OK, this is coming to you live from the greater New Orleans area. For those of you who don't know, i am from new orleans, a victim of Katrina just like everyone else here.

I am posting this thread for you to ask questions and get REAL answers. What the news says, you can never trust. They can't get their facts straight if their lives depended on it, practically.

Fire Away, im ready to answer.
Just do so with the knowledge that it may be a few days before you get an answer, I have extremely limited access to the internet right now.

--Kit.

Hi Kitsunegari, and hey, wish you all the best there in your attempts to deal with that catastrophe.

And yes, I have a question:

Right now we are dealing with reports that much of the information on shootings, lootings, and number of dead has been exagerated, and there seems to be some controversy over who is more believable; the government, or the witnesses. It appears that either the government is exercising some serious damage control, or that some of the accounts were overinflated- and maybe a bit of both.

So the question is, in your estimation and experience to what extent is either side correct? What have you witnessed to support your answers?

Thanks and much luck to you,
TA

Hi Kit,

I don't know where to begin. Words cannot express what I am feeling right now. I just got back from Slidell and saw firsthand, what ya'll are living through. Seeing it on the news just does not have the impact the seeing it live does. I just hope and pray that God gives you and yours the strength and comfort to get through the months ahead. I know it won't be easy and may sometimes seem downright impossible. My heart is with all ya'll down there.

First of all, thanks for your support TrueAmerican and darkelf.

TrueAmerican, i will admit that some of the reports are overinflated, and a lot of the news stations cant get their information straight. i havent witnessed anything from the convention center, i have not come across any dead bodies, nothing like that. but i cant deny that these things happened. i know an elderly couple who were stuck in the convention center for a few days, they are both severely traumatized. the man collapsed but is now stable and out of the hospital and the woman was just in shock. there were some horrible things going on there.

in short, yes there is overinflation in some areas, unfortunately it is hard to give a solid answer to this question because it all depends on who you listen to. to really understand the situation, you have to see it for yourself.

hope that helps.

--Kit.

for news on the subject, i suggest CNN. they seem to have their facts straight.

hi kits!

hailing from baton rouge over here. couldn't resist your topic title 'the REAL story'- yes, what little news we were able to obtain here and there was extremely frustrating in its accuracy (or rather- LACK OF)

i am located within approximately one mile of the civic complex where most of the displaced from new orleans were brought- and the situation here was very tense for several weeks afterwards. to watch the local news reports, it would have been better to envision parrots that had all been taught the same phrases 'there is no violence or increased crime in baton rouge, these accounts are all rumors'. these 'rumors' sounded much like automatic gunfire four or five nights per week at all hours of the night. these 'rumors' were accompanied by the sounds of sirens which did not stop night or day for two weeks. a cop friend informed me that the curfew was not being observed, but that they weren't concerned about violence from the influx of people from new orleans- the police here were so busy with the efforts to assist those from new orleans that the baton rouge criminals increased activity, afterall, this is their territory and they knew what to hit and the quickest ways to escape. the new orleans people that were picked up didn't know where they were, where to go or what to do... and the sound of the weapon that i mimicked for him, he informed me, was not something they (meaning the police) had access to, the people on the street had better weapons than they did... but rather than create alarm or panic within the baton rouge communities, the media simply called the carjackings and robberies 'rumors'. very sad reporting....

i won't say that things are back to normal, or will ever be for some time. the traffic situation has been a nightmare (taking nearly an hour or more sometimes to complete drives that used to take 15 minutes), houses that have been on the market this entire year are now sold- good luck renting an apartment or buying here... the good news? some of the new orleans club owners have opened places here and musicians have wasted NO TIME getting back to business as usual- i don't have to drive 45 minutes to hear great jazz at the moment- or do i? man that traffic!!

very true. though i was up at LSU the other evening for the college fair and even driving around off campus i didnt see much traffic. dont get me wrong i know its there, but maybe thats a good sign that ts been letting up a bit.

i have to say i cant blame the people staying in baton rouge, its such a nice place (especially compared to here) i know i would have at least considered staying if i were in their shoes.

glad to hear you are safe and best wishes to you and yours!

--Kit.

gotta love LSU campus- a world of its own! the main roads (outside of the campus area) seem to still be congested (during the day at least), my father suggested that tinkering with the timing on the traffic lights to allow for the greater numbers of the vehicles on the roads may alleviate some of the frustration, but i haven't seen any indication that this is happening... i can deal with the traffic, the gunfire had my nerves on end, tho... that has subsided for the most part, and things at least 'feel' normal again.

so are you back in new orleans? many of my friends didn't have anything to return to- their homes would have to be gutted before they would be inhabitable. i've heard that some of the businesses have reopened and that nagin called for residents to return to the city, but it seems it will be some time before everyone is able or comfortable in doing so.

if you are in the area, let me know if there's anything i can do to be of assistance... good restaurant recommendations, directions, help in any way... i don't know what your interests are, but there are regular poetry readings every tuesday night (good place to vent), art openings nearly every friday (one at occulus downtown this week), every saturday there is a farmer's market... i feel so inadequate, but honestly, don't hesitate to ask if there is anything at all that i could do- i mean that in the most sincere way- you guys have all suffered enough, and we here in BR have found our hearts a bit larger and, for me anyway, it's a pleasure to do what we can...

wishing you all the best...

Yes i'm back here, were living in mandeville now though i go to school in metairie. I had a liveable house to come back to, ironically thanks to my parents being divorced. i live with my mom and that house got a couple of feet of water, but her fiancee lives in mandeville and we were going to move in with him next summer anyway, so we just had to move early. and my dad's apartment did fine, 3rd floor perks.

we got really lucky, many people lost everything, including some of my close family members and friends.

Thank you so much for your offers of help! it means a lot. i will be sure to come to you next time we are in the area, because we were hopelessly lost the other night, hehe! your kindness will not be forgotten, take care!!

--Kit.

Kit.

Why didn't the city of New Orleans, Orleans Parish and St. Charles Parish have a deal with the railroads and Amtrak for a preparedness plan to evacuate in place? I have wondered, and I'm still wondering why such a plan was not discussed before Katrina.I would love to hear your answer if you have one.

@football....

mom? mom, is that you? gosh, you sound just like her! LOL! i can't answer for kit, but we've had so many 'scares' that folk around here stock up on beer and wait for a little wind. not to blame it on news reporters, but i have noticed that whatever city your in, that baby is headed straight for ya. so the general public has a tendency to ignore media hype because they've 'cried wolf' so many times that the majority of residents really didn't believe them. by the time they'd determined WHERE it was headed, it was too late to determine HOW to coordinate evacuations with very little time frame. just my opinion on it....

gimmefootball, i really cant say whether there was a plan like this or not. though if they did it's news to me and if they didnt, they should have because it would have been quite a good idea.

I am just being a little inquisitive as to why the evacs did not take place a week before the storm hit. This little inquisitive mind has got to know.

yep, well your absolutely right.

youve also gotta understand, this kind of thing has never happened before, noone really knew just how bad it would be, noone knew this would happen and when it did, everyone was totally shell-shocked.

please keep this in mind when you are laying blame based on the evacuation plans and efforts.

--Kit.

UPDATE

it would seem the 17th street canal levee breach is STILL leaking.

this is not good.

One can do a Google for New Orleans evacuation plans, and go to the official N.O. web page and see/read what was SUPPOSED to happen The Mayor and governor dropped the ball. FEMA was there in three days, which is the timetable for FEMA in ANY disaster, but they weren't allowed to go to the dome. All those school busses just sitting there while the mayor put out a call for Greyhound Bus Lines to get their asses down there. What a shame........
Just goes to show you what happens in a "nanny state" where people expect the goverment to be there for them.

i want to add something about the evacuation plans.

contraflow was NOT initiated. it may as well be a fairy tale,or something they tell us they'll do just to get us to leave the city

it took us 17 hours to reach Kemah, Texas which is about an hour outside of Houston. and many more people had longer waits. had contraflow been initiated, things would have gone so much smoother, even if they just opened up one of the other lanes like Springer said in his podcast. and in Houston, evac for Rita was much worse. you'd think they would have at least learned something from Katrina, but i guess not.

CONTRAFLOW people, it aint that hard a thing to do.

Originally posted by Kitsunegari
OK, this is coming to you live from the greater New Orleans area. For those of you who don't know, i am from new orleans, a victim of Katrina just like everyone else here.

I am posting this thread for you to ask questions and get REAL answers. What the news says, you can never trust. They can't get their facts straight if their lives depended on it, practically.

Fire Away, im ready to answer.
Just do so with the knowledge that it may be a few days before you get an answer, I have extremely limited access to the internet right now.

--Kit.

Sorry to hear that you were a victim man, I hope all goes well for you and your love ones, peace.

thanks for your concern, Poison. all the best to you and yours as well

take care

--Kit.

Just doing there part to help...........



Norfolk Southern train #041 delivering FEMA trailers to New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

[edit on 11/14/2005 by gimmefootball400]