Troubleshooter here...
 

...and things are a mess.

I live in Hammond, just across the lake from NO and I packed myself, Lady Sidhe and Little Sidhe up and headed for Pensacola.

I'm sure that seems a little counter intuitive, but my mother and grandmother live there and had just finished dealing with Ivan and had gone militia in their preperations for the next one, so they were set to ride out an extended catastrophe.

We're ok, and things are much better than they could be for us.

I came back to Hammond Wednesday and brought back a minivan full of relief supplies and a generator anf fuel and such. I've spent most of the past week riding around helping various families by delivering food, water and fuel and letting them use the generator to recharge their freezers and such. It's been a busy week.

I see a lot of arguments going on about relief being delayed because of racism, classism and ineptitude. All three are true.

I see a lot of arguments about so many people being left in the city because they're black. That is not true. Some people are refusing to get out. Some people refused to leave when they had the opportunity. Some bus drivers won't drive near the city because they don't want to get shot. Some people are too busy looting to leave.

There are enough true reasons for what is going on that people just need to quit focusing on blame until after the problem has been salved, and yes I meant to say salved. What happened in New Orleans is not the result of the hurricane, it is the result of so many different people with control of their own destiny chosing to not utilize that control.

Priorities need to be assigned, solutions need to be implemented, lives need to be saved. Save the ones that want to be saved, save the ones who can't save themselves, the rest have to make their own way.

We haven't even begun to see the long term ramifications of this. Access to fuel and food in the areas surrounding the gulf coast are in short supply. The supply lines that fed New Orleans don't stop here, they weren't meant to, so distribution is snarled like a bundle of yarn. Even here in Hammond someone tried to hijack a fuel truck, so now we have to have supply vehicles escorted by law enforcement. Someone was shot just up the road in a town of 8,000 for a tank full of gas.

Not to put too fine a point on it, people need to either provide solutions and supplies or shut the fuck up, I don't have word to describe what is happening down here.

Nurses are having to convince themselves to stop manually bagging patiets on external respiration so they can save other patients with less pressing needs.

It's crunch time.

Thanks for that. Glad y'all are alive.

Good news from you about your situation and the status of your family. Thanks for checking in.

I believe your assesment about the threefold reasons for delayed relief. And the nurses' priorities too. But don't look for much relief on the "...shut the fuck up..." part. The windage and spinage to come from all corners will rival Katrina in size and scope and damage.

And that part about "...words will never hurt me..." Just ain't true.

Nice to know you are OK, and here's hoping the best for your family. I can't even imagine what it is like, so thank you for taking the time to share with us.

And as always, let us know if you need anything, and the best way to get it to you.

There are a couple long term problems that we haven't even begun to see.

What happens when all of the professionals who fit into a city that size are forced to look for work in all of the surrounding areas?

What about all of the non-professional workers?

And worse yet, those who are alternatively employed?

What happens when the supplies that were still in the city run out and the scavengers/predators start to spread out into the outlying areas?

One of the major arteries that fed New Orleans passes through the heart of Hammond. Hammond is the intersection of interstates 10 and 55 and there are still only a few viable, major routes into and out of the city.

And I don't even want to think about the river traffic.

We still haven't seen the worst of this, as scary as that may be.

Echoing what OC said...is there anything we can send you, and a way to make sure it gets there?

Good to know you two are okay!

Glad to hear from you! Continued good fortune (and good planning) to you and your family.

Troubleshooter - God Bless You and Your Family! I can't even begin to imagine what everyone is going through.

As bizarre as this may sound, supplies are becoming less of an issue. It's the ability to distribute those supplies that is becoming problematic.

The population of Baton Rouge has ballooned and is now having problems meeting fuel demands. Also, many of the distributers for the surrounding areas were out of New Orleans and aren't getting their products out.

Thanks for the well wishing, but keep an eye out, it's only going to get worse for a while...

Do not hesitate to seek assistance from the members of this community. We can make stuff happen, somehow, some way.

**I** want to help, too. Els said it, I affirm it. Right now, I'm only giving $$ to the Red Cross. Portable, fungible, and it goes with just about everything. But I would respond to a specific request, if I could. That is, if I had a specific request.

:)

I appreciate that, truly, but I'm doing quite well at the moment, I have food, lights, water, and school has resumed. Even if it's in a slightly modified manner.

Now is the time to let the supplies that are present start to diffuse and see where specific needs begin to crop up.

The way things are looking, bullets may be more needed soon...

if you need anything from a cellarite i will be flying over abbeville every weekend for the next couple of months and on occasion flying into baton rouge so i can relay items and such to you. i'll mostly be over abbeville and the baton rouge flights will be fare flights so i won't know if i'll be able to carry anything with a plane load of people......