So if the Terrorists strike again you will also just surrender? Maybe also wait a few days until getting help to the victims?
Originally posted by: tcsenter
Not a penny of the $10 billion will be spent on the Gulf for weeks. Bush declared a federal emergency in advance of the hurricane, freeing all disaster resources of the federal government.Hey dumbass - Nancy Pelosi pushed for a special session of congress to meet last night to address and pass releif legislation. At first the GOP balked and said 'No' - then recanted and agreed to rush in. It was passed to provide 10.5 Billion with no dissention.
10.5 Billion is 21 days of aid to the entire affected Gulf Coast, 3 weeks . . . and then that's gone.
So what the hell is the problem? Why is the response so inadequate?
It is impossible to mount an adequate rescue and assistance response to a disaster of this complexity and magnitude, spanning well more than one hundred miles square, with only three to four days advanced notice. We are seeing the best response to a disaster of this scale that could be mustered on such short notice. As with every other serious hurricane we've ever had, it takes up to one full week AFTER the hurricane hits to bring all available resources to bear. Its just that the need this time is greater than we've ever seen it, making the best response look grossly inadequate.
If we had a few weeks advanced notice like Israel in its airlift of 40,000 people, the response would be hugely better. Apparently people believe we have a Majic Crystal Ball that told state and federal officials to start mounting a response to Katrina even before it existed. An adequate response to this kind of disaster cannot be mounted in four days. Its never been done, anywhere, and never will be.
:roll:Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Originally posted by: Genx87
What kind of weapon lays waste to 90,000 square miles?
I'll take "Bush's Environmental Policies" for $ 500, Alex.
No one expected that weak spot to be on a canal that, if anything, had received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region. It did not have broad berms, but it did have strong concrete walls.
Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was "along a section that was just upgraded."
"It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland said. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane-protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
In a telephone interview with reporters, corps officials said that although portions of the flood-protection levees remain incomplete, the levees near Lake Pontchartrain that gave way--inundating much of the city--were completed and in good condition before the hurricane.
However, they noted that the levees were designed for a Category 3 hurricane and couldn't handle the ferocious winds and raging waters from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 4 storm when it hit the coastline. The decision to build levees for a Category 3 hurricane was made decades ago based on a cost-benefit analysis.
Typical of the NY Times. It just depends on which way the political winds blow.MSM: In Their Own Words, A Continuing Series
Given the hysteria enveloping the editorial pages of the NYT due to hurricane Katrina, what have they had to say on natural disasters in the past, via Lexis-Nexis:
Remember the 1993 floods in the midwest, the NYT editorialized on 14 July 1993:
For the longer term, Washington and flood-prone areas must reconsider the pro's and con's of flood control projects and flood insurance.
The billions of Federal dollars spent to construct dams and levees have doubtless prevented billions of dollars of damage to the areas they serve. But a dam or a levee in one place creates problems somewhere else. Also, by offering protection, they encourage people to live and work and develop farming in flood plains that are inherently risky.
Budget constraints and environmental concerns have slowed new flood control projects in recent years. Congress should resist pressure to spend more now because of this year's floods; these projects need closer evaluation than they've gotten in the past.
Likewise flood insurance. Less than 20 percent of those eligible for federally subsidized flood insurance buy it -- because they can't afford it, or think they're not at risk, or figure aid will be forthcoming anyhow if disaster strikes. Before the rivers rose this year, there was a move in Congress to expand flood insurance coverage, either by regulation or incentives, rather than have taxpayers at large foot the bill through direct aid. But flood insurance can encourage reckless development.
Flood plains are risky territory, as the Mississippi and its tributaries are proving again. Federal policy needs to control the risk, not just the rivers.
The 1997 Floods in North Dakota, 24 April 1997:
There will be time in the months ahead to assess whether something more might have been done to make the flood predictions more accurate so that official planning could have fashioned more effective defenses.
On making flood control projects more complicated and costly, praise on 9 May 1997:
In the last session of Congress, a small band of Republican moderates organized by Representative Sherwood Boehlert of New York succeeded in blocking nearly every attempt by their right-wing colleagues to gut the country's basic environmental statutes.
Fortunately, Mr. Boehlert and his friends are still wide awake. On Wednesday, in the first major environmental battle of the new Congress, the moderates and like-minded Democrats beat back a bill that would have permanently exempted any flood control project from the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.
While now currently in love with the Army Corps of Engineers, how did the NYT editorialize the Corps techniques in the past, 28 April 2001:
The famous Wilkes-Barre flood of 1972 and the Mississippi River flood of 1993 led to fierce criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers, whose traditional methods of flood control were found to have made matters much worse than they might have been. But the Corps has never abandoned its blind faith in dams and levees that, when overused, constrict the river's natural flow, invite overbuilding and end up doing more harm than good.
And back where we started with midwestern floods, this time in 2001, 25 April 2001:
No one welcomes a flood. No one wants to do away with flood prevention. But it is no surrender to recognize, as many Midwesterners have done, that there is something profoundly elemental in the spring rising of the Mississippi and its tributaries, an adherence to a law that is still greater than almost anything the Army Corps of Engineers can throw in its way. The Mississippi is powerful enough on an ordinary summer's day. But to see it in spring, overflowing into Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, is to witness one of the inarguable boundaries to human existence. The river lends out its flood plain wordlessly and takes it back without argument.
Is there something profoundly elemental in the summer/fall rising of hurricanes as well?
I will leave you with this NYT editorial on 24 June 2003:
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has a rare opportunity tomorrow to strike a blow for both fiscal sanity and the environment. Before the committee is a bill that would bring a measure of discipline and independent oversight to the Army Corps of Engineers, an incorrigibly spendthrift agency whose projects over the years have caused enormous damage to the nation's streams, rivers and wetlands.
And this one from 13 April 2005:
Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects -- this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences.
The Government Accountability Office and other watchdogs accuse the corps of routinely inflating the economic benefits of its projects. And environmentalists blame it for turning free-flowing rivers into lifeless canals and destroying millions of acres of wetlands -- usually in the name of flood control and navigation but mostly to satisfy Congress's appetite for pork.
This is a bad piece of legislation.
Things to remember while the NYT histrionically bleats the opposite now.
Victims were getting help BEFORE Katrina landed and immediately after...just not all quarter million of them simultaneously. I see that you highlighted only the portion of my statement you were interested in, but not its context.So if the Terrorists strike again you will also just surrender? Maybe also wait a few days until getting help to the victims?
It doesn't matter. They don't want to understand. This is not about NOLA to them. Like Cindy Sheehan it's merely a prop for their vicious little political vendetta. If it wasn't NOLA, they'd be searching for something else to gripe about Bush, republicans, and neocons.Originally posted by: tcsenter
Victims were getting help BEFORE Katrina landed and immediately after...just not all quarter million of them simultaneously. I see that you highlighted only the portion of my statement you were interested in, but not its context.So if the Terrorists strike again you will also just surrender? Maybe also wait a few days until getting help to the victims?
"It is impossible to mount an adequate rescue and assistance response to a disaster of this complexity and magnitude, spanning well more than one hundred miles square, with only three to four days advanced notice."
Destruction from a terrorist attack would likely not cover one quarter of two entire states, unless they nuked us, in which case Katrina is only a small taste of what you would see. In a huge terrorist attack, the response would be even more inadequate, given that officials would have exactly zero days in advance to mount a response. It would all be after the fact.
Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
It doesn't matter. They don't want to understand. This is not about NOLA to them. Like Cindy Sheehan it's merely a prop for their vicious little political vendetta. If it wasn't NOLA, they'd be searching for something else to gripe about Bush, republicans, and neocons.Originally posted by: tcsenter
Victims were getting help BEFORE Katrina landed and immediately after...just not all quarter million of them simultaneously. I see that you highlighted only the portion of my statement you were interested in, but not its context.So if the Terrorists strike again you will also just surrender? Maybe also wait a few days until getting help to the victims?
"It is impossible to mount an adequate rescue and assistance response to a disaster of this complexity and magnitude, spanning well more than one hundred miles square, with only three to four days advanced notice."
Destruction from a terrorist attack would likely not cover one quarter of two entire states, unless they nuked us, in which case Katrina is only a small taste of what you would see. In a huge terrorist attack, the response would be even more inadequate, given that officials would have exactly zero days in advance to mount a response. It would all be after the fact.
Hell, if Klingons, Romulans, and Vulcans showed up immediately after the storm and beamed everyone out within an hour they'd be taking Bush to task for not calling the Cardasians too, because then it only would have taken 45 minutes. :roll:
Originally posted by: tcsenter
Victims were getting help BEFORE Katrina landed and immediately after...just not all quarter million of them simultaneously. I see that you highlighted only the portion of my statement you were interested in, but not its context.So if the Terrorists strike again you will also just surrender? Maybe also wait a few days until getting help to the victims?
"It is impossible to mount an adequate rescue and assistance response to a disaster of this complexity and magnitude, spanning well more than one hundred miles square, with only three to four days advanced notice."
Destruction from a terrorist attack would likely not cover one quarter of two entire states, unless they nuked us, in which case Katrina is only a small taste of what you would see. In a huge terrorist attack, the response would be even more inadequate, given that officials would have exactly zero days in advance to mount a response. It would all be after the fact.
Originally posted by: BBond
Mayor Nagin has issued another "SOS NIGHT OF HELL". Still no troops. People are holding on by a thread. 10,000 people were evacuated yesterday but he estimates that 50,000 are still on rooftops and in shelters. "Will we survive another night?"
Why in God's name would anyone have to survive this many nights in a disaster zone in the United States of America?
Originally posted by: zendari
Originally posted by: BBond
Mayor Nagin has issued another "SOS NIGHT OF HELL". Still no troops. People are holding on by a thread. 10,000 people were evacuated yesterday but he estimates that 50,000 are still on rooftops and in shelters. "Will we survive another night?"
Why in God's name would anyone have to survive this many nights in a disaster zone in the United States of America?
Text
A picture of all the school buses Mayor Nagin left lying around.
No you don't understand. It is about people dying and not getting help there IN TIME, without the need to beg for at least two days on national and international TV.Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
It doesn't matter. They don't want to understand. This is not about NOLA to them. Like Cindy Sheehan it's merely a prop for their vicious little political vendetta. If it wasn't NOLA, they'd be searching for something else to gripe about Bush, republicans, and neocons.
Hell, if Klingons, Romulans, and Vulcans showed up immediately after the storm and beamed everyone out within an hour they'd be taking Bush to task for not calling the Cardasians too, because then it only would have taken 45 minutes. :roll:
Originally posted by: zendari
Originally posted by: BBond
Mayor Nagin has issued another "SOS NIGHT OF HELL". Still no troops. People are holding on by a thread. 10,000 people were evacuated yesterday but he estimates that 50,000 are still on rooftops and in shelters. "Will we survive another night?"
Why in God's name would anyone have to survive this many nights in a disaster zone in the United States of America?
Text
A picture of all the school buses Mayor Nagin left lying around which he forgot to use for evacuation.
Understood, but there are a lot of serious non-partisan people asking questions about the response. They need to hear something else besides "If Clinton were in office, he would have clairvoyantly foreseen this disaster and started organizing a response two weeks before Katrina landed".It doesn't matter. They don't want to understand. This is not about NOLA to them. Like Cindy Sheehan it's merely a prop for their vicious little political vendetta. If it wasn't NOLA, they'd be searching for something else to gripe about Bush, republicans, and neocons.
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: zendari
Originally posted by: BBond
Mayor Nagin has issued another "SOS NIGHT OF HELL". Still no troops. People are holding on by a thread. 10,000 people were evacuated yesterday but he estimates that 50,000 are still on rooftops and in shelters. "Will we survive another night?"
Why in God's name would anyone have to survive this many nights in a disaster zone in the United States of America?
Text
A picture of all the school buses Mayor Nagin left lying around which he forgot to use for evacuation.
oops, there is some of that wonderful planning in action.
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: zendari
Originally posted by: BBond
Mayor Nagin has issued another "SOS NIGHT OF HELL". Still no troops. People are holding on by a thread. 10,000 people were evacuated yesterday but he estimates that 50,000 are still on rooftops and in shelters. "Will we survive another night?"
Why in God's name would anyone have to survive this many nights in a disaster zone in the United States of America?
Text
A picture of all the school buses Mayor Nagin left lying around which he forgot to use for evacuation.
oops, there is some of that wonderful planning in action.
Originally posted by: icepik
CNN's got a live shot of the military FINALLY arriving at the convention center with supplies. The good news is that the soldiers are well armed!
Thursday, September 1st, 2005
10:46 pm
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control."Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
Originally posted by: conjur
From the ATOT sticky thread:
Originally posted by: icepik
CNN's got a live shot of the military FINALLY arriving at the convention center with supplies. The good news is that the soldiers are well armed!
FINALLY! Because look at how f'ed up it was last night:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/Thursday, September 1st, 2005
10:46 pm
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control."Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
"He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever"Originally posted by: conjur
From the ATOT sticky thread:
Originally posted by: icepik
CNN's got a live shot of the military FINALLY arriving at the convention center with supplies. The good news is that the soldiers are well armed!
FINALLY! Because look at how f'ed up it was last night:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/Thursday, September 1st, 2005
10:46 pm
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control."Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
Truthfully, I think evert single person in here is smart enough to know what you're saying, and some already do. However, the others apparently just don't want to listen or comprehend. It must be their vast knowledge of assisting in evacuations and relief assistance on this same scale that makes them believe otherwise?Originally posted by: tcsenter
Understood, but there are a lot of serious non-partisan people asking questions about the response. They need to hear something else besides "If Clinton were in office, he would have clairvoyantly foreseen this disaster and started organizing a response two weeks before Katrina landed".It doesn't matter. They don't want to understand. This is not about NOLA to them. Like Cindy Sheehan it's merely a prop for their vicious little political vendetta. If it wasn't NOLA, they'd be searching for something else to gripe about Bush, republicans, and neocons.
They especially need to hear that the federal government does not keep 10,000 troops around every corner in every region of the country waiting on the ready to spring into action on a day's notice so that they don't need to think about such things following a hurricane like "What if we don't have any electricity, food, or water for a week? I guess we should take basic preparations in case we need to fend for ourselves until the calvary arrives."
Its not a matter of ineptness, its a matter of a major disaster outstripping the cumulative assets we can bring to bear within the first 48 ~ 72 hours on short notice. Such enormous operations require a build-up and organizing time. It takes MONTHS to prepare active duty armed forces for a moderately sized deployment, WEEKS for a small deployment. And these are active duty personnel on military bases who are professional soldiers.So basically you agree that this goverment is inept to handle a national crisis.
I would think 5 days would put it right up there.Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
He does? What does he compare it to? One has to assume he has been evacuated many times before to know this. Or does he have a penchant for putting himself in harm's way where evacuations are needed?
Its not a matter of ineptness, its a matter of a major disaster outstripping the cumulative assets we can bring to bear within the first 48 ~ 72 hours on short notice.
...Out in the parking lot, dozens of buses filled with more evacuees are waiting to unload. Bryant says Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt said as many as 18,000 people may be on the grounds by noon.
A doctor told Bryant some people have died on those buses.
On the Astrodome floor, people sleep in cots, some getting real rest for the first time since taking shelter in New Orleans' Superdome. But a few have been arrested for fighting over those cots.
Volunteers are bringing badly needed supplies to the volunteers, but when they pull into the parking lot, they are often swarmed by the desparate.
It's about 10:30 p.m. and Eric is reporting that people continue to flow into the Astrodome.
It's been less than a day and already the crowds are beginning to take their toll on this gigantic dome turned shelter.
The toilets are overflowing and when Eric went to the restroom he found out only one toilet was flushing.
Why aren't the reporters pitching in on the rescue and relief effort, since they are there, instead of hanging around like a bunch of media vultures waiting for the next sob story they can dig up?Originally posted by: Pedro69
If it takes MONTHS and WEEKS, this goverment IS inept to handle a national disaster. Period.
People are dying. People cried for Help in front of TV Cameras. For crying out loud!!!
How can it be that there are reporters and live coverage from day one but people went without food, water shelter for days?? Where was the Goverment?