9bd
Subj : Re: OT Re: Stupid People
To   : alt.tv.er
From : Sharon
Date : Mon Aug 29 2005 10:23:16

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.er

> Last I heard, they were up to 40K people in the superdome.
> Forty-thousand-plus people, in a huge structure that may lose
> electricity and/or be flooded... not my idea of a party. (At least they
> searched everybody for things like drugs/alcohol and weapons.)

Actually it's 10,000 people. They know the field *will* flood and the people 
are up very high. The roof however, is starting to peel away (about 1/12th 
according to a reporter). The building itself should remain structurally 
sound and the folks can go inside the cement caverns of the dome where the 
bathrooms and concession stands are. No fun and scary, but survivable, 
hopefully.

As for why some people are still there, about 80% did evacuate and there are 
stupid people, indeed. But many are people who don't have transportation, 
who aren't financially able to just pick up and get to a hotel out of town 
stasyed. For them the city provided free buses to the shelters. Some 
tourists were also stranded with the airport closed down. Flights back 
logged and although they knew ahead of time, they weren't one of the 
fortunate souls to get a flight and all of the rental cars are gone. They 
are at the hotels on higher ground.

Police, fire, hospital wokers etc. are there for the aftermath. There are 
thousands of them. In fact the officials state that some of the 9-1-1 
facilities are essentially gone, the workers there having stayed as long as 
they could.

I've been in a hurricane (cat-2) and evacuated before having summered on the 
Outer Banks all my life. The sound of the winds have stayed with me all 
these years and I ocassionally dream about the constant, angry roar of the 
wind and surf. I remember my father taking us out of our boarded up unit to 
see the surf during the calmer eye of the storm and the sand blasting the 
skin of my legs. (My brother still hasn't forgiven my parents for not 
evacuating that one!). At one point as the workers were getting ready to put 
the plywood over our window, I watched the flag pole across the street bend 
completely over and touch the ground like a piece of rubber. I cannot 
imagine a cat-5.

We're beyond criticizing the people who stayed behind in this particular 
storm. There will be death, tragedy and loss. Not really worth wagging our 
fingers at any more.

-Sharon

.

0