Rita Damage -- Untold Story in Cameron La...

[Peter Frank]

?

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/091905hurricanes/im:/050925/ids_photos_ts/r1525833345.jpg;_ylt=Auc4je4Efz6viroh01L7vrbmWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGcyMWMzBHNlYwNzc25hdg--?sp=-1&lsp=6000

[Peter Frank]

1. Link doesn't work...

...I'll get more info.

[Radio_Lady]

8. Is that a real photo? Where did you get it from?

Please let us know. Thanks.

[Peter Frank]

14. I Got it at Yahoo News...

I'm having trouble with the link -- see if my last post helps.

Here's the text:

Damage caused by Hurricane Rita is seen in Campron, Louisiana, September 24, 2005. Hurricane Rita left the U.S. Gulf Coast reeling on Saturday from two powerful storms in less than a month, with renewed flooding in New Orleans, widespread power outages and roads across hundreds of miles closed by debris, although damage was less than feared. REUTERS/David L. Ryan/Pool

[Peter Frank]

11. Here we go...

For some reason the html prefix posts as a failed pic.

Try copying this & pasting it in the address window:

news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/091905hurricanes/im:/050925/ids_photos_ts/r1525833345.jpg;_ylt=Auc4je4Efz6viroh01L7vrbmWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGcyMWMzBHNlYwNzc25hdg--?sp=-1&lsp=6000

Let me know if it works...

[keopeli]

13. Truly devastating! But a photo is not LBN

You will need to post this in the GD forum. There's also instructions on how to post a link so it will work in the help section.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Wow! A horrible tragedy for those folks down there.

[TankLV]

43. WTF are you talking about - it was posted on the day it was taken!

You should look at the "rules" yourself!

It's STILL going on as I write this on SUNDAY - and it's getting WORSE!

This belongs in LBN!

And DU needs to can some moderators.

[Radio_Lady]

16. I got to the basic page, but there are 723 photos:

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/091905hurricanes

The longer URL doesn't work. I don't know how to use tinyurl.com, which I've been told helps you truncate LONG URLS.

Sorry, but I believe you. That's quite a slideshow.

[mcg]

61. Another levee failure

This photo was (at the time) number 60 of 783 in the Yahoo slideshow:

?x=222&y=345&sig=yU7Br_zGlvdmcmeBPKQhQw--

[opihimoimoi]

2. Holy Shit, this fo real???? Damnnnnn

[Radio_Lady]

10. WFAA reported the following in the AM Saturday, but can't find photos.

SW Louisiana sees major damage from Rita

11:47 AM CDT on Saturday, September 24, 2005

Associated Press

LAKE CHARLES, La. - Hurricane Rita has left its mark on southwestern Louisiana.

There are flooded neighborhoods and roofs shorn off houses; businesses and hundreds of thousands of residents have lost power.

Authorities have had trouble reaching some stranded residents because of blocked roads and savage winds.

Louisiana's deputy director of state homeland security said there are no reports of injuries or deaths. However, he said all of coastal Louisiana is flooded, and parts of Cameron Parish are under as much as nine feet of water. A Terrebone Parish official said almost every levee in that parish was breached.

See:

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/rita/stories/wfaa050924_am_swlarita.8c2c7fd4.html

[Peter Frank]

19. Thanks Radio_Lady...

...I was having a Devil of a time figuring out why a simple link wouldn't work!

[Radio_Lady]

23. I had that trouble, too. The address line won't take the long string of

characters to bring you up to that photo. But I don't know the ins and outs of learning about creating a tiny URL.

See this site for more information:

http://tinyurl.com/

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[linazelle]

71. My coworker's sister's house in LA was destroyed by Rita.

She told me today, they are left with nothing, now. They survived Katrina but now lose everything under Rita.

[Peter Frank]

72. There's Going to be Allot of Aswering to do...

...for officals & the media when the amount of damage becomes clear. I'm tired of hearing about Galveston and Dallas, when there's so much to be learned about the real toll in lives & property in beach towns like Cameron, La.

...makes me physically sick.

[momisold]

82. Rita took along time

and no helicopters could go in until the storm had blown through. The local news (Houston) started showing these pictures late Saturday afternoon, as soon as media could safely get in. Lots of trees and power poles/lines down, so there was not instant access to the area. Also no power or communication. You have to give people a few hours to work those things out. It was not hidden, it just took a while to get the info.

[Peter Frank]

84. I Understand That...

...but I'm speaking of all downplaying of Rita's impact, particularly in La., by officials & media -- when little could really be known.

[momisold]

83. Dupe.

[A-Possum]

3. No news is always bad news

People have been going on all day about how Rita is a non-issue now.

We just haven't heard yet. The silence the morning after is always the sound of devastation.

[marions ghost]

50. this is what happens

after hurricanes that are so disastrous you can't get instant news.
Although this hurricane thankfully will not have a high death toll, there will be many lives forever changed...

People who don't live in hurricane zones have a hard time appreciating that the 'clean-up' often goes on literally for years.

[koopie57]

4. it looks like a big mud pie

but then I realize my mind is struggling to adjust to understand the picture.

[kath]

5. Yikes, was that a neighborhood??!

[NYC]

27. Those straight lines

look like streets to me.

[TomInTib]

6. Cameron took the brunt of Aubrey in the '50s

Took the roof off our house in Beaumont, Texas.
I watched it slide down past the "picture window" (you have to be really old and from the South to know that term).

It was awesome.

[Tsiyu]

33. We used the term "picture window" in Upstate NY when I was a kid

Is that the South? ;)

[barbaraann]

37. Hurricane Audrey:

http://www.answers.com/topic/hurricane-audrey

[Garbo 2004]

7. Yeah, the hurricane blasted SW Louisianna. It may have been no Katrina

(and thank goodness for that) but people who were ridiculing the damage as a few busted treetops and a little water were way off base.

The media and Bush are in Texas which is getting a lot of attention. But LA took it again in many places between the hurricane itself and the storm surge. Some places didn't flood until after the hurricane passed through.

[keopeli]

9. link?

[Radio_Lady]

12. Self delete... thanks.

[A-Possum]

17. try this

link

photo 16

They seem to have misspelled Cameron as "Campron" in the caption.

[Radio_Lady]

18. Thanks, A-Possum. I noticed that misspelling, too.

The photo of the statue of the Virgin Mary in front of a couple of small flooded houses is so sad.

[Radio_Lady]

22. As I was saying, see Photo #19.

The photo of the statue of the Virgin Mary in front of a couple of small flooded houses is so sad.

It's Photo #19.

Photo #12 is kinda cute -- a guy from Galveston dressed in R/W/B and waving a flag. Rita spared him!

[A-Possum]

25. cute now...

but I saw them interview that guy in Galveston last night as the wind was coming up, asking him why he stayed in spite of mandatory evac. He had a boy with him, looked to be about 17-18. The kid was kinda nodding along as his (dad? dunno) was spouting off about how, "You gotta show the flag as soon as the sun comes up! You gotta show the flag! That's why we stayed, to show the flag!"

The kid looked scared to death. I felt sorry for him.

But at least he's not like the woman that Anderson Cooper reported on. The police begged her to leave with her two kids, and went back and asked her again at least to let them take the kids. She refused. Then when it began to flood she called for help and they tried to go out to get them, but couldn't get there through rough water. When they finally did, they couldn't find any of them. :(

[Suich]

28. I heard that about the woman with the kids and not being able

to even find the trailer when they finally were able to reach the area. Do you remember an interview with a 72 yr. old woman who also refused to evacuate? I don't remember which city (I think Galveston) She was sitting in a chair on her front porch before Rita hit and said she'd be ok.

[A-Possum]

44. Yes, saw that, she should be fine

The only real damage in Galveston was the fire, and I don't think from the video I saw that she would have been close to that.

[Radio_Lady]

29. I didn't watch TV today. I was seriously depressed on Friday and

just couldn't take it.

Thanks for the background information. Cute is not the word, but it's tomorrow now, and goodnight to you all...

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Suich]

58. Thought you'd like to know...

Larry King was just talking to the sheriff of Vermillion parish about the woman and 3 kids who wouldn't evacuate. She got them all on the roof, then into a boat but was losing to the current when she and the kids were rescued by somebody else in a boat. Everybody is ok!

[TrogL]

80. FTLOGW

"You gotta show the flag"

This is just completely insane, right? Or am I missing something?

[blitzen]

15. yeah it's real...the link in post #11 works n/t

[Erika]

20. So now we'll have to hear W saying all is fine

as another American city is flooded. He took great care of Texas, but his compassion seem to end there.

[skids]

21. Rita Cosby mentioned MSNBC was looking for pictures of this.

Though "mention" is kinda a weird word to use with a person that SEEMS TO SPEAK IN ALLCAPS.

Anyway I think it will hit the news tomorrow, just the networks don't have all the material necessary to "meet their standards" for a segment yet.

[Radio_Lady]

24. Rita Cosby has kind of a husky voice. I don't know how else to

describe it. Do you remember actress Debra Winger? She had that kind of voice -- not necessarily a plus in either a newscaster or an actress.

See her at: http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0000700/

It may mean a vocal cord problem. Rita's nice to look at -- but I can't listen to her very long. The voice and the monotone kind of troubles me.

[Hugh Moran]

26. MSNBC web coverage is bizarre

"Rita pummels Gulf Coast, spares Houston
In Rita's wake, considerable damage, one death — but mostly relief"

That is the headline. The one death is attributed to a tornado in Mississippi.

"One storm-related death was reported in Belzoni, Mississippi, where police said a person died in a tornado."

Am I crazy, or is there a whole state (Louisiana) between where Rita made landfall and this poor soul died? And am I crazy, or was there another somewhat significant storm which hit that area between the Rita landfall and this ONE person's unfortunate demise? Am I crazy for thinking that it's BIZARRE for MSNBC to report ONE death attributed to Rita when the body count from Katrina in Mississippi is still a huge unknown. One death makes the news while the Katrina body count in LA, MS and AL is apparently classified information.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9389157/

Don't let The Man get you down

[Helga Scow Stern]

30. That does sound strange, Hugh. We have to watch carefully.

[pitohui]

45. we had tornadoes in louisiana however

i'm not aware of any of the rita spin-up tornadoes causing a death

we may yet find some

but i'm not aware of any

most of our tornadoes took down trees & power lines, a friend is pissed because she only just got back her power from katrina, and she won't be the only one in that situation state-wide

it will be a long long time before all the katrina dead can even be collected, much less identified, and totalled, it is most frustrating

[Theres-a]

57. Welcome to DU!!!!!111!!

Your username is hilarious!!!I'm series!!!11

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blaq Dem]

34. Is that a town, or are those tire tracks going through the mud???

No way! That couldn't be an entire town!!

[barbaraann]

35. Video about Cameron Parish damage:

http://2theadvocate.com/stories/092505/vid_cameron.shtml

:-(

[GOPAgainstGW]

40. Direct Link to Full Screen Video:

Here's a direct video link on the story:
Windows Media Player - 10.5 MB File

mms://66.111.54.160/2005/09/24/09242005-14.high.wmv

Just cut and paste it into your browser. It can also be downloaded.

[lynne]

36. Cameron sits just south of Lake Charles -

- which is a larger town in SW LA that got hit really hard. We probably won't know for a few days about some of the communities on the east side of the hurricane eye (that gets the worst of the storm) because most of the media was elsewhere and it is hard to get into these towns due to damaged infrastructure, downed trees and electric wires, etc.

[Codeine]

38. Tire tracks in the mud

I don't think that's a neighborhood, it seems to be the tracks of a vehicle along a shoreline. Note the absence of cross streets.

[pitohui]

46. it looks like the beach to me

i don't think it's the actual town, cameron isn't real big but there would be more than that left, they have oil industry, a ferry, a small motel for birdwatchers, etc.

that just shows...nothing

[ContraBass Black]

51. Those straight narrow things sticking up aren't grass.

They're telephone poles.

[Peter Frank]

67. Exactly... n/t

[illuminaughty]

39. Thanks for the link. They should let you post in late breaking news

because we are getting little news from this area. My family lives just north of Lake Charles.

The other pictures on yahoo were some of the best I've seen.
I even think it's our family friend in one of them who is an emergency worker in Kinder.

Can't believe some here at DU don't think that could be the city and that those might just be tire tracks. Hell, the coast is floored all the way in LA. Nothing left of Holly Beach. All those wonderful little towns in my beloved Cajun Country. I think it's way premature to say there are no fatalities.

[nonconformist]

41. Oh my. More pics ----->

These pictures are horrible.



A view of the Gibbstown Bridge area in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita is seen September 24, 2005.







A church with a cemetery in the background is damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita in Campron, Louisiana, September 24, 2005. (David L. Ryan/Pool/Reuters)







A loose ship is seen near homes near Houma, Louisiana. Emergency teams searched flooded communities along the US Gulf Coast after Hurricane Rita delivered deep floods, spectacular fires and a killer tornado, leaving behind wrecked homes and shredded infrastructure.(AFP/Getty Images/Sandy Huffaker)






The ruins of a house are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita in Campron, Louisiana, September 24, 2005.

[pitohui]

47. oh my god, that is extremely upsetting

the poster upstream is correct, it is too soon to say there is only one life lost

how horrible

[mcg]

59. About 20 died in a bus fire while fleeing Rita

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/23/bus.fire.ap/

And yes, it's hard to believe that no other lives were lost.

[nonconformist]

42. Kick

Some very serious damage done in this area.

[Spazito]

48. I haven't seen any real mainstream coverage of Cameron at all

they aren't even mentioning the name or that they intend to go in as soon as they are able. I hope they will go there and report back VERY soon.

[justiceischeap]

52. Blanco has been on CSPAN off and on this afternoon

She says because of the hurricane in the 50s, people learned their lesson and the estimate is that 90% of the folks evacuated that area and as far as she knows, there are no deaths associated with Rita.

[geomon666]

53. There are two deaths attributed.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0905/263243.html

[Peter Frank]

62. Obviously...

...someone was able to get in -- why not the national media?!

[Spazito]

49. CNN ust had one of their reporters, Rick Sanchez, talking about

Cameron, saying they are trying to get into there but can't as yet so it seems that at least they are aware of the problem and are going to get someone in there to report asap.

[Field Of Dreams]

54. CNN reporting 90% of homes gone in Cameron Parish

15 feet of water on average. 2 houses, elementary school, and court house are all that is left standing based on fly over this a.m.

Terrible!

[geomon666]

55. Another Camperon, LA PHOTO

[geomon666]

56. Gulf Water temps during Rita

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17041

[txindy]

60. Every person who has complained about Rita coverage needs to see these

Every person on DU who has celebrated about Rita's not causing as much damage to Texas as expected so that TX doesn't have the chance to "gloat" about its preparedness (yeah, as if :eyes:) needs to look at these pictures from LA and others from SW Texas. Then the people who are b*tching and moaning about all of the coverage Rita has been getting need to put these pictures up as the desktop on their computers.

Then they all need to get over themselves and learn some compassion for others. Rita was real and she was a massive, destructive storm. Lives have been ruined. Millions of people are displaced. This is not going away anytime soon. For some people in the affected areas, it will never go away.

[Radio_Lady]

63. txindy, you are absolutely right. This was a horrible double whammy

to the Gulf Coast and the ripple effect will be enormous.

I just don't know how they can say they will rebuild -- after this experience. Especially New Orleans -- a city which I visited years ago. Everybody knew it was a disaster waiting to happen -- and it has happened.

I still can't wrap my mind around it. If I do, I just start to tear up. We went to the symphony last night, and we sang the Star Spangled Banner. I just choked up and couldn't even finish the song. What has happened to our country physically and politically -- it just breaks my heart.

Sorry for the sad rant.

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Peter Frank]

65. You Have No Idea How Much I Share Your Grief...

I used to feel proud of our government -- right or wrong. I was around when Nixon resigned, and I was proud that our government was bigger than any single person or group (a gov of laws -- not of men).

I was proud that we were the gold standard by which other nations marked their progress. I was proud (and still am) that we were the first to go to the Moon.

I was proud when the Peace Corps was the only corps that represented our intentions in the world.

I was proud that when traveling abroad, people would take an instant liking to me -- just because I'm an American.

I was proud when we were, "A shining city on a hill."

I'll always believe that we can recapture our dignity (and will never stop working toward this); but it sure is depressing to see the kind of schlock that passes for leadership and patriotism these days. :(

[cmf]

64. Well, the media is focused on TX

Unfortunately when one community breathes a sigh of relief when a hurricane doesn't hit them, it only means that another community got pummeled instead. From what I have heard, though, is that they managed to evacuate Cameron really well. The specter of Audrey still lingers in peoples minds. They evacuated Lake Charles really well, too. Abbeville and other towns in Vermilion Parish weren't as lucky. I think that many of those folks thought that because the media was so focused on Houston and Galveston and other points westward, that they were ok. I heard that as many as 1,000 folks have had to be rescued from their homes in Vermilion parish.

[Peter Frank]

66. I Certainly Hope Your'e Right, and...

...that all the people of Cameron got out in time.

[Peter Frank]

68. Kick...

:kick:

...Has anyone seen any leaders or the national media focus on events in Cameron?

[geomon666]

69. 7 deaths now attributed to Rita n/t

[Peter Frank]

70. Do you have a link? n/t

[geomon666]

73. Sure

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092600790.html

[Peter Frank]

74. Thanks...

...do you think that this is all there is (I certainly hope so)?

[geomon666]

75. I honestly don't know. After seeing the beaches just wiped away...

I just don't know.

[elehhhhna]

78. 7? Wow. More than Katrina, even.

[Peter Frank]

79. Don't Be Surprised...

...if Rita's death toll goes much higher. Of course, no one wishes this to happen; but authorities were just recently able to get into the hardest hit communities, where property damage was catastrophic.


Check out in LBN-- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1808415

'Fishing communities in Cameron Parish were reduced to splinters, with concrete slabs the only evidence of homes that once stood there. Debris was strewn for miles by water or wind. Holly Beach, a popular vacation and fishing spot, was simply gone white caps on the Gulf of Mexico lapping where camps had been.

"Everything is just obliterated," Blanco told a room of emergency officials...'

[Peter Frank]

86. Kick for Clarity... n/t

[Bridget Burke]

76. Storm Surge is the real destroyer in hurricanes.

The saying is "run from the water, hide from the wind." Many people who evacuated Houston would have had a scary night if they had stayed--& if Rita had come up the Ship Channel. But only those on Galveston, near the Bay (or certain Bayous) would have faced danger.

New Orleans was a special case because of the leaking levees.

I saw our coast after Hurricane Carla. Alabama, Mississippi & parts of Louisiana had the same sort of damage after Katrina. And Rita gave it to other parts of Louisiana's coast.

[Peter Frank]

77. You're Exactly Right...

...a large storm surge will render a beach community unrecognizable, and even rearrange barrier islands.

[elehhhhna]

81. ...and yet, they never learn.

[Bridget Burke]

85. The people in Cameron learned enough to evacuate.

If people look at beach communities as somewhat temporary, that would help.

Those mini-mansions & condos on Galveston's West Beach will blow away some day.

[elehhhhna]

87. Yep. And the owners will take the insurance money and carry forward

any unpaid losses on their Fed returns for years to come.

[Peter Frank]

88. I'm Not Fan of Government Control...

...but in areas where natural disasters will reoccur, the Fed should condemn the real estate after an occurrence, and buyout the owners. It's been done to great effect in some flood prone areas.

[bluedonkey]

89. you don't know much

about the people there.Many can't afford insurance.
Just saying...
Thank you for your compassion

[Peter Frank]

90. How Compassionate is it to Facilitate Putting the Poor...

...directly back into harm's way -- when property can be bought out, and they can live out their lives out on safer ground?

Besides, it's mostly the affluent who take advantage of Federal incentives to rebuild in dangerous areas.

[Peter Frank]

91. Kick..

[bluedonkey]

93. People rebuild

after Audrey and they will rebuilt after Rita.They lived there for generations,that's where their livelyhood is!
Do want to move everyone out of the coastal areas?Give me a break!
You can also start moving people out of earthquake areas while you're at it and don't forget the blizzard areas.People die there too every year.

Let's all move to the middle of the country....oh wait they have tornados! Well,I guess it's back to the 'old countries'.

Nice talking to you.

[hunter]

92. How about Creole?

All I see in the news is one damaged house and a few cows standing in the water. There's much more to the place than that.

Millions of people are facing some very hard times because of these hurricanes, and I think the nation hasn't yet recognized this.

How many more cities do we have to lose before we realize we have a serious problem here?