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First Hand Account: Baton Rouge

by kfred

Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 04:46:52 PM EST

I'm sitting cozy up in the Great Plains watching and hurting. Being this far away has helped me appreciate how the boulder was dropped on New Orleans, but the ripples are forming tsunami type waves soon to hit. There will be no section of these United States that will NOT be touched. Upon receiving this email, I had to start this awareness drumbeat. I have purposely removed identifying marks from it. You'll have to just guess why I did that. This is from a college kid. 22 years old. He's with compatriots with the same training and skillset. Now focus on the ripple - this is Baton Rouge. Once filled up to overflowing with humanity, where will it go next? See the extended entry for the "censored" email, and to pre-empt the question. This message was received in the past 24 hours.

commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!

...yes I am still alive.

I have been doing rescue operations for the past few days and I am just getting a chance to check my personal email. I have been working around the clock, getting a few hours of sleep when I can.

THIS IS PURE HELL. The refugees are coming in by the thousands. They have nothing but the clothes on their back. We keep shoving people into shelters, making them sleep on concrete floors with no padding. The blankets and few cots we have go only to the critically ill. We are short on food, water, medicine, and fuel. At most locations, we are not even dealing with the dead bodies anymore, just pushing them out the way to reach those still alive.

Riots have broken out at many locations, even here in Baton Rouge. It is no longer safe to go to any store here in BR. Most of BR is under lockdown. Martial law is in effect for most areas. People are desperate.

I sat and listened to a man tell me that he was trying to find a gun so that he could rob a bank as soon as possibile. He felt that if law officials killed him, it would be worth it since he was trying to provide for his family mambers that were still alive.

Hostages are being taken in some locations here in Baton Rouge. Law no longer exists in New Orleans.

The news media is only getting half the story. I have seen a lot over the past few days, and I can tell you what is really going on. There is chaos at most shelters because we do not have the supplies we need.

People are willing to kill over a blanket and a warm meal. Our detachment has turned into a command center run by cadets. Think of FTX times one thousand in terms of intensity. Civilian volunteers are coming to us because they are tired of the Red Cross people in the field not knowing what to do.

We at least have the skills to lead people, something the other agenices lack horribily. I am making life or death decisions, I am soaking in sweat, my muscles hurt, and I have others' blood on me. I am taking a break now before 50,000 more refugees get here.

I don't know how many more will come tomorrow. I am not sure when school will start again. I am not sure if I even care. My house in XXXXXXXX survived, but many of my friends nolonger have a home. Many no longer even have a hometown, it simply does not exist anymore. LSU is filled with students' families. I am not even sure who else is living in my on-campus apartment right now.

I will try to send out another email later. Right now, saving people and keeping them alive is all I really care about. I don't know what else to say. This is a nightmare.

My God, where do we go from here?

First Hand Account: Baton Rouge | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)

Thank God for his/her compassion............ (5.00 / 1) (#2)

We must all keep on keepin on.....work the problem...but by God, we all must work harder and smarter to end this insanity. This is not the America I know, grew up with, sacrificed family for..we can do better! Responsible people must be held accountable...we can do no less.

by avahome on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 05:57:00 PM EST

Thanks for posting this (5.00 / 1) (#4)

I honestly haven't heard anything reported about Baton Rouge, good or bad, up until this point.

What do you do with a half a million to a million displaced people?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
by wanderindiana on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 06:03:01 PM EST

: Military (5.00 / 1) (#8)

Part of the answer is to send in the cavalry, who has been staging since Saturday:
"Joint Task Force Katrina at Camp Shelby is commanded by Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, "
Article here. Lists units there and coming. Huge force. Good to know there's a three-star there, on the ground:
"Lt. Gen. Russel Honore was directing the deployment of National Guard troops -- expected to number 1,000 -- from a New Orleans street corner." [CNN
They are opening up Guard armories all over Arkansas and elsewhere to receive refugees. Please read the entire article.
A significant problem has been slow action by the locals, compounded by the same from the State, and finally FEMA. Those of us who have lived through other domestic "disasters" - natural and human-caused - realize the first call should request military takeover.
No other group is equipped for clear command, control, and communications. Nor as disciplined and experienced.

by rba on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 07:06:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
: Wander, I've been commenting over at DKos (none / 0) (#7)

That's why I posted the comment below from my now retired aunt from Chicago.
Everyone - did you hear that? EVERYONE will be affected by this.
NO ONE is immune from the effects of this disaster.
It could be your child in a crowded classroom. It could be that you have to shut off rooms in your house because you can't afford to heat them.
It could be dietary changes because the cost of transport of fresh vegies and fruits to northern climes is just too expensive.
Insurance rates? Oh, we'll get hiked on those too. Lessee, what else.
Gas costs, good costs, materials costs, inflation, recession, depression? Take your pick.

by kfred on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 06:51:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

i'm stunned once again, just stunned (5.00 / 1) (#5)

i was catching BBC at the same time as reading this story and heard the mayor of New Orleans.

it's time that American numbness turn to outrage cause if we, as a nation, don't scream in outrage with this occurring AT HOME, we'll tolerate anything.

God forbid that the most powerful nation of the world becomes willing to tolerate anything.

by luaptifer on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 06:22:15 PM EST

News from Chicago (5.00 / 1) (#6)

Another email communique:
"a friend in Mc Henry, a far north suburb of Chicago, just wrote that they have been advised natural gas prices will be 61% higher this winter, and Com Ed announced a 20% increase, effective immediately.

Another small tip of the iceberg.

.......another consideration is the skill/education level of the people who will most need to be relocated.

Many will not be your desireable newcomer. This makes recovery after 9/11 look like a kindergarten exercise."

You may have gathered by now that I have a fairly spreadout network of friends/cohorts. The above comment really will get us Minnesotans.

Anyone taking odds on recession?
How about Depression?

by kfred on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 06:46:56 PM EST

so many people foresaw this... Bush is such a liar (5.00 / 1) (#9)

www.colorado.edu :

Residents who did not have personal transportation were unable to evacuate even if they wanted to. Approximately 120,000 residents (51,000 housing units x 2.4 persons/unit) do not have cars. A proposal made after the evacuation for Hurricane Georges to use public transit buses to assist in their evacuation out of the city was not implemented for Ivan. If Ivan had struck New Orleans directly it is estimated that 40-60,000 residents of the area would have perished.

by intranets on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 07:07:02 PM EST

: more (5.00 / 1) (#10)

What if Ivan Had Hit New Orleans?
New Orleans was spared, this time, but had it not been, Hurricane Ivan would have:
* Pushed a 17-foot storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain;
* Caused the levees between the lake and the city to overtop and fill the city "bowl" with water from lake levee to river levee, in some places as deep as 20 feet;
* Flooded the north shore suburbs of Lake Pontchartrain with waters pushing as much as seven miles inland; and

The Aftermath
In this hypothetical storm scenario, it is estimated that it would take nine weeks to pump the water out of the city, and only then could assessments begin to determine what buildings were habitable or salvageable. Sewer, water, and the extensive forced drainage pumping systems would be damaged. National authorities would be scrambling to build tent cities to house the hundreds of thousands of refugees unable to return to their homes and without other relocation options. In the aftermath of such a disaster, New Orleans would be dramatically different, and likely extremely diminished, from what it is today.

Should this disaster become a reality, it would undoubtedly be one of the greatest disasters, if not the greatest, to hit the United States, with estimated costs exceeding 100 billion dollars. According to the American Red Cross, such an event could be even more devastating than a major earthquake in California. Survivors would have to endure conditions never before experienced in a North American disaster.

by intranets on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 07:10:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

(Comment Deleted) (none / 0) (#1)

This comment has been deleted by kfred

by kfred on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 05:06:07 PM EST

Thanks Kfred! (none / 0) (#3)

These eye witness reports are so very important to get an "unspun" view of what is happening.

Thank you for sharing this information with us.

by Cho on Fri Sep 02, 2005 at 06:02:08 PM EST

photo essay (none / 0) (#11)

check out this from flickr:
http://static.flickr.com/30/39500039_9f3a4ac978.jpg

by intranets on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 09:09:27 AM EST

Another first hand account (none / 0) (#12)

from three journalism students who traveled to the area to report for the Columbia Missourian.

After pulling back into Baton Rouge around 5pm, we quickly decided it was not a good idea to hang around with no place to stay. Buses were dropping off people who had just been rescued from downtown New Orleans. Every hour a bus was pulling up to the city limits and unloading its passengers. This turned the areas immediately off the main highway in Baton Rouge into holding tanks for people with no place to stay and no way to get anywhere else. We had lost contact with the relief workers from Poplar Bluff earlier in the day but returned to their hotel to pick up bags we stored in their rooms. A group from a nearby church had set up a mini-relief center at the hotel with free food (jambalaya, of course) and some toiletries. As we sat and planned whether or not to stay in Baton Rouge for the night, a man came by and told me to keep our car doors locked at all times. His office down the street had been looted and he heard people had been carjacked as well. So about that time we were relieved to get a phone call from the Missourian with directions to the home of Judith Sylvester, a former professor from the J-School who now teaches at LSU.
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