Hurricane Kartrina

Good luck and best wishes for your safety, Jake!

Hey pal, stay safe and keep your wits about you! this ones gonna make a mess!

Jake
Hang in there my friend our thoughts are with you.
Rod

I got an e-mail from Jake a few hours ago, warning me that he's likely to be out of touch with the Forum for a while. People in his neck of the woods are being told that they're likely to lose their internet service for at least a week.

As of a few minutes ago Katrina was up to Category 5 status - the worst. I've never been through one like that. (Here in North Carolina, my family lost a car, a piece of roof, a fence, and several trees - including one that was 75 feet tall - to Floyd, which was a Category 4.) Jake and his neighbors will need all the best wishes we can give them.

if it foats ok, it will be the fastest sailing ship in history with that wind!!!

Posting from OEP - Jake

The school board just re-provisioned the two main shelters from all the other school freezers and stocks. I and several other workers just cleaned out our freezers and broght the food to the plant along with a BBQ pit and a few extra tanks.


This Hurricane will stay a Hurricane all the way into north Tennesee or more so. This is one for the books that all others can be judge by!

They also fear entire sections of I-10 coming from the east as well as sections of the Causeway (26 mile bridge) will be washed away or shifted off the foundation so they will not be able to be used to get back into the Parished from the east, as it happemed in Alabama. That means no supplies or relief except airborn.

Our plant can take the pounding but our pump are at sea-level we are expecting to see 12-16 ft. above that.

I'll write when I can to keep you updated.

Jake

Be safe and God Bless... From the look of things this can be a real pisser as we call big storms down east.. I do pray for you guys,

Will be keeping you all in our prayers.

Jake and all others in the path of Katrina,
May God be with you all. Expect to hear from you soon.
David and Margaret.

prayers for the safety of you and yours....

Rob

has anyone heard from Jake yet?? cause I'm watching the news here and it says that there are white-caps in the streets of New Orleans.....that can't be good.

and to Jake, prayers to you. godspeed

Regards,

Anthony

Jake, hope all is well pal.
I've never seen anything like this in a developed country! what we're seeing on TV is 3rd world stuff!

Vapo: this'll cheer you up: Reports of shootings, carjackings and looting in the area near the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, a policeman tells CNN. More soon.

The reports on the TV news this morning are downright terrifying. I thought Floyd was bad, but it looks like Katrina may turn out to be the worst natural disaster since the San Francisco Earthquake.

Heaven only knows when Jake will be able to get in touch with us. I suspect his job with the water department is pretty hish right now. Jake, if you're reading this, we're thinking and worrying about you. Give us an update when you can.

Jake was kind enough to lend me his Watkins "Building Plastic Ship Models" book recently, so I can guarantee at least one tiny part of his modeling collection is safe. I can't stop thinking about him, and my cousin's daughter at Tulane whom we haven't heard from yet. God Bless everyone on the Gulf Coast today... seeing the floodwaters steadily cover the city is like watching a tsunami in slow motion.

QUOTE: Originally posted by trowlfazz Vapo: this'll cheer you up: Reports of shootings, carjackings and looting in the area near the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, a policeman tells CNN. More soon.

Why on earth would that cheer me up my friend?

I've tried calling Jake without any luck tonight which I thought would be the case.I was hoping different.I looked up his Parish and its completley flooded.So his hands are full.Again my thoughts are with him and his family.
Rod

Almost the entire 504 area code is without phone right now, it looks like it might be while to get it back up. I've got family staying with me from New Orleans right now and although it's a mess, there are some areas there better off than others. It looks like the Metaire area was less damaged than the others, they said Chalmette (where Jake is) isn't far from them so hopefully it too is ok. Problem is they are mandatorily evacuating everyone now, and after they let people back in on Monday to get their belongings they are closing access to the city for a month.

Bad enough the destruction, but not being able to work and make money for 5 weeks is heavy on the minds of my relatives, and I am sure a lot of others as well...

I would imagine, that's a situation faced by thousands at the moment. I can only hope that some form of financial support system be put in place quickly, but given the speed the goverment moves at, it's doubtfull

All our thought are with those from New Orleans at the present time. In England we are all amazed at the slow response of your government. All our best wishes to those affected.

Harrowbeer - it's not totally a problem of slow response. It is a problem of over 90,000 square miles (144,840 km/sq, the entire country of England is 130,478 km/sq to put it in proportion) of land affected by the storm and trying to cover all of it at once is difficult at the moment. More and more resources are pouring their way each moment.

Most of the evacuated people I have talked to, including my relatives, are very happy with the warning and evacuation order they got as well as the response to the aftermath.

Ultimately everyone in southern Louisiana, Mississipi and Alabama are enduring quite a bit through this... I wish them the best..

FEMA needs to be disbanded and overhauled. The response time should be within an hour of a disaster. There should of been a plan in place- not a 60 hour forewarning notice but a 120 hour one. Mandatory evacuations be mandated even if they are forced. All these political joggling among city and local elected members should of been thrown out.

Viewing the news over here in Australia I am horrifed by the destruction and the desperation of the survivors. Our thoughts and Prayers are with Jake and all the people caught up in this disaster of almost Biblical proportions. The news keeps on about how slow help has been coming but by the looks of it the scale of the damage is so huge the relief effort will have to be huge and this takes time to wind up. One of the things i admire about the USA is that once the logistics start to roll, it will, I am sure be very impressive . Once again our thoughts and prayers are with everyone caught in this disaster.

Seen from Europe the devastation is absolutely devastating. Images remind me of the tsunami of December 2004, although I know we are not getting the whole picture, only the most spectacular shots. I sincerely hope that Jake and his family are going well and are safe, and pray for all those who have lost everything, not to mention their life.

I know the European press is little "anti-US" at the moment, due to some obvious political reasons, but seen from here the governement definitely did not anticipate the chaotic effets of Kartrina. Soldiers could have been gathered at safe locations, ready to step in when the danger is gone, food stocks could have been made, doctors and medical supplies, and choppers... I mean you really get the impression that despite all the scientific analysis and warning, the governement was totally surprised by the hurricane, and didn't know what to do until the press showed us more and more images of desolation. Meantime Bush was enjoying his holidays in his ranch...

But I digress; as Richard said it, "one of the things I admire about the USA is that once the logistics start to roll, it will, I am sure, be very impressive". Take good care Jack, our prayers are with you!

It does look like the government response is picking up speed now. As of last night several Navy warships (I think I saw an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the background of a shot on the TV news last night) were on the scene. They can provide vast amounts of freshly-distilled water and, if somebody figures out how to make the necessary connections, electricity. And one of the Navy's big hospital ships is on the way.

Let's just hope the situation doesn't get too far out of control before help arrives in the necessary numbers. Babies and the elderly are dying, and the medics are worried about cholera, tuberculosis and malaria.

Jake - if you read this, give us an update when you can. Our thoughts are with you.

I saw at least one LPD on the way, it can house around 900 people or so and provide medical serivces (including operating room) as well as food and water. And who knows what is riding in the well deck, maybe some heavy equipment or generators and food and such. I have a feeling it is going to be used for casualties as it was designed for, versus a floating hotel. If it is the USS Austin, it can carry about 6 CH-46's on board for evac. Here is a blurb from globalsecurity.org on the Austin class ships:

A secondary mission is evacuation and civilian disaster relief. Hundreds of tons of relief materials can be carried aboard and can be delivered to disaster victims within minutes of the ship's arrival on the scene. The ships' medical and dental facilities can provide limited hospitalization care, as well as out-patient treatment for hundreds of sick or injured.


The USNS Comfort can provide for the injured, I believe upwards of 1000 beds. It has 12 fully functional operating rooms, several ICU's and the medical staff to go with all that. (most of which provided from some of the top Navy hospitals like Bethesda and Portsmouth) I was stationed at the NNMC Bethesda when the Comfort was commisioned and went to see it in Baltimore... a very impressive ship! Thinking about that much capacity it literally is a floating medical center....

Tilley,
Any news from Big Jake yet?
His home area, Chalmette, appears to be completely flooded... I just hope he's going well.


(source: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurricanes/interactive/fullpage.nola.flood/katrina.html)

Bigger image: http://www.digitalglobe.com/images/katrina/new_orleans_chalmette_aug31_2005_dg.jpg

Haven't heard anything from Jake myself. I share everybody's concern; it does look like Chalmette was among the hardest-hit communities.

I believe Jake works for the water company. If so, he probably is regarded as something of a VIP at the moment. Jake, if you're reading this - we certainly understand that a website like this has to get a very low priority at the moment. But do drop us a line when you can. We're worried.