Comments on: Ike’s aftermath

By: doctorj2u

doctorj2u — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:32:39 +0000

notuopia,
Thank you for the link and thank you for volunteering in NOLA. I am sure you know this already, but the role of the volunteers meant EVERYTHING. It was not so much what they did, though that was very important, but the hope they brought with them. It told us we were not in this hell alone. I am positive just your presence saved lives. (preventing suicides) I already know of efforts in NOLA to get generators etc. to Texas. To give you an idea of power, it took 2 weeks after Katrina to get it back. (Cable and internet 3 weeks.) The first outside help I saw was about a week after the storm. It was a tree clearing crew and I sobbed like a baby when I saw them. I can’t swear to this, because I never saw them myself, but I think FEMA ice etc. took a little over a week. The next several months will be very difficult for the people involved, esp. when the adrenaline wears off. We must not forget them.

By: notutopia

notutopia — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:52:07 +0000

Correction of the website for damage pictures.
http;//picasaweb.google.com/abcbbooks

By: notutopia

notutopia — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:42:08 +0000

Agree Wholeheartedly doctorj2u. I have been desperately trying for a week now to find out any factual (NOT blog rumour mill) information on my family members who are living in smaller rural areas on the outskirts of the Houston NE area, Montgomery County, NE Houston, and Brazoria County who have been hit just as hard as Galveston Island, yet all you see or hear from the media coverage is Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula.I have had to rely on blog sites in the area which were still operational to get any info second hand from survivors. There is still NO POWER, No cell phone coverage, No phone, No postings at the County websites on when to expect debris pickup, pole and line restoration for power, fuel, banking, AND they never ONCE saw FEMA or a county representative. NO ICE, WATER, SEWER, or FOOD MRE’s and it’s been a week. The Issue is that in their Emergency Management Plans they base priority on mass populace areas to receive ALL the assistance first and then pull out once power comes back on.(Which in this case may be weeks) Everyone else is suffering through and have been forgotten. The system broke while the cities were assisted. It is only the good neighbor system that is working to keep each other intact in these rural areas. I went myself to post Katrina to volunteer my medical services. I got to witness first hand what it did to my birthplace of N.O. and what our multiple levels of government did and didn’t do. I can also say that,so far, this FEMA and Media coverage may be by comparison, a great response for Galveston and Galveston County, but, Not for Brazoria or Montgomery Counties. One week later and still the communication infrastructure is nil. How can you provide essential triage of emergency services and survival consumables and medical care when you have not even acknowledged, addressed or assessed those rural and suburban areas for it’s needs? The county plans are majorly flawed. The incorporated to city areas have forgotten their neighboring citizens who still pay taxes to their county and contribute to their overall economic structure for trade. I have emailed KHOU, KTRV, and the HOUSTON CHRONICLE to get out there and tell this story, so that ALL the nation can see for themselves what is occurring, or better yet, what’s not occurring. I encourage everyone to pressure them to do the same. By the way, I had to hire an aerial photographer to take pictures of my own property on the coast because TXDOT still has not allowed access to Bluewater hwy in Brazoria CTY and rumour has it that it may be MONTHS before I can get road access to even see the damage to MY home. This is the same aerial photographer that has filmed the TX coastline for abc news. http://picasaweb.google.com/abccbooks
You can contact him at email aflyphoto@gmail.com
Hope this helps someone seeking answers to the unknown. God speed to our recovery process and please give us lots of patience and understanding. This is only just the beginning of this process.

By: doctorj2u

doctorj2u — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:17:58 +0000

Ubu,
We DO agree on a lot. The town of Lafite, LA is still under 5 feet of flood water and not a word from the national news media. Which is worse though – no news or slanted news? The media is totally screwed up.

By: Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:17:51 +0000

Well, I had one until you made the wisecrack about “Conservatives think everything is ok if they don’t hear things in the news.” Excuse me, but where did you get that idea?

And given the overwhelming media lean towards a party that can’t be described as conservative, who’s fault is it that it doesn’t appear in the news? I was just ruminating this evening how urban-centric they are; Liberty county is still 98% without electricity. Did the local media go there? No — they picked up a story from a North Carolina TV station that did. A station from hundreds of miles away is more willing to to look beyond the suburbs for a story.

That’s just a sad commentary on Houston media.

By: doctorj2u

doctorj2u — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:21:53 +0000

Jim C,
If everyone had evacuated New Orleans, over 200,000 homes would still be destroyed and the aftermath would still be the same. The only difference is that America would not have to see the pain and suffering people endured and have endured over 2 years after the levees broke. Is that enough for you? As long as you don’t have to see it, everything is A OK? That is not the America I was brought up to love and respect. New Orleans is a world city. We have LIVED because the world has come to help us. What chance does a small town have? Conservatives think everything is OK if they don’t hear things in the news. All the stuff about the MS River floods (Cedar Rapids) being an example of a strong America. What a joke! There was arson and looting but it happened AFTER the media’s eye left. How do I know? Because caring flooded Americans help one another. We KNOW it is the stress AFTER the disaster where true human nature shows itself.
Ubu, thank you for listening. There is a true story to the tragedy in New Orleans that has not been heard. I thank you for at least keeping an open mind.

By: ubu

ubu — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:00:27 +0000

Doctor2ju: this has been a profitable exchange, IMHO; I’ve learned some more details about the disaster from you. I would like to point out though, it was no small amount of money: the difference was driving sheet metal pilings 14 feet vs 40 feet — which would require huge buttresses and footings, thus more land expropriation.

“My complete shock is in my political party. They blindly support incompetence, ineptness and cronyism as long as it is THEIR incompetence, ineptness and cronyism. I have lost all faith in the political system and this country.”

At the risk of interjecting politics: On this we can agree. As a young boy growing up, it was painfully obvious to me that the dominant political party was horribly corrupt, so I registered for the other one. For the last decade though, I’ve been little more impressed by their behavior. And like you, “I waver between fighting to change the system and giving the fight up as useless. It just depends on the day you hit me.”

By: doctorj2u

doctorj2u — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:54:57 +0000

UBU,
Local contractors are under complete control of the COE. In fact, one local contractor recognized the design problem, the Corps refused to change their plans (no money to change them); he SUED the Corps to change the plans and he lost. It cost us an American city and billions of dollars. I don’t hold the COE in complete contempt. Many of the workers LIVE in NOLA. They are a bureaucracy and we all know how well they work. They are also limited by how much money Congress will give them and, as we have seen many times since the flood, infrastructure is not visible enough for them to fund. These errors in ways are costing American lives and money. It is a lot cheaper to pay for prevention than to pay for the disaster that is sure to follow if it is ignored. I can talk sanely about this now because my city is back on its feet. It is NOT because of government but because of the GUTS of the locals and the help of volunteer groups from all over the world. My complete shock is in my political party. They blindly support incompetence, ineptness and cronyism as long as it is THEIR incompetence, ineptness and cronyism. I have lost all faith in the political system and this country. I do believe in the goodness in individuals hearts that care enough to come and help. I waver between fighting to change the system and giving the fight up as useless. It just depends on the day you hit me.

By: Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:09:47 +0000

A design error that goes back seventy years — I read the LSU report. As for state control of the levees, I don’t think so. Not given La.’s history of corruption. Recent levees weren’t just mis-designed, they were mis-built– by local contractors. And the pumps that failed were those installed in the last 40 years by the state of La. The old pumps from the 20’s were designed and built properly, and they kept working.

(I can say mean things about the state without being bigoted; I was born and raised in “Loozyanna”. Texas isn’t near squeaky clean, but it’s far better than my birth state.)

Also, no way we want the Levee wars of the 19th century to return, which is what putting levees under state control would lead to. The current system isn’t perfect, but it’s the only way things will work.

By: Jim C

Jim C — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:11:29 +0000

Here’s the deal though… if those people had evacuated the tragedy of N.O. would have been far less of a tragedy. The same goes with whatever ends up of the poor souls that stayed behind on Galveston and Bolivar. Local officials issued mandatory evacuation orders, and people chose to ignore them. At some point people have to take responsibility for their poor decisions.

Jim C