The DU Katrina Thread That Haunts Me To This Very Day.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

For some reason Will Pitt's thread jarred my memory to this and I just had to find it. I will never forget seeing the thread below pop up the first time when hitting refresh, and seeing the most impactful and disturbing thread title I've ever seen in my history on DU. To this day when I hear about Katrina, my mind warps back to this thread.

I was terrified when I read it. I just got this vibe, this feeling, that the poster was spot on. My heart stopped, my brain stopped, I suddenly realized what was about to come. What did transpire was every bit as dire as the thread warned and then some.

Still, even now, my eyes tear when I read this thread. The OP is now longer with us on DU, but I'll always remember him for this impactful premonition:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4481023

On Edit: For those who are unable to go to the thread, the following is the Original Post:
--------------------------
Friends, I think we are about to lose New Orleans.

I've been up reading everything I can find about Katrina and about the New Orleans dike system...

Not only does it now appear that Katrina will be a nearly direct hit on the city, but that they storm surge will be higher than the dikes.

I really do believe that we are about to see the 100% destruction of New Orleans.
--------------------------

I'll never forget that line. "Friends, I think we are about to lose New Orleans". Prior to then, I had feared what might happen, but at that very moment reading that header the reality hit me what the true gravity of the situation might be. I remember thinking "My god, that can't be for real" while feeling stunned by the concept. My god what was to come....

[panader0]

1. benburch is history now too...........

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Ummmm What?

Firstly, If that was all you felt to comment on after reading the thread I'm not sure what the point was. Secondly, I said the OP was no longer with us, did I not? :shrug:

[MadMaddie]

2. Have you watched Spike Lee's documentry on HBO yet?

I saw the first part last night and it broke my heart....and it angered me all over again...I will watch the 2nd and 3rd part tonight......and I will be angry all over again and every time the lying thief in the WH gets on and tells his lies I can't even see straight.....

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. I Tried To Tivo It Last Night And My Damn Tivo Was Full Without Warning!

I've got to get my wife to do better with deleting her Days of our lives episodes when she's done watchin them LOL

I want to see it badly though. As soon as she's done watching (she's right behind me watching days right now lol) I'm going to scan the listings for when it's on again.

[MadMaddie]

5. Well worth your time.....

[stop the bleeding]

6. what happened to

benburch?

[annabanana]

7. It's tough reading that real-time account, knowing

how horrible the following weeks were, and what this year has and has not brought.

[Libby2]

9. It sure is.

[iamjoy]

8. OMG

Did he make it out of NOLA?

[pitohui]

10. the poster in question was never in new orleans

but he was certainly a tireless self-promoter, wasn't he? i liked the part where 100,000 people were going to die, jeebus, that kind of fear mongering was not helpful

i am glad i wasn't reading this "stuff" real-time but i had already evacuated and had no internet (and was soon to have no electricity) by then, i was scared enough w.out all that

[msongs]

14. perhaps you will recall the last few NOAA warnings before it hit:

paraphrasing: catastrophic storm winds and surge that can knock down apartment buildings, blow cars and SUVS over and over down the street and so forth.

a few miles further west and this might have come to pass in New Orleans as IT DID IN MISSISSIPPI and ALABAMA.

100,000 casualties was not that big of a stretch.

fortunately the storm weakened a bit before landfall.

Msongs
www.myspace.com/msongs

[merh]

28. That kind of fear moungering was helpful, it helped to keep folks informed

That poster was doing what he could to help - he was helping you and others by not letting people forget New Orleans, his fear for the citizens and the City of NOLA was real. Instead of being so negative, you might want to try to be appreciative. If you can't find that in your heart, then I suggest you follow that old maxium "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

May you find peace.

[oscar111]

11. BENBURCH?? what happened to him?

i cannot go to the thread referenced in the OP.

someone tell me about ben... was he the owner of White Rose archives in chicago, or another ben?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. I Edited The OP To Include The Original Post.

Yes, that Ben. He was Tombstoned a few weeks ago but I won't go into reasons why as it is between him and the admins/mods. But as far as this referenced thread goes, it just simply left an impact on me. I pasted the original post into the opening of this thread so you can view it.

[pitohui]

16. he also predicted war on iran starting on june 6, 2006

he made a lot of predictions, that one

i don't especially appreciate having my fears cranked up so that somebody can promote a website

down here we'll be dealing with katrina for a long, long time to come, i don't think we need to make it "benburch's katrina"

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. Well That's A Bit Overstated. No One Is Making It Benburch's Katrina.

I find that notion to be ridiculous. But it was definitely a very powerful and haunting thread that I'll never forget the seriousness of. This thread isn't about Ben, it is about the concept and the reality of a year ago.

[pitohui]

19. no offense my friend but let's put it this way

a year ago me and almost everyone i knew was running for our lives, we weren't posting in threads

i'm glad ben gave you the chance to be haunted, unfortunately i'm haunted by people who actually died :-(

it's just hard, you know, to realize that while we were on the run not knowing what would be left that this guy was busy making a meal of our misery

this poster had a good run pulling the wool, the mods finally caught on, let's leave it at that

[arwalden]

33. Bravo!

:thumbsup:

[don954]

13. gods that's spooky... The concept was too alien that we could loose NOLA

Where i was born and grew up...


from the end of the thread:

darkism (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-30-05 07:49 AM
Response to Original message
249. No. We're not.
Edited on Tue Aug-30-05 07:50 AM by darkism
This fear-mongering is ridiculous. This isn't a disaster movie.

There will be flooding. There may be casualties.

But we're not going to lose an entire city. A little common sense here, please.

QUOTE from freisianrider that I find extremely pertinent:

Can we just stay calm about this? Geez, I know I'm safely out of the path and all, but for God's sake can we stop with the doomsday predictions? Yes, it will likely be a terrible storm, but we're doing NO ONE any favors by saying the city will be leveled and everyone's going to die.

People need to stay CALM and safe, not be freaking out and endangering their own lives and others' lives because everyone is telling them the city is about to cease to exist. Everyone in N.O. KNOWS this is a serious, strong storm...let's just calm down a little and send our good vibes, thoughts, and prayers to those in the path.

*****************

artemisia1 (292 posts) Tue Aug-30-05 08:37 AM
Response to Reply #249

251. We just did. EOM

NEVER FOGET!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

15. I Just Got Done Reading Every Post In That Thread And Started Cryin A Bit.

It is amazingly haunting and tragic. My wanted to know why my eyes were watering, so I told her what I was reading. She couldn't believe it was a year already and actually remembers the day that thread was posted when I went upstairs and repeated to her "holy shit sweetie, we may lose new orleans" and then told her about the thread.

It is just so haunting and sick. There were some incredibly insightful and informative posters in that thread, and a few others who I now consider to have been disgraceful in their replies. But overall that thread shows the true intellect that some are capable of on DU.

[rug]

18. I had the exact reaction.

[niyad]

20. "it is entirely possible the city won't be there when we wake up" I

told a friend this shortly before I finally went to bed before katrina made landfall. my friend's reaction was pretty much the same as so many, "an entire city?? is that even possible?" sadly, it turned out not only to be possible, but true. I don't have hbo, so cannot watch spike lee's documentary until it comes out on dvd (tomorrow, one hopes??) but I will never forget watching as our government let people die in the streets, in their homes, for reasons that boggle the mind.

I looked at the car lots full of cars that weekend, thinking, "they're going to be lost anyway, why can't the dealerships just give the keys to the mayor, to the governor, and say, 'get as many people out as you can." same with the buses, with every single thing that had wheels.

I cannot bear to think about people's beloved companions, either.

and I am reminded of the paper posted here on DU shortly thereafter, about what a competent disaster/evacuation plan would have looked like, and I remember that in Cuba, during Ivan, thousands of structures were lost, but not one life. They apparently have a disaster/evacuation plan that works.

[Kickoutthejams23]

23. delete

[Bethany Rockafella]

21. Yes, I do remember that thread.

I didn't post in it but I remember it distinctly because I feared he was right. :(

[OnionPatch]

22. I remember that thread too!

Mostly because I was thinking "Gee, that seems a bit dramatic." :blush: I guess I really didn't think it would be as bad as it was. I was wrong.

[Skittles]

24. I work nights, watched the whole thing unfold on a 10 ft x 10 ft screen

absolutely f***ing horrifying

[AZBlue]

25. Katrina was what pushed me to start posting on DU.

I'd read DU for a long time but had never posted until Katrina. It got me so mad I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.

[Horse with no Name]

26. I remember that night vividly

Many of us sat up all night watching weather reports and posting them.
This is the scariest hurricane advisory I had ever read and this is the post it was in:
WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.

LAZ038-040-050-056>070-MSZ080>082-290300-
ASSUMPTION-HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-
LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-
ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-
TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-
UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...

HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 26 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL
ONSET AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE COAST AND BY 3 AM CLOSER TO THE NEW
ORLEANS METRO AREA AND PERSIST FOR 9 TO 15 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS
AROUND 175 MPH ARE LIKELY IN THE WARNED AREA BY DAYBREAK MONDAY.

DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET!

$$

LAZ034>037-039-046>049-MSZ068>071-077-290300-
AMITE-ASCENSION-EAST BATON ROUGE-EAST FELICIANA-IBERVILLE-
PEARL RIVER-PIKE-POINTE COUPEE-ST. HELENA-WALTHALL-WASHINGTON-
WEST BATON ROUGE-WEST FELICIANA-WILKINSON-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...

HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
SREAD NORTHWESTWARD INTO THE GREATER BATON ROUGE AREA AND
SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI LATER THIS EVENING. TROPICAL STORM FORCE
WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO ONSET AROUND 9 PM TONIGHT AND PERSIST
FOR 22 TO 26 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL ONSET AROUND
DAYBREAK AND PERSIST FOR ABOUT 5 TO 10 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND
GUSTS OF 80 TO 90 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN EAST-CENTRAL LOUISIANA
AND SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI.

DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET


http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw/ww/wwus74.klix.npw...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4490806&mesg_id=4490806

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. Yep..I remember when someone posted that in LBN

I had never seen an advisory like that

[aaronbees]

31. That report was horrifying indeed

I remember staying up all night watching the NOLA.com cams, listening to weather reports, and then stumbling into work and thinking perhaps New Orleans had somehow escaped the brunt of it and miraculously survived. Then in the afternoon I talked with and interviewed evacuees from the Gulf and they were already getting phone calls w/ reports of bodies floating in the 9th Ward and similar horrors. Then I understood the unsayable was real.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

32. Yup. I Saw That Advisory In That Thread Too.

I remember finding it almost unbelievable and looking for it on my own to authenticate that it actually was for real. I have never seen an advisory written in such a dire tone. It's still disturbing to read it now, and I don't believe that was a year ago already.

[earth mom]

27. I can't believe I was so naive...

to not realize the scope or enormity of the horrific tragedy that was to come!

Damn! Damn! Damn!

:cry:

[enigmatic]

29. I remember that thread vividly

I'm really sorry Ben isn't here anymore; this place is the worse without him.