LJ Spotlight - Hurricane Katrina

I've been following the news about Katrina all day, even though I live in Norway and don't know anyone in New Orleans <,<;;<

I hope the LJers added to katrinacane will be safe :/

neworleans has been informative too. I'm in San Francisco but found it through my friendfriends list.

Check out the community hurricanehaters

anniesj has an open Katrina-thread here

I am a graduate student at Loyola University, and I've been following this storm since Friday night. I am updating frequently with news digests of the latest developments in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

I'm not in the city, I am in another state at my family's home, waiting until it is safe to go back.

My sister, age 61, was still in her house when I lost telephone contact, the water was almost in her house then...and that was at 5 PM yesterday. She had been unable to get through on the telephone for help. I have text messaged the police number, but I don't know if it got through. I am so scared. She is near the corner of Broad and Canal. Please pray.

Anyone out there from Kenner LA please let me know if the area is flooded or what has happened ... my family are up north in Port Allen and want to know if there is serious damage in Kenner.

Listen to morrigann's Katrina-related voice posts.

According to this entry in neworleans MSNBC quoted some LJ users' reports from New Orleans on the air.

interdictor

As Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans, most of the smart people left. A few stayed behind, either because they're idiots, or couldn't leave, or had some reason to be there. In this particular case, a webhosting company evacuated its entire staff - except for a few who stayed behind, with massive quantities of fuel, water, food, and at least one gun, headed up by an ex-Special Forces guy. And they're guarding the fucking webservers, which didn't go down in the hurricane. It's a hell of a hosting company and a hell of a read.

Please distribute

State OES has learned that trapped victims on the Gulf
Coast are calling family, friends, loved-ones, or
anyone they can get a call out to in California asking
for someone to rescue them. These requests need to go
immediately to the US Coast Guard's Rescue Line at
800-323-7233 and immediate assistance will be sent.

Please distribute this information as widely as
possible.

Thank you.

Eric Lamoureux

Chief, Office of Public Information

California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

Jahleese and I were talking about the hurricane.

We want to help.

We're writing to our newspapers, and asking all of the people that we know. Our schoold founder Ann Tisch and the Young Women's Leadership Foundation. We're asking all of our school's supporters. All of the artists we know. Leslie Wayne. Don Porcaro. David Shapiro. All of their friends. Anyone that has anything to spare.

It's about time we just stop talking.

If anyone wishes to help us in any way. Whether you can give us numbers to other people that may be willing to help, or if you yourself can find a way to help. Please let me know.

You can email me at : yesimachic@aol.com.

My name is Kodukoumba! Kodu for short.

since I been watching the new from the hurricane katrina I just found out that my step brother its k but since the last time i heard from my cousin it was a like two weeks ago and since then I don't heard anything about her and her family neither i hope they find and k

I created a couple of syn feeds from bloggers on the MS Gulf Coast. They're available at eyesonkatrina and dancingwkatrina.

Does anyone know how bad Metarie or Hammond is? I have a sister in Metarie and a Nephew in Hammond. I talked to my brother in Lafourche parish and they are all ok. I know they evacuated but no communications have been made since the storm.

I have a niece who lives (lived?) on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. We've heard from her that she and her family (2 toddlers and a boyfriend) have evacuated (they're in Folsom with her boyfriend's family) and they're safe. Her boyfriend and his father are assisting with rescue efforts. They

I've been adding details about survivors as I find them, on my on lj, too. Nothing as exciting as being IN nola, but still...

i live in houma which is about a 45 min drive from new orleans. this is the most horrible experience i've ever been through, and i can't even begin to imagine what the refugees from new orleans are going through. we found out wednesday that all of my boyfriend's stepdad's family is missing. they are from new orleans and decided to stay and ride it out. all we ask is that people say a prayer that they are ok and make it safely to houma.

Our hearts and thoughts are in New Orleans, even here in Finland.

Please share this with anyone who might need this.

Remember that water can be effectively purified with household bleach. I am surprised this is not being mentioned regularly by the media.

1. Rinse the containers first with a solution of one tablespoon bleach per gallon of water, and let them stand five minutes.
   
   
2. Let the water sit long enough for sediment to settle out.
   
   
3. Pour water into a clean container.
   
   
4. Add eight drops of bleach per gallon of clear water. Sixteen drops per gallon for cloudy.
   
   
5. Shake and wait thirty minutes. If you cannot smell the bleach, add the same amount again and wait another thirty minutes.
   
   
6. Drink.
   

One gallon of bleach can purify enough water to meet the daily needs of 3800 people.

Boiling is better, but bleach will do in a pinch.

link link link link

ok i kno that everybody hates talking about this but still

i am wondering if anybody else is with me on this philosophy

the government is stealing the money that ppl donate and that bush should do sumtin about and hes not. after all, bush is the leader of the united states, and rite now hes not doing anything to help hurricane katrina victims.

just reply to this philosophy.

For all artists looking to raise funds for the victims of Katrina, artforkatrina. Or I'm sure others can use their own talents to help out somehow...Might I suggest ebay auctions? Even a percentage of profits are welcome.
1-800-HELP-NOW
the toll free # for it, i forgot the org.

i believe that when the state said they should get out they should have had the busses there for the poor and the people who wouldnt be able to get out...obvilously they werent thinking with the right side of their brain...if they were they would have been able to get everyone out before all this happened...

if anybody lives near flordia there is a website called moveit.org it lets katrina victims sleep over in ur homes. it really is a nice thing to do.

plea for help on behalf of all Gulf Coast and New Orleans residents

I drafted this today on my way out of the storm affected areas. PLEASE forward this to anyone, everyone you can think of. Friends, family, individuals, corporations, national and internation news media. Also, if you feel so inclined, feel free to print out copies of this and hand them out to friends and family or even post them up in your hometown.

Additionally, I'd like to ask you to contact your congresspeople and state representatives immediately and tell them to get more national guard and law enforcement officials down there ASAP. The stories I'm hearing from friends and friends of friends who are stuck in New Orleans and even in Baton Rouge are horrifying, it's turning into complete anarchy.



I am writing to plea on behalf of all residents of the Gulf Coast region, from Louisiana to Florida. I am one of the lucky ones – I braved the storm and got out to be able to tell about it. I grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi but have lived and worked primarily in New Orleans for the last four years. Some friends and I evacuated that city late Saturday night to stay in Gulfport where we felt safer from the storm surge and flooding. Eight of us rode it out in my mother’s home, listening to and feeling the roaring winds and rains for almost 12 hours. Our back porch roof was ripped off completely, and the roof over our kitchen was punctured, leaving the kitchen in shambles from the effects of wind and rain. We count ourselves lucky, the house is still livable and everyone who stayed there is safe. My mother’s business and entire source of income, however, is completely destroyed. All of my friends from New Orleans have given up hope of salvaging their homes and possessions. Several friends, including my boyfriend’s father, are still stranded in New Orleans. My boyfriend and I were able to make it out of Gulfport to the nearest open airport, which was Baton Rouge, to fly north to help his company relocate and continue to do business. He is one of the lucky ones – he still has a job. When we left my mother’s house there was absolutely no communication in or out of the area, and we barely knew the status of Biloxi, the next city over, let alone much information about New Orleans.

I implore you, I plead with you, and I beg you, HELP US. Millions of people are homeless, without the basic necessities of life, or worse yet, hurt or dead. Many of these jobs and homes will be irreplaceable. The majority of these people have no way right now to ask you for help themselves. I’m sure they won’t mind me requesting assistance on their behalf. Last year I felt the effects of the tsunami in Southeast Asia from the other side of the world. Myself and many of my friends donated what we could to help with the relief efforts there. All we can do right now is hope that the people of the world will be as generous towards us as we tried to be for those who suffered through that tragedy. I am begging you, do what you can and put yourself in our shoes. Please know, I have seen friends and neighbors banding together to help each other make it through this experience. I will be the first to condemn those who are seen looting useless personal property, but please understand that those who have been left behind are forced to do what they must to survive at this point. They cannot do much without outside help. This is what we need from all of you so urgently at this time. Please don’t let us down – we can’t make it without you.


Mallory Whitfield
August 31, 2005

http://www.redcross.org
http://www.fema.gov
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
http://www.feedthechildren.org
http://www.networkforgood.org