Oh Joanna, I saw that tape 3 times yesterday of that poor man who lost his grip with his wife! I just sobbed!! It makes me ashamed that I ever feel sorry for myself about ANYTHING!!!

And many of the looters and others are now on their way to the Astrodome. Hopefully our Dome will have the same rule as the Super Dome did.
Do not bring your firearms & alcohol. I did notice the TV stopped airing that portion of the mayor's appeal shortly after he said it. Probably got heat from some weird Interest Group.

I too am in disbelief over the magnitude of what is happening here in our very own country, not a third world nation. The conditions sound so awful for those taking shelter in the Superdome and yet they are more fortunate than those who were trapped in their homes. And now they are moving those 25,000 people to Houston. It is so awful that there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the survivors - even when they figure out how to get the water out, it will be a challenge to restore essential services, re-open stores and businesses, and get people back to work.

The looting is so disheartening when there is so much need for people to join together. The thing that struck me about the LA riots was that the rioters and looters were destroying their own neighborhoods. Many small businesses in those neighborhoods were ruined and never re-opened, which hurt the communities. Of course rioters are not known for their logic and common sense! But it seemed so foolish to me.

I'm with others who have expressed that they will be counting their blessings. Also I am extra motivated to check and restock our household's emergency supplies - I've gotten a bit complacent on that in the last few years.

Dena

It is very sad and gives one the feeling of helplessness? What can we do other than offer moral support and some dollars? One wish we could do more to get involved. I certainly feel for the loss of the City, a City that may never be what it was before Katrina hit...I feel for the young, the frail who probably cannot understand what is going on, and I really feel for the animals, the dogs, cats and other pets who probably face a dire situation as well.

However, if one thing is true, is that in situations like these, the American spirit really shines through...what makes America great is evident when people pitch in, give freely, open their hearts and confidentally rebuild. As a naturalized American, I am still in awe at the resilience of the American people. Of course, the looters are the smear on all of this, unfortunately there are always those who operate at the lower rungs of society and only take these disasters as their excuse to do a free for all in benefit of themselves, instead of doing something helpful or healing for the community at large.

Lastly, as someone who as grown up in seismically active areas, I will take an earthquake over a hurricane any day...I know earthquakes scare many people, but the fact that we don't have to deal with high winds and torrential rains is a plus...

I have been following the news on CNN. Lots and lots of damage happening as well as the looting. I pray all in the area stay safe.

Trish

Such a terrible tragedy. And so many lives affected. We've decided to donate to the Red Cross and also to the Humane Society Relief Fund. They are working to house the pets of the evacuees and also to find homes for pets whose owners passed away or can't keep them. Can you imagine anything more heartbreaking? To lose everything material that you own and then to lose your pet? Just at the time you most need that unconditional love and affection?

We are so lucky. Something like this really puts all those annoying work-related problems into the proper perspective, doesn't it?

Kathy

Editing to add: Marc is soooo right. The looters should be shot. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, they showed a guy whose truck was so full of TVs and Computers that he couldn't close the back gate.

Ohhhh...I just cannot watch any more. They just showed a man being rescued from a roof, but his poor dog had to be left behind...a golden retriever up to his neck, forlorn look on his face, being passed up...please don't misunderstand, I understand WHY they are not a priority right now, but it BREAKS my heart. Honestly, I just don't think I could leave Niko behind...I am nuts enough about him (maybe in general) that I would stay behind as the waters rose! I am sooo sad! :( :( :(

too sad for me to put into words! It is time for America to take care of it's own!! I live on a canal on Long Island and last year I canceled my flood insurance,BIG MISTAKE! Now if I get it back it dose not kick in for 30 days so I will gamble it and get it for next season.I am living in my house for 15 years and never had a flood event but I will sleep better when I get the insurance. Macy

It is time for America to take care of it's own!!

Boy do I agree with that comment!!!!!!

Macy
We never took out flood insurance (and Houston floods a lot. It is built on a swamp) because we don't live in a flood plain area. After TS Allison 4 years ago when areas that had never flooded were under water, we couldn't write that check fast enough.
PS: I am very proud of what Houston is doing to help all these people. And those being helped are very greatful.
Please do what you can to help.

Betty: I, too, am so proud of Houston. You people are opening up your hearts, your homes, your wallets,and consoling those who can't get in touch with loved ones. You're doing a GREAT job of keeping everyone calm. We understand that communications are nonexistent. It may be a long time before we hear from our loved ones. So, a caring town is so appreciated. My sister's church is organizing plans for getting evacuees' long term places to live (with families)so they can get back on their feet without going bankrupt. Along with that, they will be helping their kids get into schools IF they have to stay long term. While my sister is working, I may come down to join the volunteer staff as soon as they (churches) know when to activate the long term plan. Everything is so uncertain at this point. It's hard to know what to do other than contribute $$$$. Tks all for caring. michele

My church started feeding people today & I just received an email this afternoon that they are extending it through Monday. They are also asking for people to volunteer to do laundry. My Tide box is ready. That is a such a great idea I would have never thought about.
Was glad to see Houma came through better than predicted. COuld you believe that woman from Houma decided to ride the storm out on her boyfriend's shrimp boat with her 3 year old dauhgter. They are OK, but if the state of LA wasn't so busy right now, I think CPS should pay her a little visit.

Re; Flood insurance. When I do settlements for sales of property, the lenders always require flood insurance, as most of our area is in a flood zone, and the condo associations provide it in their "blanket plan" of insurance in the condo dues. For me, in a single family dwelling, it is also required, also being in a flood zone. But there are limits on coverage. I would never get the value of my home if it were leveled by a hurrican flood. Of course, that is because the risk of this ever happening is so slim. Some insurance companies won't even underwrite for this type of insurance anymore, especially after the losses they suffered last year in Florida.

I think the biggest advantage we on the east coast have is that when the storm is gone, it is gone. The water leaves with the tides. Poor NO has to deal with the aftermath of the breeches of the levees. God knows how long until this city returns to normal. All we can hope for is no outbreaks of diseases like disentery, typhoid, etc.

Back to looters and comments. I'm pretty tolerant socially and politically, but believing we are bound by the rule of law, just can't tolerate this! Unfortunately, they have no jails in which to put these looters! So it is a real dilemma. Usually in a crisis like this, you would hope the cream would rise to the top. Not so, in some instances. I am surprised we have not heard that some independent shopkeeper had not armed himself and shot an intruder. Of course, the looters are probably going to the local Bestbuy and Circuit City for their bounty? It is almost always independent owners when we hear these stories. What employee of a big company would put themselves out on that limb (not that I blame them!)

Betty, your post came through as I was composing mine. Wish I could be there to help you~ Doing laundry is about at the top of my favorite list of housekeeping, all of which I hate and I am bad at all of it! It requires a lot of sitting and waiting. I am not good at that without friends in the room.

Olivia:

There have been plenty of pictures of armed shop owners protecting their property. I haven't seen any reports, however, of a shop owner being forced to use force.

One of the main reasons people in Florida don't evacuate during storms is that authorities don't let them right in after storm has passed leaving their property unprotected. Think of all the shop owners in NOLA that actually evacuated and now have no defense for their shops.

May I be so bold as to criticize NOLA city manamagement and police department. I have seen nothing positive in the four days I have been watching. How do the citizenry respect them when City Management has moved to Baton Rouge and left the populace to fend for themselves.

As we open our wallets to help the Katrina victims, please don't forget to help the Katrina animal victims too!

https://secure.ga3.org/01/support_rescue/step1/rp71FFQn1_7ub

Marc
All those people were told to evacuate. I know many could not due to financial or lack of transportation problems, but that is no excuse for others to turn into a hoodlum. At this time I have no criticisms of the NO city management nor sympathy for even 1 looter. This type of situation has never happened. As one reporter pointed out last night - when these things happen overseas, there is always a black market to get some supplies. We don't have that alternative here.

Marcie
Many of the Houston shelters and individual families are taking in pets, but money is still needed so that more can be helped. No animals were allowed in the SuperDome & lives have been lost by people staying with their pets. Thanks for posting the site.

Absolutely regarding the animals! There are so many homeless, desparate animals left .....breaks my heart. I wish I could make a "big" difference.
I'm going to ask the church to consider this as so many evacuees have brought their furry children with them. Good to be reminded of this!

I also heard about the seals in New Orleans sitting in a parking lot suffering from the intense heat. (They were abandoned from a nearby zoo.) TV reported that one was shot-to be put out of his misery. Sorry, don't mean to be so graphic. But it was on TV & I still have it in my heart. There were people trying to pour water over them. (There were several suffering in the heat.) Yes, let's do what we can.

Thanks guys. Our 4 legged family members are the MOST loyal,the most helpless and most confused. They too need shelter, food, water and lots of love & reassurance. They're good through and through and won't ever be caught looting! Thanks for remembering them too!!

For most of yesterday I was in the surgical waiting room at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, and believe it or not, all eyes there were focused on the coverage of the aftermath of Katrina. With all the anxiety in that room already, it was very, very upsetting. I have to admit watching this is becoming too hard for me, but the donation to the Red Cross was the first thing I did when I got home.

We're there with you, Marcie. Like I said in my earlier post, we split our money between donations for the humans and for our animal friends. It just breaks my heart to watch all this misery.

Betty, thank heaven for folks like you and your fellow Houstonians. It's so nice to hear something positive for a change.

Kathy

Editing to add: checked out the link you posted, Marcie. Looks like a great choice, so I donated there as well. I just wish we could do more.

They are also trying to help save the pets:
Disaster Relief Fund of The Humane Society of the United States

Their disaster teams and rescue vehicles will be in the hardest hit areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. They will be working nonstop to rescue animals and assist their
caregivers.

The companies Alan and I work for are going to match contributions. Every donation makes a huge impact.

Marc...while I agree the looting is alarming, I want to add a caution that we are "seeing" what the networks are choosing to show us.

For each scene of looters, there are countless others helping each other, and they don't get repeated replays on our television screens. It just isn't as graphic.

One network in particular seems to love to show the "worst" examples.

And I dare say the NO goverment really has it's hands full on so many fronts. If they can do the job better from Baton Rouge that's where they should be.

When it's all said and done, I think right now they are focused on lives, not "stuff".

In a city of over a million people, where the government's employees - the leadership and the rescue agencies - have also been affected by the tragedy, the Federal Govermnment is stepping in, it is so easy for us, who are safe in our homes, to point fingers and second guess what needs to be or should have been done. I think this is SO overwhelming that it will tax our NATIONAL resources no matter how much money we donate it will not be enough. We haven't see the disease factor set in yet.

I remember the aftermath of the Northridge Earthquake and we were told to have 5 days supplies and preparations in case of disaster and to be prepared to be on our own. We had NO Warning of danger. Many of the people CHOSE to stay behind even with a number of days notice.

Compound that with those who are opportunists and without moral - most undeducated and poor who have felt this is their chance to have and a crowd mentality of if they can do it so can I. Just like if you get a traffic ticket in a construction zone, the fine is doubled here, the penalty should be swift and severe. On the news last night one of the victims coming out of a hotel being evacuated on Canal Street was manhandled by muggers and her husband had to step in. They were stealing the watch off of her arm.

We have to be prepared to help oursevles, but, many of those who were stuck did not heed the initial warnings. And those who did remain who have no sense of decency - they will deserve what they get because it will be useless. Hopefully they will be caught.

This is another site for donations to go in and help the Katrina animals. The Red Cross does not take in animals so they were left behind to fend for themselves. They need to be rescued too.

http://www.uan.org/

"Back to looters and comments. I'm pretty tolerant socially and politically, but believing we are bound by the rule of law, just can't tolerate this! Unfortunately, they have no jails in which to put these looters! "-

Olivia, responding to your comment above, my solution to that problem would be to point and shoot the looter. No need for a jail for that one.

They should have imposed martial law as soon as Tuesday to deal with the situation, Apparently the NO mayor declared that today. Too late. The thugs have already stolen everything that wasn't nailed to the floor, including weapons and ammunition.

What you don't hear on the news: One church (and it's a big one) ONE CHURCH, in Houston, is taking the complete responsibility of the feeding & needs of the people being housed in the Astrodome for one month!.. They will take the total responsibility for the entire time IF other churches can't take their turn or if the Red Cross, United Way, etc. can't handle it. (I found this out from my sister since her pastor is the one who volunteered their church for this undertaking....) The pastor said that other churches are so busy with the needs of the hotel/motel occupants/evacuees that it will be a strain on them to volunteer for the AstroDome.

I heard on the news this morning that someone shot at a National Guard helicopter flying over the affected area. What are people thinking? I will never understand this.

I would like to share reports that aren't being reported by the media; these are direct postings to the www.nola.com forums:

These are not reported by media. I cannot find on CNN, MSNBC, or FOX. I have not seen a single report from/concerning St Bernard or Plaquemine Parishes. Nothing about the 9th Ward except that it is flooded.

FEMA has now stopped all boat rescues because of safety. Coddling of criminals at the start has led to this; anarchy. If you don't have jauls, you cuff them to trees or other fixed objects. If no one comes back to move them, they are no worse off than all those waiting to be rescued who cannot be rescued since it is too dangerous for the rescue workers to work.

my two cents canadian,

The news just keeps getting worse. I can't believe people are disrupting the evacuation with gunfire, fires, etc.

Denise brought up a good point about donating through organizations with matching funds. I heard on the radio this morning than PNM (NM gas/electric) is matching funds up to acertain level that are donated through a fund they have set up. Also, they are sending electrical linemen and other workers to help in restoring power.

It's so disheartening to see things continue to detriorate - how hopeless people must feel.

---
Leslie

Early reports are saying that the west and north west suburbs are pretty much dry and very little damage.
Now the problem is the people exiting NOLA are headed that way and the authoritise are worried about looters breaking into all these homes that the owners fled from the storm and are not allowed to get back in.

My sister is now in Minnesota and her husband, (with the NFL Saints), will be going to San Antonio with the team until furthur notice after Thursday nights game in Oakland.
They are worried sick about their home.
Security from the Saints complex are suppose to drive by all the coaches homes starting today and check on them. they are suppose to take pictures etc. We have our fingers crossed.

The Houston School system is also going to allow the children to attend school here - free. They are trying to set up a school inside the Dome but don't have those details worked out yet.
And Michelle is right about her sister's church. They are doing a fantastic job along with many others here in town.
Marc, what would your choice be - try to save a dying person or chain a looter to a tree? I guess you and I need to agree that we disagree. I would try to save a life first, not a plasma TV or a pair of Nike shoes.

When looters are shooting at doctors, it has gone past plasma TVs. When looters are breaking into homes and ransacking them while residents cower, it has gone past Nikes.

If they had been forceful early, I believe (but may be wrong) that anarchy would not have followed.

Where are the city police? Where are the Parish police?

absolutely there is not excuse for looting, but some are doing it just to get some things like Water and food for their children. Those stealing tv's etc, I can't understand.

But what gets me, is the powers that be told the city to evacuate, yet did nothing to help those who are the poorest to get out. Now all of a sudden they're finding school busses to take these people to Houston, yet why weren't those busses, as well as city busses employed to move people out BEFORE the storm hit?

And now some of these same politicians are implying that the reason these people didn't get out was because they didn't want to. Give me a break. Ok i'm off my soapbox!

This is the first time an entire city has been taken down in the US in my lifetime. 911 was bad but it didn't wipe out the entire city. New Orleans had what 3 days warning and really didn't know until the day before how bad it was going to be. Plus the media is different, with the exception of Andrew we didn't have this 24/7 coverage of a major disastor on 3 news channels of a hurricane.

This is bad but we will get over it and everyone will learn from it. My daughter in Santa Monica called me upset about what she saw in TV and I said at the end of the conversation: "Did you get that earthquake emergency package together that we talked about, so you will have food and water for 5 days. Thats what it will take until they can get to you, if you have a the big one".

If I'm showing my ignorance here, I'll apologize in advance. But, don't we have huge military transport planes which could fly hundreds of people at a time to Houston? Why are we using school busses to drive from New Orleans to Houston? How many people can fit onto a school bus at one time? Forty or fifty?

I think this tragedy is going to be a huge object lesson for many of us. In the future, we need to give people real options for emergencies.

Those of us posting here are financially blessed enough that we (and our beloved pets) would have been able to evacuate to safer territory. I'm sure some folks who stayed simply chose to "tough it out" or decided to stick their heads in the sand and stay.

I think a much larger number, though, stayed because they had no viable options. Shelters won't take pets. How many of us posting here would have abandoned our pets and gone to a shelter to save ourselves, leaving our pets behind to be killed? None, probably.

Many others stayed because they had no way to get to shelter.

I hope we learn from this. People need real options. They need a way to protect their ENTIRE family, including their beloved pets. And they need effective transportation to adequate, well-stocked shelters.

Time to re-evaluate how we view (and spend on) homeland security, in my humble opinion.

Kathy

I wouldn't have left my pet behind, hell I would of been one of the first ones out. But your so right Kathleen, I have the means to do that. There are so many that don't.

This is all so horrific...on so many levels. And the silver lining (though those poor people living with no food,water,bathrooms for days won't be the least bit inspired by this) may be that our government may sit up and address some significant but basic issues particularly about the infrastructure of our cities.

Just heard that Congress is going to convene an emergencey session to pass necessary legislation to get things moving...........duhhhhhhhhhh