Hope The Cajuns will be OK

[Craig]

Glad to hear the Cajuns are ok. Boy, does this suck. Good luck to everyone directly affected.

[ctrixie]

Hello to my fave Cajuns, glad that you're OK. The pictures of the flooding and devastation are just mindblowing. I've got a cousin in Metairie about 2 blocks from that I ASSUME left the area, but I'm gonna check with his sister this morning to see what's up. Take care, and keep close to your family & friends

[Stike]

HEY....IF ANYONE COMES ACROSS A FLOOD MAP OF NEW ORLEANS THAT SHOWS THE GENERAL WET AND DRY AREAS AFTER THE HURRICANE PLEASE POST A LINK !!

...or if any of the HFC Nawlins crew talks to anyone in the Bywater/9th Ward area...PLEASE ask for specific conditions on Desire Street (as in "A Streetcar Named...") along the first few blocks off the Mississippi (Chartes St. to Dauphine St.)

I'm assuming the worst but hoping for the best. Can't find any specifics of aerial pics yet...hoping that might mean it's NOT drastic enough for TV news shock value.

  Ya know, if the Louisiana politicians weren't some of the most corrupt in the world (see the long list of indicted governors, mayors, etc.) perhaps a lot of what failed during this hurricane would've been fixed a long time ago with the millions of $$ of missing money. What a sad cultural loss to everyone this is....

I haven't seen any pics but I know that area pretty well. 10 years ago my wife and I stayed at a guest house on Mazant St. about 7 blocks over from your place for our honeymoon. We did switch lodging a couple days in though, 10 years ago that area was kinda sketchy, I remember walking from the guest house to a corner store one street over and hearing "fresh meat" whistle signals up and down the street. We moved to a little place on Frenchman St. just off Esplanade for the rest of our stay. This past Feb. when were were down we drove through the area after a trip to The Saturn Bar and the nieghborhood looked 100% better than it did 10 years ago. From the reports I've heard that area is not doing well.

Like many this disaster has a pretty high bum out factor for me. Honeymooned there, before we had kids we used to visit at least once a year, loads of great memories and I have some good friends there too. A couple we're close with are in the process of getting divorced and selling their house off of Magazine St.. She's up here with her family and as of yesterday he's fine and so's the house. That situation has gotta suck HARD.

My boss just called me a few minutes ago and asked if I wanted to head to LA today with him and our sales director to volunteer with the Red Cross. I had to say no and the guilt is eating me but I'm gonna see what kind of help I can give from NC.

+1 that the LA HFCr's are fine. Hopefully Coop's, Cooter Brown's, Nick's Train Bar and every other favorite watering hole of mine will be back to biz the next time we come down.

[Guest galejt]

Just saw some traffic that indicates the situation on the ground in NO is not good and getting worse. Violence is increasing. Have nots against the Haves. Yikes. Cajun et al, be careful.

=================

More people who need killin'

Children's Hospital under siege

Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.

Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.

Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.

The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.

Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.

=================

The XO just brought up a good question: "Where are the people who bitched about the Army allowing looters in Iraq after the liberation, saying such a thing could never happen in the United States."

[Guest galejt]

HEY....IF ANYONE COMES ACROSS A FLOOD MAP OF NEW ORLEANS THAT SHOWS THE GENERAL WET AND DRY AREAS AFTER THE HURRICANE PLEASE POST A LINK !!

...or if any of the HFC Nawlins crew talks to anyone in the Bywater/9th Ward area...PLEASE ask for specific conditions on Desire Street (as in "A Streetcar Named...") along the first few blocks off the Mississippi (Chartes St. to Dauphine St.)

I'm assuming the worst but hoping for the best. Can't find any specifics of aerial pics yet...hoping that might mean it's NOT drastic enough for TV news shock value.

Ya know, if the Louisiana politicians weren't some of the most corrupt in the world (see the long list of indicted governors, mayors, etc.) perhaps a lot of what failed during this hurricane would've been fixed a long time ago with the millions of $$ of missing money. What a sad cultural loss to everyone this is....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Louisai...TMO_2005242.jpg

[mykel]

I haven't seen any pics but I know that area pretty well. 10 years ago my wife and I stayed at a guest house on Mazant St. about 7 blocks over from your place for our honeymoon.

Oddly enough, my wife and I also spent our honeymoon in New Orleans 10.5 years ago. Went back for our 10th anniversary in December. Sure glad we did. I'm wondering what's left of the places we loved down there.

Glad to hear that the cajuns are ok.

m.

[Tres Aardvarks]

My wife has family outside New Orleans, we got engaged their, and spent the first part of our honeymoon there. I know the B&B we stayed at the last 2 times has already been struggling, this could kill it (Royal Street Courtyard in the Fuaberg Marigny). Very sad to see all this happen. Hope everyone from the HFC is OK down there.

[mc2]

Well.....first the GOOD news:

As of Thursday, a satellite photo shows my place in New Orleans did NOT flood, although I can't tell if there was wind damage, etc.

(UPDATE....Got a better satellite pic and I've definitely got some parts of roofing gone and the monster front awning looks missing..a lot of odd white things scattered around the yards...but the places are standing, not flooded and the 60-foot pine stayed up. Could've been worse. Only problem is getting into the city to do repairs before more rain damage. )

Now the BAD news:

That warehouse fire Friday morning on the river is on my corner about 7 buildings down...so they're looting and burning the area since it's the only dry way from the flooded Ninth Ward to the Convention Center/Astrodome/Downtown that's under seige. GREAT !!

That warehouse, although they keep saying it's a "chemical warehouse" on TV...is where the local fruit vendor fills up his truck. We know it as a produce warehouse. Not sure why it would have chemicals there as well...but hell, it's Nawlins where anything's possible.

They probably looted the food and then burned it because there was a "Looters Will Be Shot" sign on the front from the TV shots.

[Guest galejt]

FOX is covering a fire near the W hotel.

[Buzzy Fretts]

Mc2, I hope that things at your place utrn out otherwise. It looks like the fire is quite large. People have been quoted as saying it started with a series of "massive" explosions, so maybe the looting scenario is off. The degree and the type of violence has gone so far beyond stealing. It begs the question, has every american city become such a powderkeg?

[Brewmaster]

Well I'm happy to hear our Cajuns are O.K., well physically anyway.

The scope and the enormity of the devastation is staggering. I saw what happened to Homestead when Andrew rolled through South Florida, (I was doing volunteer work down there) but that holds no comparison because the damage was to a more confined area and the water receded.

I became aware of this fact back then, when the people in the know tell you to have a weeks worth of food and water per person and you live in a hurricane zone, you had better listen. It took three days for the guard to get into South Fl, at least where I was, so regardless of how well organized the first responders are, you will be on your own for a few days at least.

May God help and bless those impacted by this the largest natural disaster in the history of this country.