One last report...
Aug. 30th, 2005 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauraanne_gilmanI wish I could say "surprise, this is all a joke." It's not.
This will be the last message for a while to come. We are moving our operations center and the area where we will be will not support the technology that we have here.
The city today is a completely different city than it was yesterday. The situation is bleak. Yesterday there were passable roads. Today there are virtually none. The city now only has one way in or out. There is no partying now, not even by the die-hards. There is water everywhere. There is no electricity and no potable water. There is no place to go to the bathroom and there is no place to rest. If there is a “livable” structure it is being used by emergency personnel of some sort. Communication between all the different agencies is scattered at best. Not that it matters, everyone is here to save lives and that is happening every minute of the day. The last numbers that came into us were more than 890 people rescued today. Our team alone handled 123 of those so far. If there’s any good news, that’s what it is.
There are dead animals floating in the water, pets left behind. Surely people thought they would be back to collect the pets. Not so. The rescuers smell like gas when they come back in; there’s gas in all of the water that consumes the area. Fires are burning all over the place. Our teams are tired and they are thirsty and they are hungry. And they have a place to sleep and water to drink and food to eat. I can only imagine how the people without these “luxuries” are feeling right now.
Each night will be a race against time. When night falls, people can’t get picked up from roofs, the rescuers can’t chop into people’s roofs to check the attics for anyone alive or for anyone dead (sadly, there are dead). At night we can’t see power lines we can’t see obstacles, we can’t see any of the things that will bring down a helicopter or pose a danger to boats rescuers.
One of the teams came in today after having been out for hours at a time. One particular rescuer went straight to a corner and collapsed into tears. I went directly to him and just held his hand. What else could I do? I said nothing. He said it all. They lowered him 26 times and he pulled 26 people to safety. He wants to be back out there but there are mandatory rest periods. His tears are tears of frustration.
Entire teams are working on nothing but evacuating the hospitals. All four of the major hospitals are beginning to flood. Critical patients have to get out or surely they will be lost. Generators cannot run forever; that’s just the way it is. There are limited facilities to take those that are rescued and those that need to be evacuated. Anything that leaves by air leaves by helicopter. There are no runways for planes that aren’t under water. Only one drivable way in and out.
Water everywhere and more keeps coming. Until they can do something about the three levees that are broken, more water will come and more water will kill. The water poses major health threats. Anyone with even a small open cut is prone to infection. Anyone who touches this water and touches his eyes, nose or mouth without find a way to “clean”himself first will be sick with stomach problems before long. It’s bad and it’s getting worse. It’s not going to be anything better than devastating for days or weeks at best.
I wish I could tell you that I’ll check in again soon. I can’t. I don’t know when my next message will get out. We’ll be leaving where we are within just an hour or so.
This will be the last message for a while to come. We are moving our operations center and the area where we will be will not support the technology that we have here.
The city today is a completely different city than it was yesterday. The situation is bleak. Yesterday there were passable roads. Today there are virtually none. The city now only has one way in or out. There is no partying now, not even by the die-hards. There is water everywhere. There is no electricity and no potable water. There is no place to go to the bathroom and there is no place to rest. If there is a “livable” structure it is being used by emergency personnel of some sort. Communication between all the different agencies is scattered at best. Not that it matters, everyone is here to save lives and that is happening every minute of the day. The last numbers that came into us were more than 890 people rescued today. Our team alone handled 123 of those so far. If there’s any good news, that’s what it is.
There are dead animals floating in the water, pets left behind. Surely people thought they would be back to collect the pets. Not so. The rescuers smell like gas when they come back in; there’s gas in all of the water that consumes the area. Fires are burning all over the place. Our teams are tired and they are thirsty and they are hungry. And they have a place to sleep and water to drink and food to eat. I can only imagine how the people without these “luxuries” are feeling right now.
Each night will be a race against time. When night falls, people can’t get picked up from roofs, the rescuers can’t chop into people’s roofs to check the attics for anyone alive or for anyone dead (sadly, there are dead). At night we can’t see power lines we can’t see obstacles, we can’t see any of the things that will bring down a helicopter or pose a danger to boats rescuers.
One of the teams came in today after having been out for hours at a time. One particular rescuer went straight to a corner and collapsed into tears. I went directly to him and just held his hand. What else could I do? I said nothing. He said it all. They lowered him 26 times and he pulled 26 people to safety. He wants to be back out there but there are mandatory rest periods. His tears are tears of frustration.
Entire teams are working on nothing but evacuating the hospitals. All four of the major hospitals are beginning to flood. Critical patients have to get out or surely they will be lost. Generators cannot run forever; that’s just the way it is. There are limited facilities to take those that are rescued and those that need to be evacuated. Anything that leaves by air leaves by helicopter. There are no runways for planes that aren’t under water. Only one drivable way in and out.
Water everywhere and more keeps coming. Until they can do something about the three levees that are broken, more water will come and more water will kill. The water poses major health threats. Anyone with even a small open cut is prone to infection. Anyone who touches this water and touches his eyes, nose or mouth without find a way to “clean”himself first will be sick with stomach problems before long. It’s bad and it’s getting worse. It’s not going to be anything better than devastating for days or weeks at best.
I wish I could tell you that I’ll check in again soon. I can’t. I don’t know when my next message will get out. We’ll be leaving where we are within just an hour or so.
