I don't have the energy for a long discussion.  Consider these bullet points:

1. This was Hurricane #11 of  this year.  Hurricane season is entering it's busy time of year.  We have about two months to go.
2.  There has not been a direct hit on New Orleans for over 20 years. 
3.  The levees work.  They need repairs.  Only two places broke.  The legislature has been asked for the money repeatedly each year.  No luck.  The particular areas on the levee needed repairs.
3.  Local media was telling us the Hurricane was going to hook to the west.
     They are usually right.  It did turn, but only at the last minute and  not enough.
4.  Our school children are being told to register for school wherever they are now located.  Estimates for some parishes is December or January before many areas can open.  Longer for Orleans.
5.  Three other parishes besides New Orleans are underwater.
6.  Local media coverage is totally different than national coverage.  Most outbursts you have heard were from desparate officials watching people die & being unable to help them.  We are working well together.  We now have the help we need.
7.  Tell me, where do we send 1.4 million people?  With 1 to 2 days notice?
8.  How often do you shut down the economy in an area that large?  In a port city the US depends on? With oil pipelines that provide about 20% of the nations needs?
9.  Who pays for the trains, buses, helicopters that will be needed for the 3-4 times a year that a Hurricane threatens this area.
10.  How many weeks of supplies do you keep on hand? 
11.  Many of my staff have six or more houseguests from affected areas.  We are absorbing these people into our communities. 
12.  Things will drastically improve once power and water is restored to the less hard hit areas.

This will not happen again.  Shelters next time will have supplies.  Busses will be standing ready.  This was a giant wake-up call.

For days now local residents have been loading up their trucks with water and food.  We are used to hurricanes.  It's the flood that got us.

Help get funding approved for this important port.  There is technology now to make the levees safe for a Level 5 Hurricane.  Ours is only safe for a Level 3.

Use this as a test and learning experience for how to evacuate such a large city. 

This is not over for us.  We are still trying to get families back together.  TODAY, one week later, we are still evacuating people from rooftops.   Many people would not leave without their animals and we are going back for them and their animals now.  

There are still hundreds of sick and injured people, many of them from nursing homes, laying on the floors of the New Orleans airport in a MASH hospital.  There are others still in flooded buildings in lower parishes.  Body count is expected to be in the thousands.  There is still no power, no sewer, no water, no gas stations, no grocery stores in the hardest hit areas as of today..

Even given the above, things are vastly improved over the past week. Does that tell you anything?

We need:  Prayers, support, work, more prayers, calm, support, and more prayers.

We feel your outrage, your frustration, your anxiousness, your sadness, your helplessness.  It is mirrored in our state. 

Shoulda, coulda, woulda.  Everyones rear view mirror works great.  Let's try to make today DAY ONE.

Thanks,
Debbie Thibodeaux
Ground Zero