Why they stayed in NOLA

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I got in a bit of an email debate regarding a NOLA discussion on an MC mailing list.

I finally found out why most of those people stayed in the projects instead of bugging out when told.

They didn't have any money to bugout with. It was near the end of the month.

Sheesh! I kinda thought alla you might like to know this.
 
No sympathy

I've got family spread all over this country and we're relatively recent comers, Great Grandfather born in Germany. We're spread out because when work was hard to find you pick up your sorry butt and go find some. But they like New Orleans? Well, I liked Va., too. Now I'm in Ohio. And got a job.
 
Cars and gas cost money. Fine.

Walking is free. You can at least get to an area where you will not drown. throw a back pack on your back and hoof it.

Obviously not everyone (sick, injured, elderly) can do that. But I see a lot of able bodied people running around with enough energy to loot a Walmart.

Couldn't leave? Nuh-uh.

Didn't want to leave.

Mike
 
They didn't have any money to bugout with. It was near the end of the month.

There were plenty of free buses heading out of town from what I've heard. Or at the very least buses heading towards the Superdome (not a great alternative granted but....).

Those staying there just on the offhand chance that the Post Office would deliver a check to them in a few days - if they are able bodied & should have found a job somewhere, no pity. If they were retired/disabled/stuck in terrible circumstances, my best wishes & hopes that they managed to survive & escape the chaos.

Sad to say for far too many people but Dr. Darwin might have been onto something. The survivors took off early & had somewhere to go. Those who didn't have the means but the desire took what they could/when they could & got through the initial mess, the others are finding an incredibly steep learning curve to overcome. I can only hope that I would be in the first category if ever tested :( .
 
Tonight on the news they were interviewing some pathetic souls in NOLA who had walked away from the Superdome. These people appeared to be able-bodied and were certainly moving well on their own, but all they could rant about was why nobody had brought them help, and how slow the government was in giving them food and water. I commented to my wife that the saddest thing about this is that is shows how helpless people have become in the face of disaster - take away their conveniences and instead of becoming survivors they become barbarians.

I understand that many in this desparate situation have medical, age, disability or other circumstances that force them to depend on others, or prohibited them from evacuating earlier. However, when able people who COULD take action to get out of what NOLA has become - even if they have to go on foot - choose instead to sit in the mire and wait to be spoon-fed relief, I have trouble mustering sympathy.
 
Walking is free.
That's what I've been saying for three days. I can hoof it 20 miles in a day at a relatively easy pace with a decent load of supplies, and they had, what, 4 or 5 days warning?

And nobody start this BS about children not being able to do that. People walked from one end of this continent to the other. The only people I feel sympathy for are the old, infirm, and anyone else who is truly disabled to the point that evacuation on their own was simply not an option.
 
i am just amazed at these losers complaining on Tv. they are Alive!

they act like the hurricane is the govt's fault.

and yeah- walk people! waiting for their checks, crackheads. no money is a dumb reason to die.

i got sick of SF once, Florida was an option. i left with 63 cents.
I think some stayed behind for the looting that they knew was going to take place.

im sure some had that in mind.
 
From what I've read about this so far, a NO disaster expert interviewed a couple of years ago estimated that max. 60-70% of the city population could be evacuated in about 60 hours' time in ideal conditions. The so called evacuation order came 24 hours before the fact.

In a transport infrastructure that is built around private cars even that seems optimistic. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people here! Even "plenty of free buses" just doesn't cut it, not nearly. Such an evacuation would require a highly military logistic operation with cleared highways, optimized usage of vehicles and very well coordinated traffic control.

Do the math! :scrutiny:
 
You mean my tax dollars arent providing people with enough money to buy extra food AND crack?

*single tear*
 
The so called evacuation order came 24 hours before the fact.
Do the math!

Try this math on for size.

For almost a week before the hurricane hit shore, the news media were talking about a category 5 hurricane and showed satellite pictures of a storm that was so big that if transposed over the continental US, it would cover about 2/3 of it. I live a good 1200 miles away from the gulf coast but I had no trouble seeing the writing on the wall several days before it hit. I pity those that were too old, weak, or sick that they couldn't get out. The ones who are suffering now because they could have left but chose not to, I really don't feel bad for at all, even worse, they are taking up the rescue and aid resources that the old, weak, and sick desperately need. Stupid hurts.
 
Walk WHERE? To what shelter? And how were they supposed to out walk a hurricane? Being able to go 20 miles on foot in a day doesn't cut it when 140MPH winds are on your heels. The storm itself was moving 20 mile PER HOUR.

They were 'too stupid' not to leave....and if we were watching video of tens of thousands of people on roadsides spread out across Louisiana (minus the one who got killed by flying debris in the hurricane that they were supposed to out walk) Then everyone would be raving about how stupid they were to not sit tight in a solid building and hold out until the calvary came.

JUST LEAVE! yeah, sure. Easy to say when you have A) Some place to GO that is safe, and has adequate food, shelter, and water and B) have a mode of transport that is actually faster then the storm.

But I guess THR is full of super-humans who could force march their entire family faster then the storm and find them some shelter from the winds and rain when it finally caught up to them.

And this all says nothing about what 100,000 or even 50,000 people on foot would do to clog the highways and road system, making the already inept and sluggish response even WORSE.
 
Go Where?

Anywhere! If you stop and think for one second, all of us know or are related to someone in another part of our state or another part of the country, even. So go where? Away from the storm. Don't sit there like a ninny and wait for it to come down on your head. As for the 24 hr. notice to evacuate, as I said before, I'm up here in Ohio and knew a week before landfall that it was going to be bad. The elderly and infirm? Yes, I do feel sorry for them. Joe Crackhead and Bob Lazy who are waiting for anarchy and a handout? I think the NG has just been ordered to take care of that for us.
 
What bugs me now, is the talk of rioting and fighting when buses come in to get them out. People have decided that evacuation might now be a good idea, and are upset that they can't get out now.

People that riot and fight usually are not the truly old and disabled ones that couldn't evacuate in the first place.

Could they have completely escaped the storm by walking? No. But they could have gotten to higher ground, where tehy just had to survive the storm, not any flooding.
 
Sure, ANYWHERE! Maybe your back yard. Just 2,000 20,000 refugees just decide that since they had to get out of town and since they had to walk, that your town would be as good as any to take refuge in! No big deal right? At least they took the initiative to DO something instead of just waiting for the storm to wash them away!

Wouldn't need to post on THR that we had thousands of refugees show up in town with nowhere to go, supplies running low, restlessness setting in. Nope! Because those refugees showed some can-do pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps plucky American spirt! They didn't wait for no "government" to save them!

Of course everyone knows someone SOMEWHERE. Easy as pie. If those people happen to be a week's walk away...well...get on I-10 and head north. Much better then being a crack head or lazy ninny!

Storm moves faster then you? well find an underpass and bunker down. With any luck it wont flash flood and no debris will smack your skull at 90mph. Oh, and the 100's of other people your sharing that underpass with? We'll there can-do Americans too, so you'll work together. Maybe sing Kumba-ya.

Geeze, why couldn't those people in New Orleans act like real Americans and DO something, instead of being lazy crackheads (which they obviously ALL are)
 
davec, are you trying to claim that these people are better off now than they would have been if they had just started walking two, three, four days before the storm hit? You think they're somehow lucky to be trapped in a city that's under water, that has no modern infrastructure left, and surrounded by people who think it's fun to take pot shots at refugees from the rooftops? How could it possibly be worse if they had hiked 30, 40 miles west or north of the city?

And don't give me "where would they go" - where are they going now? We've got the same problem now, just with more murder, rape, and chaos.

Then everyone would be raving about how stupid they were to not sit tight in a solid building and hold out until the calvary came.
I don't think anyone would call a refugee stupid for not sitting tight in a building which is now UNDER WATER.

You know, about a year ago, FEMA and the government of NOLA did a study on the worst-case scenario of a cat 4+ hurricane hitting the city. Part of that study involved surveying the populace, and asking them if they'd leave when the hurricane was certain to hit the city. Something like a third of them said they wouldn't, that they'd sit tight.

So don't hand me a line about "they would have left if they could." No, they wouldn't have. They said they wouldn't, and then they didn't. I'm pretty sure Fats Domino had the means to get out of the city. He didn't. People make choices, and then they have to live with them. As cracked_butt said, stupid hurts.

(The above, of course, does not apply to those people who were literally unable to leave: disabled, elderly, hospitalized, etc.)
 
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Dave C,

I really think you're missing the point. This human crisis could have been avoided. Would NO still be flooded? Yes. Would we have thousands stranded and possibly thousands dead? Probably not. The bottom line is that this hurricane was well forecasted and everyone knew about it. Everyone also knew that it was a very strong Cat 5 until shortly before landfall and it was going to train wreck the Big Easy. So now these folks are noble and heroes for sitting around and waiting for it?
I have lived in Va and Fl among a few other states and have also spent a little time in Puerto Rico. I've seen a couple hurricanes. One, George, I had no choice and had to ride it out. A few were small, puny on the scale of Katrina. The very few bad ones that were headed my way I LEFT. If you've got a week's start or even a few days, 20MPH isn't going to be your bogey man. When it comes down to survival, not convenience, you bet I'll pack up my family and hoof it. It's irresponsible to do otherwise. And what makes you think that folks all over this country aren't offering back yards and spare beds to complete strangers? It's been happening and will continue to happen.
 
For all of the people who couldn't find a ride out, I see quite a few cars left underwater. There are obviously people who stayed and there cars are in front of their houses now.
 
If the issue with NO was just a hurricane... Those people who stayed COULD have stayed without much more danger... But The real issue is the NO is built below all kinds of water levels and as soon as it rains too much the city floods, add to that, the levee's and you've got what we do right now...

NO shouldn't be rebuilt... Especially where it is now(below water levels)... As it is just another disaster waiting to happen....
 
The further away from "hurricane ground zero" you get, the less scarce ar food, water and sympathy. In other words, start walking. each step will be taking you to a better place. Most of the country has not felt any impact other than gas prices.

If I was only a few miles from disaster, I would see tousands goming through my front yard and would be unable to help very many. Here in Ohio, if you show up with you family and can show me that you have nothing and have escaped from NO, I can and will take you in.

Get as far away as possible on your own -- now.
 
Good point Ed, I keep seeing cars on TV, parking lots and streets full of cars. They didn't leave because society (Democrats) have taught them that they're victims, and always will be victims. The thought the governemnt would be right there with free food, water, shelter, etc. Just like they are on the first of every month. God forbid they take care of themsleves.
 
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