Posted on 09/24/2004 11:43:20 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Bdd people at the top decade after decade.
U.N. Aid in Haiti Held Up by Lack of Help From Government
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
New York Times
GONAÏVES, Haiti, Sept. 24 — The United Nations began distributing about 40 tons of food from two different places in the city this morning, but they were hampered by a lack of help from the Haitian government and the local authorities.
United Nations officials have had to rely on peacekeeping forces from Argentina and police officers from Africa and Canada to keep order in this city of 200,000, where more than 1,000 people have died in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Jeanne, which raked the coast last weekend.
"We are having trouble organizing and distributing food because there is no authority existing in the town," said Eric Mouillefarine, the head of the United Nations office of coordination for humanitarian affairs in Port-au-Prince, the capital.
It was a measure of the chaos that one shipment of food sent here by a church outside Port-au-Prince was partly looted before it even reached the town, witnesses said.
At 10:15 the church's truck arrived at the temporary United Nations headquarters and was immediately mobbed by a crowd of men. As the doors swung open, people scrambled for bananas, water, rice and other things that would-be samaritans were trying to bring to the town.
"This is not the place to do this," said Areito Ferreira, the commander of the United Nations police force, as he watched in dismay as the crowd rushed the truck. "There is no coordination around here."
There were a few signs of people trying to return to a normal life here. Women were selling fruit and other food in the street. Some shops that were not destroyed in the storm began to do business, especially mechanics, gas stations and bicycle stores. But for the most part the city remained a chaotic and distraught place.
Many houses have been washed away. There are overturned cars and trucks that were tossed around like toys by the torrents of water. Many people are still living on the second floor of their houses and trying desperately to shovel out tons of mud on the ground floors.
Bodies are still being found in the wreckage and people on the street hold limes to their noses to kill the stench.
City officials said on Thursday that they had begun burying victims in common graves, but health workers said that they feared cholera and other waterborne diseases would soon infect the survivors, who wandered through the streets, between washed-away buildings, through calf-deep, foul-smelling water, with their belongings on their heads.
"There is no water, no electricity, no communication," Mayor Calixte Valentin said. "Many people don't have a place to sleep."
The tropical storm, slow-moving and with relatively low winds, thrashed the north of Haiti last Friday and Saturday, flooding the island's denuded hills with torrents of rain that washed away much of this town. Residents said the waters rose as high as 10 feet in the streets of the town, drowning hundreds of people. Tropical Storm Jeanne, now headed toward the Bahamas and possibly Florida, intensified into a hurricane after it left Haiti.
By midafternoon on Thursday, Haitian officials said the storm had killed more than 1,105 people in the country, the great majority of them in Gonaïves. Another 1,251 people are still missing, said Dieufort Deslorges, the spokesman for the Civil Protection Bureau. At least 4,000 houses were destroyed, he said, adding, "The biggest problem right now is the need for clean water."
In the town, carcasses of animals rotted in the receding waters and the smell of bodies and open sewers poisoned the air. Many buildings had been washed away. The rest were filled with heavy mud. Crops of corn outside town were swept away by the masses of water.
The catastrophe here comes in a year marked by revolts, military intervention and deadly floods. Gonaïves was also a center of fighting during the revolt in February that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in which 300 people were killed.
Maita Álvarez, an aid worker with Oxfam, which is distributing clean water, said: "The hygiene situation is appalling. There is no running water, no latrine. Some people have been drinking dirty water where dead bodies were floating. It's appalling."
The efforts by the United Nations, Oxfam, CARE and other aid groups to get food and water to the town have been hampered by the poor condition of the main road from Port-au-Prince, a trip that takes at least five hours. Just outside Gonaïves, the road is submerged for about a mile under three feet of flood waters. Several trucks have slipped off the road into the water, including at least one World Food Program vehicle.
Do you think these pounding hurricanes have anything to do with Florida's trying to STARVE TERRI SCHIAVO TO DEATH?!!
"Christianity might be a good thing if anybody ever tried it." -- George Bernard Shaw (a socialist, but he sure got that one right...)
(Luckily, my brother-in-law is a more conservative and independent cuss, so he already had enough supplies put aside for a month. He's still dealing with roof damage, though.)
FLORIDA NOW UNDER A HURRICANE WARNING...WATCHES HAVE BEEN BUMPED UP AS OF 5 PM EST....JEANNE IS COMING.
HURRICANE JEANNE ADVISORY NUMBER 45
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
5 PM EDT FRI SEP 24 2004
...JEANNE GETTING A LITTLE BETTER ORGANIZED AS IT MOVES WESTWARD
TOWARD THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS...
...NEW WARNINGS AND WATCHES ISSUED FOR FLORIDA AND GEORGIA...
AT 5 PM EDT...2100Z...THE HURRICANE WATCH IS UPGRADED TO A HURRICANE
WARNING ALONG THE FLORIDA EAST COAST FROM FLORIDA CITY NORTHWARD TO
ST. AUGUSTINE...INCLUDING LAKE OKEECHOBEE.
A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS
...INCLUDING THE ABACOS...ANDROS ISLAND...BERRY ISLANDS...BIMINI...
ELEUTHERA...GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND...AND NEW PROVIDENCE. A HURRICANE
WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED IN THE WARNING
AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
AT 5 PM EDT...A HURRICANE WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE NORTHEAST
FLORIDA AND GEORGIA COASTS FROM NORTH OF ST. AUGUSTINE NORTHWARD TO
ALTAMAHA SOUND GEORGIA. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE
CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE WATCH AREA IN THE NEXT 36 HOURS.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS
...INCLUDING CAT ISLAND...THE EXUMAS...LONG ISLAND...RUM CAY...AND
SAN SALVADOR. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED IN THE WARNING AREA IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
WE ARE REMINDED THAT FROM SUNDOWN TONIGHT UNTIL SUNDOWN SATURDAY IS
YOM KIPPUR...A SOLEMN JEWISH HOLIDAY. SOME OF YOUR JEWISH NEIGHBORS
IN THE WATCH AND WARNING AREAS OBSERVING YOM KIPPUR WILL NOT BE
LISTENING TO RADIOS OR WATCHING TV...AND MAY NOT BE AWARE OF THE
HURRICANE SITUATION.
AT 5 PM EDT...A TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM SOUTH OF
FLORIDA CITY AROUND THE SOUTHERN END OF THE FLORIDA PENINSULA AND
NORTHWARD ALONG THE WEST COAST TO ANCLOTE KEY...INCLUDING FLORIDA
BAY...AND THE FLORIDA KEYS NORTH OF THE SEVEN MILE BRIDGE.
AT 5 PM EDT...2100Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE JEANNE WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 26.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 73.5 WEST OR ABOUT 225
MILES... 360 KM...EAST OF GREAT ABACO ISLAND. THIS ALSO ABOUT 400
MILES... 645 KM...EAST OF THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA COAST.
JEANNE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 12 MPH...19 KM/HR...AND THIS
GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON
THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF JEANNE IS EXPECTED TO PASS OVER
OR NEAR THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS ON SATURDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REPORTED BY NOAA AND AIR FORCE RESERVE
HURRICANE AIRCRAFT ARE NEAR 100 MPH...160 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES... 75 KM...
FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 150 MILES...240 KM.
THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE RECENTLY REPORTED BY A RECONNAISSANCE
AIRCRAFT WAS 965 MB...28.50 INCHES.
STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 4 TO 8 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...ALONG
WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR THE
CENTER OF JEANNE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND AND ON
THE WEST SIDE OF THE ABACO ISLANDS. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 2 TO 4
FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS CAN BE EXPECTED ON THE WEST SIDE OF
THE OTHER ISLANDS OF THE BAHAMAS IN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA.
COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 4 TO 6 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE
EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE NORTH OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL
ALONG THE FLORIDA EAST COAST.
RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE TRACK OF
JEANNE OVER THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS AND FLORIDA.
TIDES WILL GRADUALLY BE RISING IN THE WARNED AREA DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS. ADDITIONALLY...DANGEROUS SURF AND RIP CURRENTS...CAUSED BY
LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY HURRICANE JEANNE...ARE POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE
ALONG THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. COAST AND THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL
BAHAMAS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS.
REPEATING THE 5 PM EDT POSITION...26.4 N... 73.5 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST NEAR 12 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS...100 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 965 MB.
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.
AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 8 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 11 PM
EDT.
FORECASTER STEWART
$$
Hurricane JEANNE
Bump for later reading.
I'm in New Smyrna right on the beach. We have some sand, and Ivan pushed more sand on the beach, but the "reach" (width of the beach) is way short. The ocean is already breaking at the dune and we won't have high tide for another hour. Plus, a half moon.
From the Florida Today bulletin ...
Highlights from the briefing at noon at the Emergency Operations Center in Rockledge:
* County Commission Chairman Nancy Higgs said a state of emergency would be declared at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning. She said mandatory evacuations from mobile and manufactured homes, low lying areas, the barrier islands and Merritt Island should begin at 6 a.m. Saturday. But she advised people in those areas to start leaving as soon as possible. Evacuations in other areas would be voluntary.
* Bob Sarver, Brevard County undersheriff, said a countywide curfew would be in effect starting at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and ending at 6 a.m. on Sunday. The curfew will go back into effect at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, ending at 6 a.m. on Monday. Future curfew decisions will be made after that.
* Emergency Management Director Bob Lay said the county should "start to feel" Jeanne about 9 p.m. on Saturday night, with winds coming in about 40 mph. He said forecasters expect the winds to pick up to 108, according to current forecasts which, of course, could change. He said heavy winds could be battering the county for as long as 29 hours. He said the storm surge could be as much as six to eight feet.
* Lay said people will have plenty of time to evacuate before the storm gets bad. He added he does not expect a massive evacuation from the south to complicate matters.
* Public Safety Director Jack Parker said he is concerned that many people in those areas subject to mandatory evacuations might not leave. He said they would be making a mistake to do that. If they get hurt, they might not be able to get help. Sarver added that a police presence would be sharply reduced, or eliminated altogether, once the storm gets bad.
* Higgs said school officials would make a decision later today on what to do about school closings. Schools are open today, as are county offices. As of now, high school football games are scheduled to go ahead.
* Higgs said all shelters would be open starting tomorrow.
NOTE: This was as of the noon Friday briefing ... any speed up of the storm could accelerate these times.
Again!
Could you re-post the pic...it didn't come up for me. thx
Me too..I am in Viera/Rockledge in Brevard.
If I am correct..I do believe that Jeanne will be hitting with a full moon.
#31..There's plenty of gas around....maybe longer lines beachside...but across the causeway there is plenty of gas, so far.
They know Jeb Bush is plumb worn out from all the hurricanes and distractions coming right and left....
..with not enough energy, resources to continue his vigil of defense for this poor woman.
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