Emptying out the convention center will take a FEW MORE DAYS?!

[nonconformist]

WTF!?!?!?!

Just reported on CNN, along with the news that the Superdome is now empty.

again, wtf?

edit: link

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.impact/index.html

Evacuees wait as relief effort builds
Military role grows amid suffering at convention center, hospitals

Sunday, September 4, 2005; Posted: 3:42 a.m. EDT (07:42 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Action on the ground in New Orleans picked up Saturday as authorities evacuated 42,000 people from the city, including all of those who were gathered in the Superdome.

With the military's role growing, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his top general are scheduled to visit New Orleans Sunday to see the efforts firsthand.

Buses began arriving at the Ernest Morial Convention Center mid-morning Saturday, and evacuated some 4,000 people by the end of the day, according to officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Military officials said it could take days to fully evacuate the convention center, where as many as 30,000 victims have been stranded amid mounds of trash and human waste, with little food or water, since Katrina's landfall on Monday.

[OhioChick]

1. I thought

that it was already empty?????

[liberal43110]

4. It's true

The Superdome was supposedly emptied today. The convention center is most definitely NOT.

[Moochy]

2. Do they mean clearing out the the astrodome? n/t

[nonconformist]

3. No, they said the Convention Center. nt

[liberal43110]

6. The Astrodome is in Houston

The Superdome is in New Orleans, and it was supposedly emptied today. The convention center is still a hell hole.

[expatriot]

5. the source of all these conflicting reports: struggle between the media's

habit of reporting government statements as fact vs. the truth they are finding on the ground. It goes back and forth, ebbs and flows.

[liberal43110]

9. Yes, but..........

There's also just plain confusion/lack of knowledge about the different building names among most people. Since I lived in New Orleans for 11 years, until 4 years ago, I know the names and they make sense to me.

To many people, the 2 "domes" are confusing, as is the convention center, which joined the Superdome as a hellish cesspool of death and misery on Thursday (in the news). I think some people didn't understand that there were now 2 of these mammoth buildings with thousands of people in and around them, dying among the corpses and human waste.

[spuddonna]

7. This is a totally f'd up situation...

I hear that The Dome so far is empty USUALLY now, but people are still showing up so they are still running buses.

I hadn't heard an update on the convention center... it's crazy, how can people NOT be out of there? Today will be a WEEK! A WEEK!!!

GAHHHHHH!!!! I think a bunch of 18 wheelers could have done a better job!! My God...

[nonconformist]

8. I can't believe this. I'm just floored. nt

[MadeinOhio]

10. Mission Accomplished. n/t

[Zen Democrat]

11. I think that people being rescued today were taken the convention center

to wait for helicopters to transport them out. Couldn't they take them to another place?

[NYC]

12. Days?

How many people are in there?

[nonconformist]

13. Thousands?

I don't know. Are there still reporters in there? If there aren't, we'll never know.

[NYC]

19. If they're still in there,

they're still dying. This is such a shame, such a disgrace. There is no excuse for this.

Are they leaving them overnight again? Why can't they drive trucks and buses 24 hours a day? (I know you don't know the answers.)

[nonconformist]

20. According to the CNN story I linked in this thread

4,000 of the 30,000 have been evacuated.

So, 26,000 people.

[NYC]

21. That is so unbelievable.

26,000 still in the Convention Center. And we have no idea how many are in their attics and on their rooftops.

Anne Rice re New Orleans:

...But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs. Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl090305annerice.21ad697f.html

[nonconformist]

22. YOU FAILED US.

So true...

:cry:

[me b zola]

27. reporters

I read a thread earlier today that said that the NG is denying the press access into the convention center. I'm not sure what day the article was written, but the NG only arrived yesterday.

I also noticed that I have not seen any new film footage of NO since this morning. MSNBC kept playing old footage all night, nothing new.

I've been concerned about this, now I am even more concerned.

[MadisonProgressive]

14. That can't possibly be true.

Geraldo on Fox News said it was completely empty!

[I_Make_Mistakes]

15. I just heard on wwl.com (radio) Baton Rouge Most of the convention

center has been evacuated. The Superdome is fully evacuated.

[nonconformist]

16. It's true.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.impact/index.html

[MadisonProgressive]

29. I guess Geraldo was/is full of shit.

This is fucking ridiculous!

[nonconformist]

17. UPDATE: THIS IS TRUE

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.impact/index.html

Evacuees wait as relief effort builds
Military role grows amid suffering at convention center, hospitals

Sunday, September 4, 2005; Posted: 3:42 a.m. EDT (07:42 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Action on the ground in New Orleans picked up Saturday as authorities evacuated 42,000 people from the city, including all of those who were gathered in the Superdome.

With the military's role growing, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his top general are scheduled to visit New Orleans Sunday to see the efforts firsthand.

Buses began arriving at the Ernest Morial Convention Center mid-morning Saturday, and evacuated some 4,000 people by the end of the day, according to officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Military officials said it could take days to fully evacuate the convention center, where as many as 30,000 victims have been stranded amid mounds of trash and human waste, with little food or water, since Katrina's landfall on Monday.

[NYC]

24. That article is 3:42 a.m. Eastern time.

26,000 people are still there.

So bring more buses. Bring planes. Bring everything. How can they stretch this out over DAYS? Throughout this whole thing, the government has lacked a sense of urgency. People will die while they are there. Even with food and water (assuming it is now adequate), there is no air conditioning. Conditions are miserable.

[KharmaTrain]

18. This Is No Surprise...Think Of The Scope

Mayor Nagin claimed on Thursday that there were still upwards of 100,000 people still trapped in the city. 30,000 were at the Superdome. Remember, the Superdome was a "Shelter Of last resort", but it wasn't the only shelter. The Convention Center was another place people were sent once the flooding began on Monday. By Wednesday, the crowd at the Superdome had grown to upwards of 35,000 by some reports...maybe more...and people were being directed toward the convention center...where soon another 10,000 had congregated with promises of buses to pick them up on the I-10 bridge and take them away. It never happened.

This also doesn't take into account the thousands that we heard were stranded under overpasses, still trapped in houses and apartments...I tend to think the Mayor's headcount wasn't too far off.

Just doin' the math...if a bus can comfortably hold 70 people...that's gonna take a lot of busses for a lot of days to get all those people out of the area. Also, where do you take them? It appears it's just getting the busses on the roads right now and then once out of the city they're directed on a final destination. What a ride into nowhere that must be.

I suspect we'll still be seeing busses coming out and rescues going on well into the middle of next week. I'm hoping the fires and toxicity of that water doesn't make matters worse in the meantime.

[nonconformist]

23. KIck - this is just horrible. nt

[riverwalker]

25. and still no Red Cross

in the city of New Orleans. A week after the disaster.

http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?


Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

The Red Cross shares the nation’s anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.

[spuddonna]

26. I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp where I relive this day over...

and over and over...

'They're evac'ing the Superdome today, and convention center next...'
'They're evac'ing the Superdome today, and convention center next...'

And then, around 1 am, you hear "The buses have stopped arriving, the evac has paused... no updates"

Rinse, fucking repeat...

How many people have died? How many people lived through the nightmare of howling winds and pounding rain, only to DIE IN A CESSPOOL HELL AT A SHELTER?

The last I heard there were still people at the FUCKING AIRPORT?!

[nonconformist]

28. Kick to let the morning crowd know. nt

[lostnfound]

30. Meanwhile, NPR yesterday said convention center mostly empty

I thought that yesterday this article "Convention Center Empties After Evacuation Delays" actually said it was "all but empty". But it definitely did say that "buses evacuated most of those remaining at the Convention Center". I was skeptical when I read it but it seems that no one was reporting from inside the convention center.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4831752