Astrodome now in chaos with refugee crisis
 

After trumpeting all day on every news outlet that Houston would welcome 25,000 NOLA refugees to stay in the Astrodome, they're turning the buses away. The Dome has fewer than 10,000 people in it. :distress:

No one knows what's going on. No one communicated to the buses. They're sitting outside the complex, unsure whether they're going to San Antonio, Dallas, or Huntsville (a small town about an hour north of Houston).

Apparently, Houston fire marshals intervened, or re-evaluated, or who knows what are to blame. But info is still coming in.

I feel so sorry for these people. First, trapped in a devastated city. Now trapped on freakin' buses (some without air conditioning) *outside* the refuge they were offered.

Those poor people have been through enough. :distress:

There are more than 30 buses already in town. They may let them stay. Maybe not.

It's official - all the people "in charge" of this whole crisis are complete IDIOTS.

Oops - typed too soon - there are 108 buses waiting.

Yes - One Hundred-Eight.

108 times how many people on each bus?

They're estimating 60 people per bus.

Houston news is seriously freaking out. :nod:

That's 6080 people that have just endured a 12 hour bus ride. Oh man. These peole need a hot meal, a shower and a good night's rest. I hope they get it.

They sure do. So do the people who are still in NO. :(

Earlier today, the officials refused to let samaritans drop off food, water, and supplies/goodies to them. One guy showed up with two entire barbeque pits of fully cooked barbeque, and several coolers of hot dogs, and they wouldn't let him take them inside or hand them out on the ground.

So, he set up across the street on the sidewalk, and people walked across the street (in the mid-day blazing sun, mind you) just to get a bite.

Why? I'm glad some people were able to get food.
oh, it's on my news, now....
it says they already have all the refugees that the workers can handle....
God, seeing all those elderly people sitting outside...they just said, with no power or medicine, the sickest are left to die. :(
It's too much to bear. There will be a reckoning.
Bush is saying no one could have predicted levy would break, NO says they have been warning of exactly that since the 1960's.
Gov. has given national guard permission to "shoot to kill" if they see anyone shooting, or violence against someone else.

I seriously have no idea why. I'm sure some Fed official will come up with a terrorist-related excuse.

The people in the neighborhoods surrounding the Astrodome are also freaking out. After seeing a week of looting footage in NOLA, they're afraid their homes will be broken into, etc. (But you know that's not the REAL reason, considering the ethnic makeup of the neighborhoods ... 'nuff said.)

OHMIGOD - they don't even know if they have enough food to feed everyone who's already here, much less the people they're still deciding whether to let in. Yet, they're turning away food and supplies from the public.

(blood vessels in brain popping)

I hear you with the blood vessels. As I said in my post, they say rescue workers have all they can handle. :shrug:
I know what you mean about the looting, but it really is out of control. Did you read my post about so much violence in NO that the gov. gave permission to shoot freely if someone perpetrates violence??? Though, around the astrodome, that may not be the case. But those people are angry, I tell you what...
Turning away food and supplies? WTF? My news didn't tell about that! It's absurd! have you heard any kind of reason? Can't the people outside eat the food? (blood vessels popping).

I think they're gonna let the people already in Houston now into the Dome. But still, that's only about 16,000 people - not 25,000 - and everyone else will be turned away. It seems the media fury made the fire marshals reconsider, or made the Mayor step in, or something. It certainly made them realize what idiots they suddenly looked like.

I really don't know why they're turning away citizen donations, unless they want them to go through a clearinghouse to be safety-checked. No explanation was ever given.

And I can't believe about the shooting order from the LA governor. I can kinda see why, but not really. Especially when it's the govt's fault the situation got so bad in the first place. I mean if it's someone who's being violent, sure. But at this point, what does looting matter? The whole city is a write-off at this point, and they can't take the loot with them anyway.

Man, there's no way I'm sleeping tonight - f-u-r-i-o-u-s. Every time I look at the TV, the thought runs through my mind that the same exact situation could be unfolding right here in the Houston area. And I have no confidence that when/if Houston is hit by a hurricane that we'll get help any sooner.

Thanks for the info.
About the shooting order - it's not for looting, it's because gang-like violence has broken out. People are shooting at rescue helicopters, cops have been shot, other regular people have been shot - some cops are resigning because it is too dangerous. Normally a shooting order would make me sick, too, but it appears the people have become like rabid, panicked beasts....the extreme conditions are bringing out the worst in some people's human nature, as it always does. :distress: Tragic.
Yes, I no longer feel that I am in any way "safe", or will be helped, should there be a natural disaster here. *earthquake*. It's a shame.

I was thinking the same thing today... it's pretty scary how fast a civilized society degenerates into anarchy. If the "Big One" hits here and I couldn't get out of the city for whatever reason, I could be in trouble. I only have enough food and water for maybe two days. A cupboard full of canned food and bottled water might be a good idea.

I can't believe what I'm reading here.. or the short bits I saw on the news this morning :( I'm so sorry for all the people who have to go through all this!

Now I heard this newsbit, maybe you can tell me if this is correct: the money that was there to make the levees in NO safer was used instead by the Bush administration for home security and the war in Iraq..

Hey Mari... I heard that too... don't know if it's true. Wouldn't surprise me.

The money has been used for something else (Needless Military Spending? Corporate Subsidies? So much to choose from!) by approximately the last three or four presidents, who were all warned that the levees needed improvement, (since at least Camille, I think) and that it was a disaster waiting to happen. The funding was cut/not granted/used for something else. Basically, all the presidents said it wasn't as important as whatever they spent it on.

So not just Bush then. I guess it often takes a disaster like this before money actually comes.

Mari, here is an editorial from the New York Times that talks a little bit about the funding cuts...



A Can't-Do Government

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 2, 2005
Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.

First question: Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.

There will and should be many questions about the response of state and local governments; in particular, couldn't they have done more to help the poor and sick escape? But the evidence points, above all, to a stunning lack of both preparation and urgency in the federal government's response.

Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"

Maybe administration officials believed that the local National Guard could keep order and deliver relief. But many members of the National Guard and much of its equipment - including high-water vehicles - are in Iraq. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," a Louisiana Guard officer told reporters several weeks ago.

Second question: Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."

In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending.

Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.

Last year James Lee Witt, who won bipartisan praise for his leadership of the agency during the Clinton years, said at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

I was born there. So many memories. I am devastated but in my heart reslient - deep in it. I just keep praying to God to show us the way back.

:( That must be hard, Jason. I look at the pictures of New Orleans and it's hard to grasp that that city will never look the same again, but if you actually know those people & places, man..

If you hear about people going there to bring food, there's still goodness out there though, you know.

thanks for the article, Ken, will read later, work now, ahum :o

It is true. Last year they asked for 40 million and Bush cut it to 10. Where else could the money have gone but to Iraq? They also lifted the restrictons on destroying the marshland around NO that was helping to protect it. That marshland is nearly gone now.

The feds have been ignoring this for a long time though so it is not all Dubya's fault but he does have to take some of the blame. To say no one knew this would happen is an insult to all of those people in NO. My heart is so broken. If the people left there were mostly white this response would have been different, IMO, and I am beyond disgusted by that.

On the news, they asked us not to donate any more clothes. This was just as I was thinking about all the clothes I have that I could give. We're talking about a lot of people who lost all of their belongings; they need clothes! I heard stories about some shelters having people who didn't even have one entire outfit! It's hard for me to understand why clothes are being turned down.

I can't believe it. I won't believe it until I see it and who knows when I'll see it. New Orleans, Biloxi, and Gulfport are my homes away from home. I haven't been very many places and those places are my favorites. Or they were. :(

That's an amazing summation. Thank you for posting.

After I signed off last night, they had video on the local news of many Houstonians who had seen the coverage (at midnight last night), and had rushed to the Astrodome. If the Astrodome was gonna turn the buses away, these people were going to offer their spare rooms to the refugees. It was amazing.

I also just saw a blip on Fox, I think, where they were calling for more "plus-sized clothing". I don't know if that's the reason they are turning away clothes or not. Maybe they just don't have room to store all the donations if they can't be used. I still don't understand, but I'm *trying* to keep an open mind and good attitude - notice I said trying. :laugh:

And my parents and I would love to go to the Dome to volunteer - we just can't afford the gas to get there right now. It would be close to 100 miles round-trip. :distress:

New Orleans city planning commission have had 10,000 body bags in a storage bunker since the 80's because they knew that this would happen someday.

Well, I wish I could bring that somewhere, 'cause all I've got are sizes 12 through 18.

Good for him. That is really the spirit of America and Americans.

That is correct. I linked to it in one of the other threads.

But what? You have no idea about my living situation, or me for that matter.

If you are so financially well-off that you can make judgments (non-disrespectful ones, of course) about what others can and can't do, then why don't you get your ass on a plane down here and volunteer yourself?

I'd do the math for you, but it seems you have that well under control.

You are correct, I don't know you or your situation. That was horrible for me to say and I would like to publically apologize. It was insensitive of me.

I am very sorry.

I've heard today that Dallas is opening up too now to the refugees. It's about time another city stepped up to help. :thumbsup:

I can say personally that the Houston Astrodome has over 25,000 people in there and are trying to take more. There is a shelter here in my hometown in Beaumont, Texas at Ford Park that has taken 7,500, and many more thru the Salvation Army communities, church communities, I've even taken ph#'s of my patients home with me and given them mine for additional help. I'll be leaving you fine people for awhile to serve as a Texas Disaster Relief Nurse...I'll have my lap top, and if there is electricity, I promise to tell you the absolute truth I see, unbiased. If any of you feel the need to help or come with me, you know how to find me. Ya'll KNOW I'm proud to be a TEXAS....but I may go to NOLA, Ms, Ala., wherever needed. I'm SURE you'll miss my OPINIONS and stupid comments. But I must go deliver some babies and show them that the world is going to be a better place and the ones taking care of them will be stronger for their suffering. This may seem inappropriate to you all, but....please, all types of help are needed. Not just money. These people need care givers and emotional support, in many different capacities. Because there has been nothing like this before, let us pull together, put differences aside....we are ALL members of the HUMAN race.
And on second thought....my son made it in safely early this am. Thanks to all who prayed and sent positive thoughts....I've got my baby home. Now it's time to pass it on....because to who much is given....much is expected.
Care about you, all!!!!! :wavey:

That's really great! You are very kind.

I am glad your son made it home okay.

Keep in touch.

If you would like to donate your clothes, take them to the closest site where the relocated people are. They are taking clothes, personal hygiene items, etc. If you have small sample shampoos from hotels, box them up and take them to a center or to the red cross. They will be used.

Good idea :nod: Not to mention people other than these evacuees can use this stuff if the evacuees have enough :shrug:

Thanks for that. I'm going to see about getting things to people. And Jason's right, I think--there are plenty of other people out there who aren't even evacuees who would also need those things.

But just imagine, after a long, hot bus ride, after losing everything, after being so sweaty, dirty, hungry and tired, you count the seconds before you reach your destination and boom, you can't go in. I'd cry. Those poor people. I just hope many ( meaning people of power) take note and learn a lesson on how to handle these things.