My memories of Katrina 10 years ago

I was going into day surgery on Monday to have my Gall Bladder removed(it was diseased but they never did any pathology on the disease.....it was the beginning of the end). On Friday night I called friends in Biloxi and told them to get the hell out of town. They said it would not hit them and they were thinking they would stick it out. I argued with them that with two young children that they had NO right to gamble on Bob's certain scientific Hurricane landfall predictions.

Well when they finally got out the interstates were jammed. They barely got clear of the path, and I had just completed building a new four bedroom 2,500 square foot home which had an occupancy permit. I told the four of them to come over and use the house for a couple of weeks. When they got to Navarre they would not let anybody south of interstate 10, again because of Bob's certain Hurricane predictions. They proceeded south to Disney World and spent three days. During this time, her father owned a major printing firm in Biloxi where he stayed near downtown with his printing plant. The water came in quick and he spent the night on top of a machine which already was elevated. He lost over four million dollars of flood damage which was not insured. When he finally was able to leave the building and wade into the water, there were dead people in trees and in the water. His employees began calling in after spending the night in trees having lost everything.

I am going into surgery when I get the call from the crying wife, they needed help. I spent ten minutes in pre op making calls. I raised 14k from friends who gave $500 apiece. I had one friend who got twenty sleeping bags and twenty cots shipped to my new house which was not furnished. When I got out of surgery still groggy I continued contacting friends and coordinating getting 20 plus refugees from biloxi into my house. These people were traumatized and in shock, but by the end of the week they had made the house comfortable, had set up a command center for the business and the employees had a life boat. I remember going over to the house and using the bathroom three months after they had left.....there were six unique colored bic razors which each woman had their razors. The gravity of the situation sank in looking at those razors. I later had to put in a new $2,500 septic pump because of the demand on the septic during those three months.

I learned how important it is to have friends. While going into surgery we saved 24 people who were hopeless, scared, and with no safety net. The father when he came over to Navarre had to spend a week in the hospital for a nervous breakdown....he was a strong man, but he had lost everything and he saw how his employees had lost everything.....it was a horrible time, but from this hell his company survived, grew, and prospered. My friends got a beautiful new home, and the employees all rebuilt their lives. America is a great country, and Americans have each others back. The hugs my wife and I got were worth a million dollars and there is no better feeling than helping people in a crisis. Biloxi is better than ever....and life goes on, but Bob....as usual he does not have a clue.....we have NOT gotten better on landfall predictions a week out....people died.

2seaoat wrote:Bob....as usual he does not have a clue.....we have NOT gotten better on landfall predictions a week out....people died.  

Since the National Hurricane Center doesn't even issue landfall predictions a week out,  I'm not sure which one of us is the one without a clue.  lol

The NHC itself has emphasized to the public how difficult (actually almost impossible) it is to predict landfall that far out.

By the way, seaoat, what you're calling "Bob's predictions" is what I put in that other thread today.
If you go back and look at my posts again, I showed you the NHC's track forecasts over time for two hurricanes, and one was Katrina.
What that plainly conveys is how the track forecasts don't always correctly predict what will happen. Which in all that storytelling you just wrote appears to be what you believe too. You don't even realize we're in agreement. lol

My memories of Katrina include supervising a crew patrolling the streets for looters. I didn't want to be there, but Bush made me go.

Dammit! It's all Bush's fault.

(oh well, we made a ton of overtime & some travel money .... so it wasn't all bad I guess)

I have four pastimes/hobbies/interests/obsessions/whatever, Emerald Ghost.
Coin-operated amusements, UFO's, airliner crashes and disasters (both natural and manmade).
The last one puts a lot of emphasis on hurricanes since I've always lived in hurricane alley.

And now you tell me you were military on the streets of New Orleans trying to stop looters after Katrina.
That's like if I was a space buff and you just told me you were John Glenn.
Tell me more. How bad was it? Say something to put me there beside you as it was going down.

What about that Gen. Honore dude? Was he as hero in real-life as he was a media hero?
And what about the Jefferson Sheriff blockading the bridge out of Orleans?
Do you have any knowledge on that?

Oh wow.  I just realized you can shed some light on something that nobody else I'll ever be able to talk to can.

As I'm sure you probably know,  Chris Kyle says he was stationed on top of the Superdome as a sniper to take out looters and he shot some dead.
What's your take on that?  lol

Whoops, I just saw you said "crew". Not military.
Did they bring in private contractors too? I thought it was all just National Guard. Who hired the private contractors?

EG is Leo.......but like the hurricane forecasting which you compared to climate change predictions......you are having difficulty with the obvious. You are the one who is saying how much better it has gotten.....the truth is that it is so bad that people are going to Europe to get Hurricane predictions. Darts and donkeys, and you did not agree with my conclusion. People in Mississippi and La were not stupid when they did not evacuate, rather they had heard wolf so many times in the three years before that they figured they were wrong again.....people died.

Wow, to wake up this morning to a story from Seaoat. It's gonna be a great Saturday! Better than the old days with Saturday morning cartoons! And it was a story how he came to the rescue by rounding up his posse of rich friends!

Does it get any better than that!?

A warning was put out 24 hours before Katrina hit, that warned New Orleans and Ms gulf coast it would be devastating and homes would be destroyed, tall buildings would sway and some lose foundation's. It also said they may not be able to return for weeks or months.

I live one mile from 3 mile bridge and I don't believe exits coming south were closed.

Bob wrote:Whoops,  I just saw you said "crew".  Not military.
Did they bring in private contractors too?  I thought it was all just National Guard.  Who hired the private contractors?

I used the word "crew" because I wanted to avoid direct mention of the Federal agencies I've worked for in my career.

But, yeah .... there were a few contract operators there. Didn't work with any of 'em, but seen 'em & spoke with a couple around the command post

I think Katrina was the first Hurricane to turn political.  

The idiots who partied on the Gulf Coast and died in Camille...their own fault.

Those who did not get out of the path of Katrina, as I recall, was Bush's fault.

The political Hurricane of the new century...setting the course for all others to follow.

SheWrites wrote:I think Katrina was the first Hurricane to turn political.  

The idiots who partied on the Gulf Coast and died in Camille...their own fault.

Those who did not get out of the path of Katrina, as I recall, was Bush's fault.

The political Hurricane of the new century...setting the course for all others to follow.

but what about the children ?...wait that's another thread ......

You know, I'd ask permission to write his life story but I'd never give it justice. He needs to write it. Only Seaoat can bring the depth, the emotion, the epic drama of Seaoat.

In awe...

SheWrites wrote:You know, I'd ask permission to write his life story but I'd never give it justice.  He needs to write it.  Only Seaoat can bring the depth, the emotion, the epic drama of Seaoat.

In awe...

What a bitch you are? You probably never even came close in your "christian" life of ever doing anything like that.

Vikingwoman wrote:

SheWrites wrote:You know, I'd ask permission to write his life story but I'd never give it justice.  He needs to write it.  Only Seaoat can bring the depth, the emotion, the epic drama of Seaoat.

In awe...

What a bitch you are? You probably never even came close in your "christian" life of ever doing anything like that.

now that wasn't nice....say you're sorry...

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

Vikingwoman wrote:

SheWrites wrote:You know, I'd ask permission to write his life story but I'd never give it justice.  He needs to write it.  Only Seaoat can bring the depth, the emotion, the epic drama of Seaoat.

In awe...

What a bitch you are? You probably never even came close in your "christian" life of ever doing anything like that.

now that wasn't nice....say you're sorry...

I'm sorry.

Seaoat knows I pick on him and his stories.

But I would never be so rude as to call names, Vikingwoman.

As for helping another person, I feel it is to be done without placing an emphasis on being the helper. Just do and don't set yourself up for what you've done to be noticed by everyone.

Nope, the story gets better. After Sandy, the Republican representative from Biloxi voted against aid to the storm victims in NJ. I got angry and emailed him that I would call in favors of every victim from Katrina who stayed at my place in Navarre for three months, and would ask them each to get others to vote that uncaring SOB out of office, and I would make donations to his primary opponent. Two days later he got on a plane and went to NJ to view the damage and changed his vote. I have no problem with She giving me crap, I am proud that I have lived a life where others sit and I act......it is the way I am wired......I actually believed as an Eagle Scout to do my duty, and as a Christian to act instead of talk.....but she is right.....I do love to talk and tell a story....you know Abe Lincoln is my hero, and often I feel like Old Abe sitting around a pot belly stove in New Salem telling a story......life is good, and I have NO regrets.......plus most of those hugs were from pretty young girls....old seaoat may be sick, but he is not dead yet.

ppaca wrote:A warning was put out 24 hours before Katrina hit, that warned New Orleans and Ms gulf coast it would be devastating and homes would be destroyed, tall buildings would sway and some lose foundation's. It also said they may not be able to return for weeks or months.

The reason so many didn't heed the warnings and evacuate is mainly because the year before they evacuted for Ivan.  That created a monumental traffic jam on the interstates and then proved to be a false alarm (for New Orleans not us).
A year later when Katrina was threatening they remembered the false alarm the year before so many of them decided to ride it out.

As for helping another person, I feel it is to be done without placing an emphasis on being the helper. Just do and don't set yourself up for what you've done to be noticed by everyone.


Been on the front page of the paper many times for helping people. Did not ask to be there, but chit happens. Over 20 average folks gave five hundred bucks each(which was a lot of money for most) and one wealthy guy gave 5k, but the key is the network. The friends and families who did not hesitate when I called and said mutual friends were in trouble. I stood up at a meeting where they were going to shut down all co-curricular activities for high school kids in a budget deficit where a referendum failed. I simply said we would make up the gap. I was laughed at as I often am here when I say something positive. We had to raise 500k in two months, but the kicker......I had one week to raise 50k or they would not even let the fundraiser attempt happen. The teachers union snickered as they wanted the programs to be cut so kids would be hurt and the parents would vote for the referendum and they would get a raise. The board wanted pretty much the same thing....two years of kids without Art, music, band, sports, and other club activities.....they snickered when I said I would have the 50k. I went to every bank, developer, and business and they trusted me to do what I said I would do. They had a fifty thousand dollar check one week later at the board meeting and a 500k check from our various fund raisers which included a draw down which raised over 450k. A total of about 570k which was the largest private fund raiser for a public school in state history. The best part....the next referendum passed because the community was filled with positive thoughts.

We each make decisions on the world we live. We can watch racism and hate allow for treating Americans in NO as if they were some lower life form, or we can celebrate our differences and work to eliminate hate. Each of us make decisions every day to cocoon and seek safety or become part of the community which seeks a better life for all. Katrina was more than a hurricane. It was part of the wake up call for America. Hopefully, positive things 10 years later will not allow any American citizen to be thought of less.

So that is who I am She, you can take anyway you want, but good people are the only ones who can defeat evil.....thinking is not enough.....it takes action.

A year later when Katrina was threatening they remembered the false alarm the year before so many of them decided to ride it out.

Correct. The cry wolf factor based on sloppy predictions caused people to die. I have written Accuweather in Illinois where they claim every weekend that there is going to be thunderstorms and tornado watches. There graphics show thunder bolts every weekend, but they never give probabilities of rain let alone of these serious storms. I talked about how they were generating profits from clicks and ads on their websites as weekend planned events are put on hold as they check their sites, and Rarely does the weather ever happen, but they got their clicks. I simply mentioned that maybe folks who had businesses which were seasonal and outdoors were being hurt by their first priority which was profit by clicks scaring people.

It did not take long and they started adding percentages to these outrageous thunderstorm predictions.....people could see a 20% instead of a thunderbolt which implied 100%......it is still crooked as a bent stick, but I am certain that hurricane predictions have no clicks in mind and that casting wide areas has nothing to do with profit....yea right.

2seaoat wrote:A year later when Katrina was threatening they remembered the false alarm the year before so many of them decided to ride it out.

Correct.  The cry wolf factor based on sloppy predictions caused people to die.  

Actually the reliability of the NHC's track forecast for Ivan was one of the best on record for any major hurricane.

Almost three days before Ivan made landfall,  this was the track forecast.  At this point Ivan was a category 5 hurricane.



This was the track forecast about a day out from landfall.  At this point,  Ivan was at category 4.



So there was nothing "sloppy" about the NHC's forecasting.

For decades,  everyone realized New Orleans was the most vulnerable spot on the U.S. coastline for a major hurricane hit.  Simply because most of it is below sea level making it a giant bathtub if the storm surge was to breach the levees.
So when a very powerful hurricane which was enormous in size (the "big one") was finally approaching,  they had no choice but to err on the side of caution.
Had they not done so,  and Ivan had tracked over New Orleans,  it would have been catastrophic.  

But the track forecast as you can see was spot on.  However,  because of the margin of error they've established based on their past experience,  they tell us to rely only on the cone (of uncertainty),  not the center point of the track forecast.  And since New Orleans was in that cone,  it was a potential target.

Somehow,  I don't think monkeys throwing darts could have made the track forecasts as accurately as you see in the above two graphics.  But if you prefer to go to a zoo and get monkeys to throw darts,  it's a free country.  lol

You are the one who added monkeys. Not my words. As usual you make chit up. I implied that the so called professionals were throwing darts at maps cut out to look like donkeys. Out of thin air you brought in monkeys.

My point is that it is not accurate. It caused deaths in Katrina. Wolf Wolf Wolf......no monkey involved. Three days out they were right on Ivan....the exception.