Posted on 09/02/2005 4:42:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Ms Dalton said the family had received countless offers of assistance to shelter the Millers in the United States once they make it out of the hurricane-affected area.
"The citizens of America are offering more than what the officials are. And so is the media. They seem to be offering far more than the consulates and embassies and officials," she said.
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Two Australian couples caught in the lawless mayhem of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans have been rescued by an Australian TV crew.
Both couples - Tim and Joanne Miller of Rockhampton and fellow Queenslanders Garry and Cynthia Jones - have been living without food and water under a New Orleans bridge close to a pile of dead bodies for the past four nights.
They are among at least 50 Australians believed to be in New Orleans and the surrounding hurricane-damaged areas.
One of the rescued couples, Tim Miller, 54, and Joanne Miller, 49, feared for their lives after a gang, whom they thought were responsible for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in a toilet block, camped near their squalid shelter.
But this afternoon, their two Australian daughters, Tamara Miller and Kelly-Rae Smith, received the news they had longed for.
It came in the form of an email from Seven Network reporter, Mike Amor, which was read to them while Ms Miller was being interviewed by the network.
"I have Joanne and Tim Miller. Driving them out in the morning. Please tell their daughters," the email said.
Ms Smith said she was elated: "I can't believe it. I can't wait to hear them. I probably won't be able to say anything apart from, 'I love them [and] they are not allowed to leave Australia again, or Rockhampton, for that matter."'
Ms Smith said it was abominable that a journalist could track down her stranded parents but the Australian and US Governments had been unable to rescue them.
"How can a news reporter get in and get someone out when the Australian embassy isn't even allowed in? It does not compute when there are lives at stake," she said.
A Sydney woman trapped in flood-ravaged New Orleans today called her mother in Australia begging her for help.
Denise Riviera, 29, told her mother Mercedes she was trapped in one of the city's churches without food or drinkable water.
Mrs Riviera relayed her conversation to the Nine Network.
"Mum, I'm alive but I am trapped in this church. Get someone to come and rescue us. Report it, ring the embassy," she said her daughter had told her. " ... since there's water everywhere we can't go anywhere; we haven't got any food or water."
Mrs Riviera said her daughter, a legal worker, had helped an elderly woman when both became trapped by torrents of floodwaters.
"I wonder how long my daughter is going to be alive," a tearful Mrs Riviera said.
Prime Minister John Howard this afternoon said he had received a briefing on Australians involved in the disaster but said it could be some time before all of them were "fully cared for".
"As of now I've not heard of any Australian casualties or any Australians are missing," he said.
"Obviously [those stranded are] in some discomfort and inconvenience, as indeed are thousands of Americans and in the difficult situation of evacuating people from New Orleans and the scale of the disaster being greater than originally thought, it could be a little time before all of them are fully cared for, but we're confident that will happen."
Mr Howard said the Australian embassy and consular staff in Washington were making "every effort" to assist Australians involved in the disaster.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there were "perhaps 50 Australians in the New Orleans area [caught up in the disaster]."
"That number could rise or fall, we're not really quite sure . . . that is just an estimate. I'm very very cautious of these figures.
"We don't have any information that leads us to conclude any Australians have been injured or killed but again I choose my words with caution because we're not really in a fit position to be certain about that yet."
Mr Downer said the government assumed there were between 200 and 300 Australians in the Gulf of Mexico region when the hurricane hit.
It was hoped Australians in New Orleans would be evacuated to the Houston Astrodrome, where Australia would set up a temporary consular office, Mr Downer said.
The government also would provide financial assistance and travel documents to Australians affected by the disaster.
Despite the relief of being rescued, Ms Smith said her parents' first thoughts would be the welfare of the other members of a group whom they had been stranded with.
"I'm sure the first thing that will be on mum and dad's mind is the 38 other people left behind," Ms Smith said.
Earlier, Charlie Dalton, the partner of Ms Miller, recounted the phone call they received from Mr and Mrs Miller early this morning.
"They said that there was a few bodies at the bottom of the stairs, about five bodies," Ms Dalton said.
"They said there was mob down the street that they thought may have been responsible for raping a seven-year-old girl and murdering her. They weren't sure, that's just their suspicions," she said.
"[But] they sounded like they were in good spirits considering."
Ms Dalton said the family had received countless offers of assistance to shelter the Millers in the United States once they make it out of the hurricane-affected area.
"The citizens of America are offering more than what the officials are. And so is the media. They seem to be offering far more than the consulates and embassies and officials," she said.
Im baffled at the lack of control of the situation. Here we are, a country always at the ready to help other countries when they experience disaster yet we cannot seem to do anything right (at least from reports) to help the majority of the people.
Im starting to think Bush just needs to take control of the situation. The mayor and governer seems to be bumbling idiots only elongating the suffering. Put them in charge of refugee emailing duties and let adults take charge of this.
SICK STUFF! Rev. Jesse Jackson is on the way to New Orleans, already having gone on Larry King Live to make excuses for the looters, snipers and no-good thugs of New Orleans. To Rev. Jackson, bashing Bush is just so much easier than bashing brutal criminals, many of whom happen to share Jackson's skin color.
Fox just interviewed a young black guy who had arrived in Houston from the Superdome. He was really upset at what he had seen, said he was "ashamed of his people, and that they needed to start acting like men and help save people, rather than robbing and shooting."
Not to mention his character content.
Perhaps, but perhaps not. As a practical matter of survival for the numerous cities, counties, and states across this country, NOLA may serve as an effective example of why local and state politicians should be chosen with care, and not just for the trinkets they give away so freely.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but the federal government should not be in the business of micromanaging the emergency response capabilities of every community across the country. FEMA is a warehouse, a pipeline, a supplier and distributor. They supply the locals, who should know where everything needs to go, and should have figured out a way to get it there.
To cry for federal ham-handed control here sets a VERY dangerous precedent, although I can and do concede that it may be a necessary one.
I think about 2,000 people who refused to evacuate have been plucked off rooftops by our heroic helicopter angels. That's where the priority was for the first couple of days, and rightly so as the water continued to rise. Now, the feds are beginning to catch up on supply and food drops, but it's a little difficult when gang members are running around with guns, threatening and shooting people.
The media is jumping all over Bush right now. This is where Bush is hurt by the fact he's not a hands-on/Type A personality kind of president. He was slow to leave his ranch, he's probably still getting to bed at a fairly early hour. He seems out of touch. Al Gore would probably be sitting in the Oval Office 21 hours a day with a communications headset on, directing each helicopter to each location.
Rudy Giuliani would be handling this much better, I believe.
I'm sure Jesse Jackson would call that young black guy uncle, as in Uncle Tom.
Refreshing to hear; thanks for posting that.
The mayor and governor are too busy booking themselves on TV and radio shows, the governor especially. I smell book deals for both of them after this is all over - just like that pathetic police chief in the D.C. sniper case from a few years ago.
Amen! Ping, shez
I've seen a lot of troublesome comments here on this board over the last few days - not from you specifically, but just in general. Perhaps we would do well to remember that this guy is far more representative of the people of New Orleans than the thugs and criminals who are making the evening news. Just a thought...
Jackson is preening.
He's always preening.
It's time for Bill Cosby to make another statement and appearance.
You're right.
My theory is the President's advisors (and Bush himself) wanted to do that but then there is this politically correct roadblock of "taking control from Mayor Nagin and the bozo governor."
In hindsight, the FEDs should have seen the disaster developing and knew the locals would be overwhelmed and took control, federalized the thing by an immediate reques tto declare MARTIAL LAW from a federal angle (not LA or local) and run things.
This is a disgrace to see such pathetic leadership.
If a WMD went off, is this the kind of Fed inaction?
Where are all these simulations and scenarios and stuff that are run over and over again? It is like all those BILLIONS for planning and simulation testing were spent for naught.
Make no mistake no matter how many argue your point, you are 100% correct. The Fed should have seen the dire situation and and ran things immediately.
Finally, re law and order, what dummy did not know that New Orleans was a high crime city (one of the worst in the nation), low education, high mental illness rate, high welfare groupie rate, etc, and did not know that chaos would explode? My God! It is astounding the government does not know the type of people that make up the major cities--law and order MUST be priority #1, even ahead of search and rescue, because the search and rescue can't proceed without law and order.
What a national disgrace! All of America and all of the world now knows the degree of decay that has happened in our major cities.
>Ms Smith said it was abominable that a journalist could track down her stranded parents but the Australian and US Governments had been unable to rescue them.<
Earth to Ms Smith - the government is a bit tied up at the moment, trying to mobilize help to as many people at one time as humanly possible. They do not have time to pick and choose among millions of individuals who need help just to find your parents at this moment.
</ sheesh!>
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