Police Chief Says Thousands Trapped in New Orleans Convention Center

AP ^ | 1-Sept-2005 | AP

[Fitzcarraldo]

The New Orleans police chief says 15-thousand people are trapped in the city's convention center. And he says some are being raped and beaten.

Chief Eddie Compass says displaced tourists are "walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."

Compass said he sent eight eleven-man teams into the convention center. But as soon as the first team arrived, he said, "they were beaten back within 30 feet of the entrance."

Earlier, the city's mayor issued a "desperate SOS" on behalf of the thousands who are stranded at the convention center.

He also gave the go-ahead for them to march across a bridge to a dry area of the city and look for whatever relief they could find.

[Armedanddangerous]

I think they should send in Marshall Sam Gerard. I mean, He DID catch Dr. Kimble...didn't he?

[humblegunner]

Marshall Law?

Yes, I hear he's been working on the boarder.

[Sometimes A River]

Well, Islamic "leaders" praise the behavior of the animals in Iraq...as do Muslims around the world.

[green pastures]

"SOMEONE IS DROPPING THE FREAKIN BALL ROYALLY on this one!!"

You got that right. I was talking with my sister earlier today and niether one of us can believe the lack of preparedness.

Yes, Katrina was a bigger hurricane than initially expected. But what if, instead of a natural disaster, it had been a terrorist attack? What happened to all the disaster planning, preparedness, etc.?

Sigh.

[bikepacker67]

Why don't they put police/national guard MP's on some commandeered air boats?

[Clemenza]

9/11 was in a smaller, more contained area. 99% of NYC was unaffected, physically at least. This is worse. I say this as a native New Yorker, btw.

[proudofthesouth]

Because they couldn't get a flight out and all the rental cars were taken. Of course if they had been paying attention to the weather they wouldn't have gone to NO in the first place.

[BladeLWS]

They need to send in a couple platoons of Marines and get him!

[nicmarlo]

Did you know that, under the "mandatory evacuation":

1. the prisoners were not evacuated? (some were, however, released into the general population, according to some reports); others I saw in orange jump suits.....sitting by water, yesterday....tied to each other.

2. the hospitals were not evacuated?

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ahhhhhh!!!!! I SEE! The Boarder!

'bout time! ;)

[nmh]

#184 I hope I heard wrong ... .

[hiredhand]

They were warned. What more did they want? We all want smaller government, but it seems that some think the Gov't should have just gone in down there and hauled people out of their houses and onto busses prior to this storm making landfall.

Nope...unfortunately, this is "limited government" at its best. The Gov't warned....the people turned it down....bad stuff happened.

I don't see how anybody in the Gov't owes anything over and above the help they can render now that it's a true mess down there. The Governor has a mess on her hands though. That's for certain. She knew that most people in NOLA lived 7 feet below sea level and that the levees weren't up to snuff. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told her that some time back.

I hate to disagree. But although the Gov't IS obligated to help, it is my very own personal opinion that they TRIED to help when they told people to EVACUATE.

[Blessed]

>Bush could have been sending in helicopters from a very early stage repairing the levees. <

LOL! your just making this up as you go along aren't you? You would do this and let people drown? You are such a good engineer that you know you could dam swift running water that easily?

[editor-surveyor]

"what kind of people have taken over down there?"

The same kind that have been robbing and raping the tourists for generations. Fill that place with solid waste and move on!

[TexanToTheCore]

There is no shortage of Helios or troops. It simply takes time to get everyone and everything into the damaged zone.

This has been true of every disaster I have seen.

For some reason (too much TV?), people seem to think that a whole flotila of ships and divisions of troops will materialize out of thin air.

It simply takes time. Not a lot, mind you, but some.

[Redbob]

"The lack of enough helicopters to help repair the breached levees (because so many in Iraq) says it all, doesn't it?"

Actually, no it doesn't say a damn thing.
Helicopters don't fix levees!

Not helicopter gunships, certainly.

If I were you, I might try sticking to subjects I knew some little teensy bit about.

[Rosenkreutz]

> It's one thing to make it mandatory but if there's just no way to leave, what were they to do?

Before the hurricane hit there were a lot of people, interviewed on TV and broadcast over here in Europe, saying they were _choosing_ to stay and rough it out. For these folks I have less sympathy than for the sick and elderly, that's for sure.

[Yasotay]

bump

[Major_Risktaker]

except the 101st is in Iraq right now....

The 101st is in American and can be deployed ASAP if called upon.

However, I believe food and water air drops were needed yesterday at the Dome.

Anything is better than nothing and nothing is what they have received for days now.

Operation Unified Assistance

Indonesians from the village of Tjalang, Sumatra, Indonesia, rush towards a SH-60 Seahawk helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 2, as the helicopter touches down to drop off food supplies, Jan. 8, 2005.

Helicopters assigned to Carrier Air Wing 2 and sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln are supporting Operation Unified Assistance, the humanitarian effort in the wake of the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Philip A McDaniel

[Chena]

Yes, we are past that point now, BlackRain, and it does not help these people to keep damning them for not evacuating. Rosenkreutz, I agree that the people who could have evacuated and chose not to, made a terrible mistake. Most of them saw hurricanes come and go through the years and I think many of them just didn't believe they couldn't survive another one. After the fact, it is quite easy to have 20/20 vision and there is no doubt they are regretting their decision to ride this one out.

Also, Rosenkreutz, perhaps you are not aware of the fact that thousands of people who WANTED to leave, couldn't. That fact has been well-documented but all too often ignored by some people who are choosing to damn them for not leaving. IMHO.