[rockabyebaby]

It will take months, maybe even years for NO to recover from this devastation, look at the mess from Andrew, some people won't bother to rebuild, plus, when building does restart there should be stricter building codes to deter another event like this or at least make it less painful. Next time people should heed the warning to evacuate to cut down on some of the people we've seen standing on roof tops. I understand that in some places people were told to stay in their homes period and personally if I was told to stay in my home and then it got flooded and a family member lost his/her life you can bet I'd be suing the whole damn state. I saw one gentleman on the news who lost his wife, literally, they were holding hands and he could not hold on anymore, his wife told him to let go and take care of the children and grandchildren, he let go, when the man was interviewed he was in shock. The mental anguish of this man's situation will probably never be taken care of, this man will live with his wife's words for the rest of his life.

[dandiegirl]

I heard this soundbite in my car this morning. It made me cry.

[tsmith130]

That was gut wrenching...I've seen it several times and each time it's more gut wrenching. I also heard a 5 year old little boy was found sitting on some steps. He had no idea where any of his family was. So horrible....

[Tall_Texan]

How do you design specs to insure a flooding catastrophe like this one never happens again to a location below sea level? You can't.

Texas used to have a town along the coast in the 1800s named "Indianola". A decent-sized city was built there. A hurricane hit. 100s died. The survivors rebuilt. A decade later, another hurricane hit. 100s more died. There is no longer an Indianola.

I'm sure they will try to rebuild the New Orleans area but it will only be a question of when another Katrina comes along to take it out again. It makes more sense to rebuild north of Lake Ponchartrain (but I know it's not going to happen).

[muawiyah]

I personally saw the President of the United States tell everybody down there to LEAVE. It's inconceivable that anyone was told to stay in their homes.

This sounds like another one of those "stay at your desks" tales from the WTC 9/11 event.

[Nowhere Man]

It will take months, maybe even years for NO to recover from this devastation, look at the mess from Andrew, some people won't bother to rebuild, plus, when building does restart there should be stricter building codes to deter another event like this or at least make it less painful. Next time people should heed the warning to evacuate to cut down on some of the people we've seen standing on roof tops. I understand that in some places people were told to stay in their homes period and personally if I was told to stay in my home and then it got flooded and a family member lost his/her life you can bet I'd be suing the whole damn state. I saw one gentleman on the news who lost his wife, literally, they were holding hands and he could not hold on anymore, his wife told him to let go and take care of the children and grandchildren, he let go, when the man was interviewed he was in shock. The mental anguish of this man's situation will probably never be taken care of, this man will live with his wife's words for the rest of his life.

Yeah, I heard that story too while listening to the Walkman at work, really sad and went thru my heart, can't remember if I heard it over Rush or Glenn Beck. B-( I know at ork, I made the comment that if I lived down there, I would probably have a Winnebago, when I have to "get out of Dodge," fill it up with $3 a gallon gas, fire the motor up and shove it in drive. Trouble is, RVing is OK for a single guy like me but when you have a family, there just ain't enough space. I always toyed with the idea of turning a double deckered English bus into a two story "Winnebago on steroids," but that ain't here or there, but that's the only thought that can get a smile out of me on all of this. I often wondered who said, "hey, this area is below sea level, what a good place to put a city!" I'm just full of thoughts on all of this, so forgive the babbling, but I'll say another prayer for these people tonite.

[cgk]

Some good news:

The man on CNN who had lost his wife (Hardy Jackson) and had all of us beside ourselves with grief is getting help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Jackson