had declared a public health emergency in the
  area stretching from Louisiana to Florida. “We are gravely concerned
  about the potential for cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases that
  could come as a result of the stagnant water and the conditions,” he
  said.

  Chertoff and Leavitt spoke at a news conference attended by an unusual
  array of department and agency heads, each of whom came equipped with a
  list of actions already taken by the administration.

  For his part, Bush flew over the storm-affected area during the day on
  his way to Washington from his Texas ranch. With the administration
  eager to demonstrate a rapid responsiveness to the human tragedy, the
  president also arranged to make public remarks in the Rose Garden after
  returning to the White House.

  3:55 P.M. – 40-year veteran photographer Willie Wilson: Maybe one
  other time in my career did I shoot pictures crying.

  3:54 P.M. – Wilson: People were passing out in the heat in front
  of me.

  3:52 P.M. – Chalmette man. I spent 40 hours on a roof then God
  sent a boat from a neighbor’s house floating by and we took it to safety.
  

  3:52 P.M. – (AP) Gov. Kathleen Blanco has said that she wants the
  Superdome evacuated within two days because the situation has been
  worsening there. The water has been rising, the air conditioning was out
  and toilets were broken.

  3:50 P.M. – Crying woman: “I’ll never stay for a hurricane again.”
  

  3:49 P.M. – Survivor from Chalmette: We spent two days on a roof,
  swam to a storefront, food was pouring out, we ate it, we drank the
  water. We had to do something. There’s no help.

  3:48 P.M. – WASHINGTON (AP) — From Navy ships and Army
  helicopters to the USNS Comfort hospital ship, the Pentagon is
  mobilizing possibly an unprecedented U.S. rescue-and-relief mission for
  areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

  3:47 P.M. – Man rescued after spending night on Chalmette High
  School roof for two days: “It’s all gone.”

  3:46 P.M. – Tugboat captain: We have so little help. Send us some
  food and water immediately!

  …

  3:44 P.M. – Tugboat captain who rescued those in Chalmette.
  “Without more help, many people will die.”

  …

  3:41 P.M. – (AP) — With law officers and National Guardsmen
  focused on saving lives, looters around the city spent another day
  Wednesday brazenly ransacking stores for food, beer, clothing,
  appliances — and guns.

  Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she has asked the White House to send more
  people to help with evacuations and rescues, thereby freeing up National
  Guardsmen to stop looters.

  “Once we get the 3,000 National Guardsmen here, we’re locking this place
  down,” Mayor Ray Nagin said. “It’s really difficult because my opinion
  of the looting is it started with people running out of food, and you
  can’t really argue with that too much. Then it escalated to this kind of
  mass chaos where people are taking electronic stuff and all that.”

  Amid the chaos Wednesday, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to
  push up the storm shutters and break the glass of a pharmacy. The crowd
  stormed the store, carrying out so much ice, water and food that it
  dropped from their arms as they ran. The street was littered with
  packages of ramen noodles and other items.

  Looters also chased down a state police truck full of food. The New
  Orleans police chief ran off looters while city officials themselves
  were commandeering equipment from a looted Office Depot. During a state
  of emergency, authorities have broad powers to take private supplies and
  buildings for their use.

  3:40 P.M. – WWL photographer Willie Wilson: People being rescued
  from Chalmette were begging for water, wanted to talk to family members.
  People rescued in Chalmette were ferried across to Algiers. People hot
  and parched from days on roof tops.

  3:38 P.M. – HOUSTON (AP) — Red Cross workers today began
  transforming what was once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World —
  into temporary housing.

  Buses will shuttle thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the
  Superdome in New Orleans to the vacant Astrodome in Houston.

  Cots and blankets for up to 25-thousand people are being set up on the
  Astrodome floor.

  Other areas of the stadium are being configured to accommodate refugees
  with varying needs, including a nursery. Stadium managers are working to
  get T-V’s and find programming to allow people to keep up with the
  latest news about flooded New Orleans.

  The Astrodome agreement was worked out by Texas Governor Rick Perry and
  Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.

  …

  3:33 P.M. – (AP) — The latest video from New Orleans shows
  apartment buildings with people crowded on balconies and roofs. Below,
  flood waters lap at the second floor. Two children standing on one roof
  held up a sign that read: “Help us.”

  A Blackhawk helicopter crew rescued at least eight people from a roof
  where, in red spray paint, was written the words “Diabetic, Heart
  Transplant, Need transportation.”

  Two-by-two, the chopper hoisted the people off the roof as the wash from
  its rotors blew shingles off another section of the building and caused
  small waves in the water below.

  Other shots show people standing at windows and on balconies, some
  waving white towels to attract the attention of possible rescuers.

  The flood waters cover everything as far as the eye can see.

  In the bright sunlight, there’s a sheen caused by gasoline seeping from
  the underground tanks of a gas station. Three people who were standing
  in the bed of a flooded pickup truck later waded and swam through those
  waters, trying to reach safety.

  3:25 P.M. – Truong: A man said he was carjacked at gunpoint.
  Other residents of the Uptown-area say they are afraid to leave their
  homes because of the lack of security.

  3:18 P.M. – WWL-TV’s Thanh Truong reports the water from the Lake
  is rising to meet with the River in Uptown.

  3:10 P.M. – (AP) President Bush flew overhead in Air Force One to
  assess the damage in Southeast Louisana and the Gulfport-area of
  Mississippi.
  Click here.

  …

  3:01 P.M. – The latest video from New Orleans shows apartment
  buildings with people crowded on balconies and roofs. Below, flood
  waters lap at the second floor. Two children standing on one roof held
  up a sign that read: “Help us.”
  Click here.

  …

  2:20 P.M. – From Weezie Porter: WWL-TV Sales account executive. I
  evacuated with my family to Nashville. The people we are staying with
  have a relative in the Chateau Living Center in Kenner 716 Village Road.
  Their phone is working from time to time 504-464=0604. They report that
  all of the nurses have left, Only a few aides left there that have been
  working since Friday. They were supposed to be evacuated by bus but they
  did not show up. No medications have been given since Sunday,. 4
  patients have died.

  • 5:43 pm
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