Originally Posted by Alg_Hornet
I believe it that is being hinted.
Stay Safe, and hang tough!
See you soon.
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I believe it that is being hinted.
Stay Safe, and hang tough!
See you soon.
Contributor
Look at this crap: Credit Jindal for getting past this crap. I hope the operator in JAX is criminally prosecuted if he indeed failed to deliver.
Many buses hired for evacuation did not arrive
by The Times-Picayune
Saturday August 30, 2008, 9:01 PM
Local school systems had to provide more than 400 buses Saturday to make up for a lack of transportation the state had promised to provide for evacuees by using out-of-state contractors.
It was not clear Saturday how many buses the state had secured from Jacksonville, Fla.-based Landmark System Inc.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said only that officials had enough buses by the end of Saturday to provide transportation for those who could not evacuate on their own. Jindal left a late afternoon news briefing before taking questions on the bus contract.
The governor had announced Wednesday that the state Department of Transportation and Development had contracts for 700 buses. He said then that the vehicles would arrive in Louisiana on Thursday.
In his daily briefing Thursday, he said just 150 of the buses had arrived, but he indicated the rest would be headed to the parishes where they were needed.
By Friday, the governor's assessment was this: "The contractor is not necessarily doing what they promised to do."
Landmark CEO Henry Gerkens denied that assertion Friday.
Efforts to reach the company Saturday were not successful.
Paul Rainwater, director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority and a Louisiana National Guard officer, said Saturday afternoon that emergency managers had secured 400 school buses to get evacuees from the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans to shelters in safer areas.
Jindal cited Jefferson Parish schools as among those providing buses.
About 250 yellow buses were parked at Zephyr Field on Saturday afternoon, with more arriving, according to the Louisiana National Guard.
The staging area is not open to the public. Evacuees who need transportation must go to one of 17 pick-up sites in New Orleans and two in Jefferson Parish.
Tanker trucks were fueling the buses while crews stocked their cabins with food and water.
"We just want to make sure the state gets as many buses as possible into that staging area," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said during a press conference.
Time for some football!!!
I'm amazed at the BS that we have to go through down here in SELA. And I agree with you sometimes I do ask "Is it worth it". However, at the end of the day the City and Spirt of New Orleans is bigger than all the BS.
New Orleans has survived everything that has been thrown at it. HH said it the best, the PEOPLE of this city is it's greatest asset. We are New Orleans. And once we turn our backs on New Orleans then that's the day New Orleans will die.
A hurricane, dirty politics, levees failures, etc has never and will NEVER destroy New Orleans.
The day we give up on New Orleans, is the day we may as well take New Orleans off the map. I aint ready to give up on the city yet. The New Orleans spirt is carried in it's people.
This hurricane will pass, there is nothing we can do about that. BUT we can stay strong, smart, and positive. Please pray for the city.
Last edited by Alg_Hornet; 08-30-2008 at 10:35 PM.
Dell Demps PLEASE get us some scorers!
Truer words have never been spoken.
I have never personally lived in the city of New Orleans, but having lived only a mere causeway away from it all my life, constantly visiting Uncles and Grandparents there, hearing stories from my Dad about his childhood there, faithfully following the Saints and Hornets.... I really do feel like a citizen of New Orleans. And even though we've been bs'ed to no end... it's still home.
I'm leaving for Pensacola tomorrow, and will keep all of you in my prayers. Please do the same for myself and my family.
Peace.
Contributor
Hurricane-force winds will hit New Orleans, surge flooding threat rises for West Bank
by Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
Saturday August 30, 2008, 10:48 PM
The 10 p.m. forecast for Hurricane Gustav calls for its landfall to be just east of Morgan City early Monday afternoon as an intense Category 4 hurricane, a track that would bring hurricane force winds over most of the New Orleans area.
The eastern jog also would increase the potential for storm surge flooding of West Bank communities. The Slidell office of the National Weather Service this evening warned that it expects between 15 feet and 20 feet of storm surge near and to the right of the hurricane's center as it goes ashore.
While it's still unclear how high the water would be on the West Bank, farther away from the storm's center, it could be high enough to overtop the incomplete levee system in that area.
Moving the diagonal path Gustav will take closer to New Orleans also increases the potential of surge water rising in Lake Borgne, the Industrial Canal and Lake Pontchartrain, which could test levees and walls in St. Bernard, eastern New Orleans and the Lower and Upper 9th Wards, as well as areas south of Slidell and Madisonville.
Heavy rainfall also is expected to accompany Gustav, with between 10 and 15 inches of rain expected in areas nearest its center.
Tropical storm force winds are expected to reach the coast early Monday morning, followed by hurricane force winds only a few hours later, the National Weather Service said.
Gustav continues to confound expectations. Senior Hurricane Specialist Jack Beven, in a discussion message accompanying the forecast, said the rapid intensification of Gustav over the past 24 hours, from tropical storm strength to maximum sustained winds of 150 mph as it hit the Cuban coast west of Havana, apparently occured despite 20 mph wind shear was occurring.
The storm weakened slightly while crossing the western end of the island, but is still packing 140 mph winds, making it a strong Category 4 hurricane. And the forecast calls for Gustav to intensify to Category 5 strength of 155 mph by 7 p.m. Sunday, as it moves over deep, warm water in the loop current in the central Gulf.
After Gustav makes landfall, forecasters warn, it will move very slowly northwest, its center crossing over Alexandria at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday and reaching Interstate 20 just west of Marshall, Texas, a day later. Gustav will be a tropical storm, with 60 mph winds, at Alexandria, and a tropical depression when it moves into Texas.
I hope all is going to be well in New Orleans, hopefully not too damaging.
i hope and pray that we wake up to some good news, good luck new orleans, my thoughts are with you
from the maps i just looked at it looks like its moved slightly west? but maybe im wrong? im not sure, im praying guys, goodnight
[Okay - I asked the question of how Katrina compares to Gustav, just read a bit more about it and it seems like Katrina all over again, just this time I believe that people in New Orleans are more prepared for it.)
And travel safely those on the road out of NO, and prayers will be with you guys. I know definitely being a New Orleans supporter that spirit seems to have flowed beyond the city of New Orleans to others globally, that spirit of 'never-say-die'..
Last edited by PyroCross; 08-31-2008 at 05:36 AM.
I wish all of you the best about this damn storm!
Thank You Hornets for this awesome year! I'm damn proud!
Evacuation accomplished, now in Guntersville, Alabama for a few days.
Oh, and as for the traffic, let's just say LaPlace to Slidell... 7 hours. Yeah, you know it.
Contributor
Empty streets
Here it comes. The only good thing I have to say about this is that you can't really see an eye, which is good news in terms of this storm not being able to pick up more intensity before it hits.
Contributor
A report on WWL TV that only about 50% of the residents in Iberia Parish have evacuated. People are having hurricane parties as well.
Contributor
This is what WAS headed our way. Thank God it decreased in intensity.
Hurricane Gustav brings devastation to Cuba
Gustav's winds brought so much damage to Los Palacios that the town's residents now call it `The Ruins.'
Posted on Sun, Aug. 31, 2008reprint print email
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By MIAMI HERALD STAFF
[email protected]
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba -- Some residents of picturesque Los Palacios, in the western province of Pinar del RÃ**o, have already rebaptized their town in the wake of Hurricane Gustav: They now call it The Ruins.
In the storm Cuban authorities are saying was the worst here in more than 50 years -- one that registered unprecedented wind speeds -- Los Palacios has the dubious distinction of being the first that lay directly in Gustav's path.
The pastel-colored houses in this town of 15,000 collapsed. Cars went flying. Power and phone lines throughout the city tumbled. At least 10 army trucks and several bulldozers charged into the community Sunday to begin cleanup, while the people in nearby Isle of Youth remained in complete darkness as every single TV, electric and mobile phone tower fell.
''The devil came through here,'' said Juan Carlos RodrÃ**guez, who works for the municipal school management office and spent the night guarding the building. ``It swept it completely.''
Gustav made landfall in Cuba on Saturday evening as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds and gusts up to 212 mph, Cuban meteorologists said, sweeping by in just four hours and leaving a path of devastation. In a testament to the Cuban government's unparalleled hurricane preparedness system, no deaths were reported.
Some 250,000 people had been evacuated in four provinces.
According to Olga Lidia Tapia, President of Pinar del RÃ**o civil defense committee, 86,000 homes were damaged, 80 electric towers and 600 electric posts fell.
''Many people cannot go back to their homes because they lost them,'' she said on the nightly news program Mesa Redonda, adding that people are building makeshift shelters with whatever materials they could find.
In the Isle of Youth, municipal defense committee president Ana Isa Delgado phoned in to the news show: ``Regarding housing, everything has been affected. All towns.''
Vicente de la O, who heads Cuba's electric company, said that a total of 136 electric towers toppled over. In a previous hurricane, 30 towers were damaged and it took 15 days to restore service, but he said he hoped to have service restored in 10 to 12 days in Pinar del Rio Province.
The situation in the Isle of Youth was much worse.
''100 percent of the electrical grid is damaged,'' de la O said. ``Totally destroyed.''
In Los Palacios, RodrÃ**guez estimated that 90 percent of the homes were affected, as well as about half of the electric infrastructure.
''This is very sad. It's unbearable to watch,'' a woman in Paso Real said, as she burst into tears and walked away without giving her name.
An elderly man gathered pieces of clay tile. A few blocks ahead, a woman swept her wet front porch. There was no flooding in Los Palacios, but the rain seeped into many homes and also fell directly into roofless houses.
''It was horrendous,'' said Alberto GarcÃ**a, a 68-year-old retiree.
Along the highway to Pinar del RÃ**o, tree branches partially blocked the road, and a twisted mass of electric towers lay on the ground like a row of fallen dominoes as far as the eye could see.
The force of the wind decimated entire fields of banana trees. At a police control station, all the lamp posts toppled over and the metal mobile structure lay upside down in a ditch.
In San Cristóbal, fallen branches and tree trunks blocked the main street into the town. Many houses lost their roofs or were flooded.
In other destruction in Los Palacios, debris was scattered everywhere on the wet streets, in many cases blocking the roads with tree branches, downed power lines, tiles, masonry from ornamental columns, pieces of wood, doors, phone booths and corrugated metal sheets that once served as roofs.
Oddly, a community garden stood unharmed, its vegetable rows lined up in perfect order. Dogs and chicken roamed the streets.
The main school building lost all its windows on the upper floor, and authorities postponed the start of school until next week.
''It will take us at least six months to get back to a basic level of infrastructure,'' RodrÃ**guez said.
There was no electricity, no gas, no fuel and no water, although RodrÃ**guez said residents had enough drinking water stored for 72 hours.
''I stayed in my closet with my two children and prayed the whole time,'' said Mabel Ayerbe, a 36 year-old housewife and mother of two boys, ages 5 and 6. ``The little one was crying and the older one wanted to see the wind. The first pass took about two hours. Then, we were in the eye for some 45 minutes and the weather was totally clear. After the eye it lost some strength, but the first pass was violent.''
Gustav traveled about 100 miles when it entered Cajio and left the city of La Palma at 9:10 p.m., the state media said. The eye crossed at a speed of 11 miles an hour and was 37 miles wide.
The government media said the damage was so bad, the name ''Gustav'' may have to get scratched off the list of potential future hurricanes -- a move only taken in the worst of natural disasters.
''I don't want to see this again. It was terrible,'' Ayerbe said. ''We no longer call this Los Palacios. It is now The Ruins. We Cubans are optimists. We'll see how we work it out and p'alante!'' -- onward!
This article was reported by a Miami Herald correspondent in Cuba, whose name is being withheld because the journalist did not have the journalism visa required by the Cuban government. Miami Herald correspondent Frances Robles contributed from Miami.
Contributor
212 mph gusts? My God.
Contributor
I sent this story to WWL TV and I ended up seeing a story on it 30 minutes later there with ariel video. Total destruction. Looked like Katrina but with more third-world surroundings.
I am worried so much about the city of New Orleans and its people i can't even go to sleep right now. I hope that the winds die down more... i keeping every member on the boards in my prayers. I know there is probably a few of you left in N.O. may God watch over you and protect you.
It's Over Now !WE BACK NEW ORLEANS!!
NEW ORLEANS HORNETS FOREVER UNTIL THE END OF TIME
Contributor
The city is OK. Still some T-storms and tornados in the region, but it looks like we will get through this storm.
I just want to commend area governments for their work on this storm. While we still need to get people back in town, so far the government response to this emergency has been stunningly good - at all levels. I don't know if I have ever seen government operate this efficiently and in the interests of its people to this extent - ever. And I am not the kind of person who is normally complimentary of government at all. I have been particularly impressed with two officials - Governor Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. These are two newcomers on La.'s political scenes (although Jindal has represented us at the national level). Jindal was just on top of the entire situation, apparently, and his updates, while voluminous in information, were informative and effective at keeping all of us aprised of what was happening throughout the state. And for a change, we looked like one state this weekend. Awesome. Nungesser not only rolled up his sleeves on this, but he got dirty. The man was out there over-seeing the overnight construction of a makeshift levee over HWY 23 to protect the northern end of the Parish, AND effectively dealt with an overtopping levee in Braithewaite. The man was out in the elements for much of this storm. Another person worthy of mention is the mayor of Lafitte. The last I left that situation, he and other JP officials were working in the dark building a makeshift levee to keep surge out of the town.
I am sure there are many others who deserve mention, including the new President of St. Bernard Parish, but the bottom line is that everyone seems to have performed admirably. I am proud to be a New Orleanian today. Job well done!
Contributor
I hate to do it,but I got to give props to Nagin on this one as well.While his prestorm press conference was a little theatrical,it got the point across and got into peoples heads and got them out.
The preparation and response was incredible this time around ... on every level.
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