Update from South Louisiana
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to give everyone a personal account of the way things are going here these days. I am writing this from my wife's parents house in Paulina, Louisiana. We just got the electricity back up and running here (aprox. 70 miles west of Slidell, LA where the eye wall seems to have made a direct hit). My wife and I live in LaPlace and have been making daily trips there to deliver ice and other essential items to our neighbors who are without power. We were spared the catastrophic damage that is being reported, however thats not to say we were free of serious damage.
I have several friends and relatives who have lost everything they own. It's extremely humbling to talk to friends who live in the Metro area and my wife and I feel very fortunate to have escaped this catastrophy.
Unfortunatly there are a number of subhuman animals taking advantage of the misfortune of others. I am not talking about the break-ins that are occuring at grocery stores to salvage food and diapers for children, but rather the animals who are robbing peoples homes, shooting at police officers, national guard, and relief workers. I don't care if the media is telling you that much of this is "acts of desperation" it's mostly a result of the pieces of shit who have no compassion for other human beings. I have been spending the last few days helping to clean up and assist neighbors and can go on and on about incidents occuring in and out of the city that include severe price gouging, armed robery, and rape.
It's disturbing to see and hear about the complete social breakdown that occurs as a result of an event like this. Please keep the people here in your thoughts and prayers as the days go by. The death toll from this event will be outrageous and I have no idea when life here will return to something resembling normal. I hope to have a chance to post additional updates in the next few days/weeks.
I wanted to give everyone a personal account of the way things are going here these days. I am writing this from my wife's parents house in Paulina, Louisiana. We just got the electricity back up and running here (aprox. 70 miles west of Slidell, LA where the eye wall seems to have made a direct hit). My wife and I live in LaPlace and have been making daily trips there to deliver ice and other essential items to our neighbors who are without power. We were spared the catastrophic damage that is being reported, however thats not to say we were free of serious damage.
I have several friends and relatives who have lost everything they own. It's extremely humbling to talk to friends who live in the Metro area and my wife and I feel very fortunate to have escaped this catastrophy.
Unfortunatly there are a number of subhuman animals taking advantage of the misfortune of others. I am not talking about the break-ins that are occuring at grocery stores to salvage food and diapers for children, but rather the animals who are robbing peoples homes, shooting at police officers, national guard, and relief workers. I don't care if the media is telling you that much of this is "acts of desperation" it's mostly a result of the pieces of shit who have no compassion for other human beings. I have been spending the last few days helping to clean up and assist neighbors and can go on and on about incidents occuring in and out of the city that include severe price gouging, armed robery, and rape.
It's disturbing to see and hear about the complete social breakdown that occurs as a result of an event like this. Please keep the people here in your thoughts and prayers as the days go by. The death toll from this event will be outrageous and I have no idea when life here will return to something resembling normal. I hope to have a chance to post additional updates in the next few days/weeks.
Comments
Glad you're fine man. Things will get better.
V/R,
Aries 1B
anyway, i digress...
i, too, have at least a few friends who have lost everything in this. so i always temper my annoyance with yet another thing that has gotten damaged due to the storm with "well, at least i still HAVE that thing." i have a friend who is with the DA's office in new orleans right now trying to cope with the loss of his parents' evacuated house that burned down with every family memnto and photo inside, while his department tries to figure out how to try all outstanding cases with an evidence room that is 5 feet underwater. a couple other friends sold their house in lacombea few months ago, but a deal for a new house in metairie fell through, so they were living with her mom in chalmette... until now, when there's 12 feet of water in their neighborhood. the only good to come out of it is that they essentially liquidated their assets with that initial house sale, and are now planning on just staying where they are (raleigh, nc). then we know a brother and sister... one lives in new orleans, the other in mandeville, and BOTH of them lost everything, one to flood, the other to tree and wind damage. and a friend of mine and her husband rode the storm out in algiers, and while they avoided flooding or much damage, someone stole a car on their street, found the registration, went BACK to the owner's house (who they knew), and, well, i won't mention what happened next, but it was enough for them and their friends to arm themselves heavily and convoy out to houston. i know they got out safely, but i believe she's pretty traumatized by the whole thing, and i can't say i blame her.
i can't even wrap my head around the short, medium and long-term effects of all of this.