Pointers from Someone else's Katrina Evacuation Story

The Katrina evacuation was totally self-help. If you had the resources, a car, money and a place to go, you left. Over one million people evacuated - 80 to 90% of the population. No provisions were made for those who could not evacuate themselves. To this day no one has a reliable estimate of how many people were left behind in Katrina - that in itself says quite a bit about what happened.

Truth, There were so many Everyday Strangers from our Neighborhoods Saving lives. People who we looked at as Drug Heads, Killers, Thugs, Alcoholics & Bums were Out there saving the lives of people. The Guards Came late as hell. Then you had mothers & babies on separate home made rafts floating down the road It sure was a sight to see.

In the hospital, we could not see who was left behind because we did not have electricity or TV. We certainly knew the 2000 of us were left behind, and from the hospital we could see others. Some were floating in the street - face down. Some were paddling down the street - helping older folks get to high ground. Some were swimming down the streets. We could hear people left behind screaming for help from rooftops. We routinely heard gunshots as people trapped on rooftops tried to get the attention of helicopters crisscrossing the skies above. We could see the people trapped in the Salvation Army home a block away. We could hear breaking glass as people scrambled to get away from flooded one story homes and into the higher ground of several story office buildings. We saw people swimming to the local drugstore and swimming out with provisions. But we had no idea how many were actually left behind. The poor, especially those without cars, were left behind. Twenty-seven percent of the people of New Orleans did not have access to a car. Government authorities knew in advance that ".100,000 citizens of New Orleans did not have means of personal transportation." Greyhound and Amtrak stopped service on the Saturday before the hurricane. These are people who did not have cars because they were poor - over 125,000 people, 27% of the people of New Orleans, lived below the very low federal poverty level before Katrina.

Preach On!... Here was the deal. There were people still trapped in their Homes & nobody came to save them so those people started firing shots into the air (at the blackhawks). 5 days yall?.. dang Just imagine how many people were there 2 weeks after. SMH.. I was only there about 3 and a half days after the storm.. I don't know We weren't keeping track of dates and times It was extremely hard to tell what day it was when you are up all day & night... I think it was on the 28, 29, 30th and we had to on the 1st & was in the astrodome that evening looking like some run-away slaves & smelling like Katrina Water. The Breaking of Glass had to be Cats either Looting or Saving lives. (some people act as if they didn't loot during those Riots in That other part of America).. Looting, The Way of life When a REAL disaster strikes... It wasn't an every year day thing Like They make it seem.. What Would You Do if you thought that The Rapture Was Taking Place? Just imagine. All of the Recent things going on in the world ... RAPTURE!!... The World is Beginning to End... I've seen All the Left Behind Documentaries. And Everything going on at this day and time are Symptoms of " EOTW" that's End Of The World. Scary But Hey Its life.


There is this woman who's been homeless for years & was a member of my old church back before she went homeless. She Never left New Orleans. One of my cousins visited N.O a few weeks ago and said that The Lady was still under The Bridge Near Canal Street as usual. Why didn't Anyone Take her out of there? There's no one Helping her. Where is her Government assistance? Just Imagine if She would've gotten some Federal Assistance. That Would've been wild. People like that

The sick were left behind. Some government reports estimated 12,000 patients were evacuated. I estimate at least an additional 24,000 people - staff and families of patients - were left behind in the twenty-two hospitals which were open at the time.

The elderly were left behind. The 280 plus local nursing homes remained mostly full. Only 21% evacuated and as a consequence 215 people died in nursing homes, at least six people died at a single nursing home while they waited four days for busses. The aged who lived at home also certainly found it more difficult than most to evacuate as they were more likely to live alone, less likely to own a car and nearly half were disabled.

Untold numbers of other disabled people and their caretakers were also left behind. There were tens of thousands of people with special needs in New Orleans.

Many of those people Wanted to stay though They had the minds set of "well I lived through Betsy" .. This was bigger than Betsy and they couldn't see it.
Those Nursing Homes should've been Evacuated Before hand. The one were my mother worked at was out 2 days before the storm hit. All survived. But I think Some have died recently. .. Shew.. My grandmother stood in a seniors home She came right in my hood 3 days before the storm. They put their elderly out. Of there.

There were people who had cars in bad shape & then there were people with No Gas money & then here were gas stations with No Gas (or that the gas was being guarded by Police) .. how'd you expect them to leave? .. Like The Guys who Stole Federal Vehicles & Busses and were Caught, Trying to Flee the city. That was wrong..They should've let them leave.. Then there were the many who weren't caught.

I'm Selling Katrina Water for 6 dollars a Gallon. Whoo!

as much as these people talk of "The Poor" .. Our People are poor compared to Americas Status. But in N.O We were all just about average. It didn't matter what area you were from, how much you make, or anything. If you were in the Hood didn't mean you were poor. The Hood had loads of Middle Class N.O in them. Everybody was from the hood.. The Worst Upper Level Classed People who's homes were damaged in the flood lived on the lake & on the bayou.. But yet the Rich Historical Areas were Safe.. smh.. How did canal Street & Poydras have over 6 fear of water But The French Quarter areas had Less than 2 ..Shame on you ..

Prisoners were left behind. Local prisons held 8300 inmates, most on local minor charges awaiting trial and too poor to post bond. Thousands were left behind with no food, water, or medical attention. Jails depend on electricity as much as hospitals do - doors of cells and halls and pods and entrances and exits are electronically opened and closed. More than 600 hundred prisoners, one entire building, were left behind once the prisons were evacuated - left in chest deep water, locked into cells.

And Nobody Escaped.... But people else were have been telling folk that Prisoners broke loose. That was not True at all.. I don't think that over 600 were left behind though. I'm not even sure if that prison could hold 8300 people...

Ultimately as many as 40,000 people took refuge in the Superdome which lost power, lost part of its roof, the water system failed and the toilets backed up. Another 20-30,000 people were dropped off at the Convention Center. Conditions at the Convention Center were far worse than at the Superdome because the Convention Center was never intended to be used for evacuees it did not have any drinking water, food, or medical care at all. Ten people died in or around the Superdome, four at the convention center.

Unfounded rumors flew about rapes and murders inside these centers - and the myth that rescue helicopters were fired upon - have all been found to be untrue.. But those rumors so upset military and medical responders that many slowed down demanding protection from the evacuees - only to be greeted by "a whole lot of people clapping and cheering" when they arrived.

The Dome used to be that Safe Haven Every year (or according to when they'd open it) .. This year it was over crowded and more people kept coming from out of the water onto the dome territory which made the situation they had Worse than what it was. From Nagin said, Nobody knew that there was anyone by the convention center until it was shown on the news the day after. .. The people who Died at those places were Sick & couldn't handle the heat & pressure. It was HOT! .. The Katrina Water was Steamin'! .. .. I think that's exactly how it went with Us on the highway. too though. Nobody knew that we had our own rescue mission going on.

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Some people never made it out of metropolitan New Orleans. February 2006 reports from the Louisiana

Department of Health and Hospitals show 1,103 bodies were recovered from the storm and flood, with over 2,000 people still reported missing. About 215 people died in local hospitals and nursing homes.

Where did the survivors end up? According to FEMA, evacuees ended up all over - applications came in from 18,700 zip codes in all 50 states - half of the nation's residential postal zones. Most evacuee families stayed within 250 miles of New Orleans, but 240,000 households went to Houston and other cities over 250 miles away and another 60,000 households went over 750 miles away.

Who ended up in shelters? Over 270,000 evacuees started out in shelters. The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health surveyed 680 randomly selected adul

t evacuees in Houston shelters on September 10-12, 2005. The results of that survey illustrate who ended up in shelters:

• 64% were renters
• 55% did not have a car or a way to evacuate
• 22% had to care for someone who was physically unable to leave
• 72% had no insurance
• 68% had neither money in the bank nor a useable credit card
• 57% had total household incomes of less than $20,000 in prior year
• 76% had children under 18 with them in the shelter
• 77% had a high school education or less
• 93% were black
• 67% were employed full or part-time before the hurricane
• 52% had no health insurance
• 54% received their healthcare at the big public Charity Hospital

The people who were left behind in Katrina were the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, children, and prisoners - mostly African-American.

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Too Much estimating & Rounding off, But Yeah All Of This Has to be about Right..I'm not the one trying to count but I must say It Just might me on point

Seventy-three percent of the homes in New Orleans were in areas damaged by the storm. But, as the Brown University study concluded "storm damage data shows that the storms impact was disproportionately borne by the region's African-American community, by people who rented their homes and by the poor and unemployed."

Poor people were hardest hit and are having the hardest time returning. "The population of the damaged areas was nearly half black (45.8% compared to 26.4% black in the rest of the region), living in rental housing (45.7% compared to 30.9%), and disproportionately below the poverty line (20.9% compared to 15.3%." Renters are not coming back because there is little affordable housing. With tens of thousands of homes damaged, the cost of renting has skyrocketed. An apartment down the block from my house rented for $600 last summer - it now rents for $1400. Trailers have not arrived because of federal, state and local political misjudgments. Over 10,000 trailers were still sitting unused on runways in Hope, Arkansas in February 2006. In my interviews with evacuees who were renters, few were protected by any insurance - most lost everything.

Big Ups to Brown & their Study!.. Yeah, Home Owners are Boosting up their rent because they know that many of the the workers are getting paid 200+ a Day, or even more.........Monopoly!

Public housing is politically out of the question in early 2006. There is no national or local commitment to re-opening public housing in the city. U.S. Congressman Richard Baker, a longtime critic of public housing in New Orleans, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal after the storm saying "We finally cleaned up in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." As the Brown study politely observed "people who previously lived in public housing seem to have the least chances to return, given current policy. All public housing has been closed (and special barriers bolted to the doors).plans for reopening the projects or for constructing new affordable housing have not become public."

Public Housing was the heart of N.O's people, Everyone & their Mommas Have some sort of a connection to somebody that stays in the Projects. I remember hearing tat quote on the news. That Made many of Us N.O Public Housing Residents Angry & Offended.. If Majority of active N.O was in Public Housing. Just Imagine what he City would be with out it .. Like I said EVERYBODY has a Connection to Public Housing in that city. So you cant Knock anyone for living In "the System" .. So I Guess God Wanted to show all the "Rich-Greedy" folks How it Feels to Be Poor. New Orleans isn't New Orleans with out Public Housing & Its People.

Speakin' of that.. The Biggest Parade on Mardi Gras Day is ZULU. .. Zulu is an All Black Org & Parade that Rolls Though many Black Areas of the City.. Right down the middle of one of our Housing Projects.. The Black Inner City People Made Mardi Gras what it is.

Take away Public Housing & You Take My Life, My History.. Everything

Debbie lost her nursing job when her hospital failed to reopen. She is not alone. There are now 200,000 fewer jobs in the area than in August.

My Mom & Dad Cant Go Back to work Because We Cant go back to Public Housing....

When I teach about the working poor, I tell my students to look for the working poor at the bus stops in the morning and in the evening. The working poor have not returned. As the Brookings Institution Katrina Index tells us pre-Katrina public transportation in New Orleans averaged 124,000 riders per week; in January 2006 there were 11,709 a week, only 9% of the pre-storm number.

And those Busses are just riding Empty& free right now. I was Happy to see RTA when I went .. Houston's MTA Sucks!

The sick are not likely to return anytime soon. Healthcare in New Orleans is now difficult even for those with insurance but nearly impossible for the poor without it. While there were 22 hospitals open in New Orleans in June, in early 2006 there were 7, a 78% reduction. Before Katrina there were 53,000 hospital beds in the area, in February 2006 there were 15,000 - waits of more than 8 hours in emergency rooms are not uncommon. With so many hospitals closed, people needing regular medical care like dialysis or chemotherapy cannot expect to return. Worse still for the poor, there is no public hospital in New Orleans any more - the Charity Hospital that over 50% of the people in shelters went to has not been reopened.

I Feel That!!

LSU said that charity & Universal are closed for Good.. I heard that During a Radio Broadcast on our way to houston. Isn't there a medical cruise ship out there now? How about the at the Convention Center? What happened to those areas for clinic usage? My Gandmother is living in N.O with Diabetes. She's Living Strong too .. Hopefully she wont get sick anytime soon. All the Madness! Ahhh!

Children have not returned to New Orleans. Most public schools remain closed or have been converted into charter schools. Before the storm there were 117 public schools with 60,000 students. In January 2006, there were 19 open, including 8 new charter schools, serving about 13,000 students. Houston alone has nearly 20,000 evacuated students. The failure to reopen public schools in New Orleans has prompted litigation to force the charter and public schools to accept children.

ofcourse. Because they lived in Public Housing also There is a school in houston that was taken over by the Knowledge is Power Program & Those kids are Doing just fine.. There are a few school open In N.O also. I saw young Kids with Backpacks on when I went there last time. Then you have those people who are in Jefferson Parish Schools (which is not N.O but yet that want to be N.O so badly LOL)

Shouts to McDonogh #35 High School for Being Open!
Shouts to The MAX School also!


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Even among homeowners, it is much more likely that white homeowners will have the chance to rebuild than black homeowners because of deep patterns of racial disparities in income - white median income is $61,000 compared to black income of $25,000. Black businesses were severely impacted by Katrina. Rebuilding by homeowners in mostly black low-lying neighborhoods is much less likely at the time of the writing of this article because of bulldozing plans by the city and because rebuilding in those areas depends heavily on planning and homeowners insurance and flood insurance issues, many of which have yet to be resolved. As a result, because renters, poor people and those without work are overwhelmingly African-American, "New Orleans is at risk of losing 80% of its black population."

"New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again," Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, told a Houston audience. Recall some of the characteristics of people who ended up in shelters, then compare to the situation currently in New Orleans:

• 64% were renters - now rents have skyrocketed and public housing is mostly closed;
• 22% had to care for someone who was physically unable to leave - now there are many fewer hospital beds;
• 52% had no health insurance - now the main center of public healthcare is closed;
• 76% had children under 18 with them in the shelter - most public schools are closed;
• 93% were black - the areas hit hardest were black and poor;
• 67% were employed full or part-time before the hurricane - there are now 200,000 fewer jobs than before the hurricane.

The people left behind in the rebuilding of New Orleans are the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, children, and prisoners, mostly African-American. Again left behind. The television showed who was left behind in the evacuation of New Orleans after Katrina. There is no similar easy visual for those who are left behind now, but they are the same people.

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Notice How many times They Use The Term "LEFT BEHIND"

"EOTW"

My Thoughts On Their Conclusion:

I Believe they're Right. All This Federal Crap is just a message letting us know that they don't want us to return. I think that I can wait a good 5 years. But by then. I'll probaby be settled somewhere. Oh well..



You can Read the Full Article and there conclusion Here at the Source

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0221-36.htm