OT: Status of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans ?

early to tell. most people are looking for basic life support.

I thought I saw an LCM in some of the footage from yesterday - grey with a white wheelhouse astern - beached, ramp down, but otherwise appeared to be Katrina proof.

WmB

From what I remember the ground floor of the museum was nearly all given over to hardware, most of which was designed to go into water. Documents and fragile stuff was on the upper floors, possibly good forward planning on someones part. The building itself stuck me as pretty substantial. From the reports we're getting the French Quarter and the Garden District suffered relatively minor flooding although it may not be over yet. The Museum as I recall was approximatly half way between the two.

Whatever of value (or even perceived value) that wasn't washed or blown away will likely be stolen in short order from the way it looks on the news down there.

As I mentioned in another post, the museum may be safe from water but it won't be able to withstand the thieves.

"Bill Woodier" wrote in news:CksRe.10889$um2.3874@trnddc03:

washed or blown

looks on the

It's vile ain't it. This is a part of humanity that is revolting.

I didn't have a problem with the folks going after food, clothes and some stuff like lights and batteries - but big screen TVs - in a city that is not likely to see juice inside of 2-3 months. Insane. I'm trying to think better of my fellow man but two thoughts keep running thru my mind with some of the footage from N'Oleans - and God forgive me for it:

1) Darwin's law - the smart ones got out of town. Biloxi I think it was, had a large loss of life at an oceanfront apartment complex. I'm thinking ocean front means money, which means if you can afford to live there you have means to leave town. Riding out a CAT5 hurricane in an ocean front apartment is asking to die and if you're that reckless with your life, well... 2) Stragglers ignoring the evacuation notice - many reasons why people who choose to stay behind, do so. Most of the reasons are pretty dodgy at best - I keep wondering how many stay behind in anticipation of cleaning out homes and businesses while the city is abandoned, and how many in turn stay behind to guard their property.

Like I said, I'm not all that proud that these things have kicked around in my noggin of late, especially when it really doesn't matter - saving lives is the real issue today. It just seems like a no brainer that when a CAT 5 storm lines you up in its crosshairs, any time before it makes landfall is a good time to drive inland. I don't care what time of day or night it is. You wouldn't have to go too far either - anyone that took refuge in the Superdome survived Katrina as best I can tell.

I survived one hurricane - some scary shit. I don't care to see another one. Take them seriously if you ever find yourself in one's path. Nothing gets me cussing like the footage of the morons taking a dip in the surf as a storm approaches. Before Katrina struck, I saw footage of a family of morons (inc. young children) at the gulf getting their jollies off as they were soaked by 20 foot rooster tails of sea water crashing violently into a low rising wall they were standing behind.

Some kind of gene pool there.

WmB

there's already too many rats in the cage. let the stupid die.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net says...

Hurricanes are one of Nature's most destructive forces. Anyone who's ridden out one, even a small one, comes to appreciate its power and fury. Trust me, the higher order of that gene pool (90+%) left New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast before the storm hit. Unfortunately some didn't leave out of foolishness, but many couldn't leave because of other legitimate circumstances. For instance, critically ill patients in hospitals couldn't be readily moved. It is estimated that the entire city could effectively be evacuated in 72 hours, however, the City really didn't have that much time. Some who wanted to leave simply didn't make it out. Remember, the city survived the hurricane. The subsequent breach of the levee structure surrounding the city and protecting it from the flood waters of Lake Pothering is what is wreaking havoc on the city now.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I'm afraid the collapse of New Orleans' levee system will surpass the death and destruction of the horrible events of 9/11. New York City experienced the sudden and violent death of over 3,000 in the cowardly destruction of the twin towers and adjacent buildings, but I fear the death toll in New Orleans will unfortunately surpass this mark. Unlike New Orleans though, NYC had its basic resources and infrastructure intact and was for the most part able to return to some semblance of functional normalcy in a few days if not weeks following the terrorist attacks. For the most part, 9/11's survivors - even those having lost loved ones - could return to home and eventually even work. The rest of the city was at worst temporarily displaced or merely inconvenienced. Not to diminish the tragic loss of lives and property, but NYC lost 3,000 people out of 8,000,000 and three buildings (albeit large ones) out of thousands. Wall Street was back up and running in a day or two and the city's economy recovered in a few weeks. The nation's economy barely hiccupped. However, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the ENTIRE city of New Orleans (and the Mississippi Gulf Coast) has been totally devastated - possibly beyond repair. There is no more New Orleans as we knew it. And the magnitude of its loss on the US economy will be profound given the significance of New Orleans on the nation's energy and shipping industries - not a disruption of money but material and fuel.

One and a half million New Orleanians are now homeless and unemployed. They will not be able to return even to view the devastation for weeks to come and the city itself will not even be habitable for months, much less return to normalcy. The region's entire economy is virtually destroyed and will take years, if not generations, to recover. The same can be said of the Mississippi Gulf Coast equally devastated.

Let's put this in perspective. The New Orleans MSA which on Friday had over 1.5 million souls, today - only five days later - has a population of less than 30,000 people - none with permanent dwellings to call home. The situation will not change for months and possibly years to come.

Please pray for the dead and the survivors.

Lake Pontchatrain . . . damn spell checker.

"Kaliste Saloom" wrote

The dead don't need them and the survivors can't eat, drink, wear, live under, or shit into them. In other words, if you are telling people outside the area to pray, you might as well be telling those people to do nothing.

You might also want to look back at the Gulf Coast newspapers from last weekend. Seems everybody was praying that the storm would miss them. The storm veered away from New Orleans and hit Gulfport. I guess voodoo spells are more powerful than Southern Baptist prayers. . .

KL

" WmB" wrote

1. Cussing at whom? For what purpose?
2. Sounds like a wholesome family outing. Maybe they were tourists and left

30 minutes later. It's not like a Tsunami - everybody knew when and where the storm was so it would not be hard to determine how much time you had left.

KL

I thought perhaps it was a local colloquialism. How were things in Lafayette?

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Isn't it actually Ponchartrain? With an r?

It's also like our Gov. Barbour (Ms.) said. A lot of people stayed behind because they DID leave for Hurricane Ivan & others & they were nothing, so they wasted all that time & money, so there was no reason to leave for Katrina. Additionally, when everyone went to bed Sat. night, she was a Cat. 3, yet Sun. morning, she was a fast moving Cat. 5 & still building, & headed for N.O. A lot of folks just didn't see a need leave & then didn't have time.

Kurt,

Well then, its obvious your superior worldly self knows better - so show it. Instead of cursing the dark, why don't you turn on a light? I suggest instead of doing "nothing" send money to the charities actually helping out: U. S. Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army to name only a few. . . . But for the faithful, keep up the prayers, too.

Damned straight we were praying that the storm wouldn't hit us - not for it to hit someone else. No soldier in a fox hole was happy his buddy got it instead of him, only that he's still alive. With that said, nobody "won" the battle of prayers. Even the most righteous and innocent must drink from the cup... Such is life.

Bigger and uglier hurricanes ........will happen again .....its probably a bit to do with global warming ?

Bill,

Thanks for asking. Unlike hurricanes Andrew and Lily which hit us pretty hard, we faired pretty well with Katrina. Very little damage, having only gusty tropical storm-like winds and some rain. The amazing thing is we were about 150 miles west of Katrina's eye (on the weakest side of the storm) and we still felt some of its effects. It was a devastatingly massive storm. Our city is now a major refuge for the survivors. We are expecting to house maybe tens of thousands of New Orleanians for the next several months. Our city's population of about

125,000 may grow by 25-50% for some time. Children are being re- enrolled in our schools, all available temporary and permanent housing is being utilized to capacity. There are reports of people purchasing homes here because of the expected delay in returning home.

Once the largest MSA in the state and in the top 25 in the nation, New Orleans' permanent civilian population will hover around zero for the next few weeks or months.

New Orleans is - was - a grand city. Full of history, culture and wonderfully diverse and resilient people. Most I've spoken to will return and rebuild. I look forward to its full recovery.

On a modeller's note, New Orleans had a large model club (IPMS Flying Tigers) membership of which I have several friends and many acquaintances. I do not yet know the status of my buddies - but I believe all are well as most left before the storm hit. I did hear from the proprietor of the city's largest and oldest hobby store - Hub Hobby. The store survived the storm but was demolished in the following flood.

Kaliste

just like a good laxative.