NationStates Jolt Archive

But it is clear from talking to survivors that what happened in New Orleans last week was far more extensive, bloody and terrifying than the authorities have admitted so far.

'We had to wrap dead people in white sheets and throw them outside while the police stood by and did nothing,' said Correll Williams, a 19-year-old meat cutter from the Crowder Road district in the east of the city, who waded two miles through waist-high water to make it to the Convention Centre after hearing on the radio it was being turned into a refuge.

'The police were in boats watching us. They were just laughing at us. Five of them to a boat, not trying to help nobody. Helicopters were riding by just looking at us. They weren't helping. We were pulling people on bits of wood, and the National Guard would come driving by in their empty military trucks.'

Williams only left his apartment after the authorities took the decision to flood his district in an apparent attempt to sluice out some of the water that had submerged a neighbouring district. Like hundreds of others he had heard the news of the decision to flood his district on the radio. The authorities had given people in the district until 5pm on Tuesday to get out - after that they would open the floodgates.

'We thought we could live without electricity for a few weeks because we had food. But then they told us they were opening the floodgates,' said Arineatta Walker, who fled the area with her daughter and two grandchildren.

'So about two o'clock we went on to the streets and we asked the army, "Where can we go?". And they said, "Just take off because there's no one going to come back for you." They kicked my family out of there. If I knew how to hotwire a car I would have,' Walker said.

More at: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562415,00.html

:rolleyes: Oh yay. This is what happens when a state accepts no responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.

Where is the "land of opportunities" that was sold to us?

Where is the "land of opportunities" that was sold to us?

It is full of opportunities to be screwed by corporations, die alone and miserable in the streets, catch some horrible disease and only be helped as far as you can pay and be arrested for being Muslim and get rich by actively supporting all that.

I hope this story isnt true...

I hope this story isnt true...

There very easily could be a great deal of truth to it. I saw the very same sort of thing happen during the "Flood of 93" when the leveys were purposely broken to "relieve pressure" on the business district downstream. The truth was there was a local corporation that had been trying to get it hands on a large tract of land that bordered the river system feeding into Kansas City. Our mayor at the time ordered the levey broken at a point that would assure flooding of the residential areas adjacent to the river, but since they were above the flood plain he had to take further steps and order our Board of Public Utilities to fill in the relief drains to force the water high enough to destroy thousands of homes. All of this was of course against the advise of the Corp of Engineers, and before FEMA could ever even get there. Just goes to show we need to pay far closer attention to local politicians before national ones. They are the ones with the greatest potiential negative impact on us all.

I'm not doubting whether or not this actually did happen, but there is just so much room for misinterpretation. And that is what a good reporter needs to do: to see if Mr. William's interpretation is closest to the truth.

While it does suck to deliberately flood a neighborhood, the circumstances give me the impression that it was not done maliciously. And given the choice between slow deliberate flooding and levee breach resulting in a flash flood, anyone would choose the former. I'd just hate to be the person who had to make that decision.

What sucks is that anyone without a functioning battery-powered radio, or without the ability to walk/wade a long distance, was condemned to death. And even considering half the National Guard's equipment was in Iraq, the army's conduct up to this point has been deeply unprofessional.

Not surprised.

Not surprised.

What she said.

I think there is more to this than just flooding it for the hell of it. They probably did it to prevent more of the levees from failing, or to make it easier to get people from the areas that were almost submerged. I'd like to see some followup to explain this better.

And if they did it for any other reason just another sign of how incompetent the government is in responding to natural disasters.