People on roofs in Grand Isle

[HurriCat]

I think I heard that it wasn't that they weren't obeying the orders, but that they had no way to evacuate.

Thank you for pointing that out, Duckie. I'm sure there were many people who didn't have the means to evacuate - they didn't have access to a car, money for a bus/airplane ticket or a rental car, and they really didn't know where they were supposed to go. I'm sure some had sick, disabled or elderly relatives or friends who couldn't evacuate and who they didn't want to leave behind. Not everyone has the means to just get up and go on such short notice...

I understand everyone's frustration with the people who stayed because they didn't think it would be that bad... but we don't know why these people are still in their homes....and the fact of the matter is that many of them are dying. Its a horrible, horrible situation.

Yeah, it sucks. And it REALLY sucks that people will live in these areas and NOT have a means of escape. No CAR? No MONEY saved? You live there and don't KNOW what to do WHEN (not if) a storm comes?! C'mon... at some damn point they have to be responsible adults. Age, income, and just plain ignorance are ridiculous excuses for dying like a rat in a trap. I hate how tears now have to be shed for people who just didn't think that it could happen to them. Hey - it CAN happen to you! But just watch... next year (or even later THIS season), another monster will come and there will still be people unprepared. I guess it is just natural selection.

[Brent]

any further reports from Grand Isle. I'd imagine this area probably experienced the greatest winds being this was the 1st landfall area

I've heard nothing and that's rarely good...

[wxwatcher91]

I heard on New Hampshire Public Radio that a model that is supposed to predict the cost of a storm has come out with $25 billion the cost from Katrina

[Mello1]

Yeah, it sucks. And it REALLY sucks that people will live in these areas and NOT have a means of escape. No CAR? No MONEY saved? You live there and don't KNOW what to do WHEN (not if) a storm comes?! C'mon... at some damn point they have to be responsible adults. Age, income, and just plain ignorance are ridiculous excuses for dying like a rat in a trap. I hate how tears now have to be shed for people who just didn't think that it could happen to them. Hey - it CAN happen to you! But just watch... next year (or even later THIS season), another monster will come and there will still be people unprepared. I guess it is just natural selection. :

I'm sry but that's a bit harsh. Everyone doesn't have the same circumstances as you. Just be glad that you are able.

[HurriCat]

Oh no you don't. We're risking the Mod-Wrath, but the people who are truly incapacitated have a care-giving infrastructure to assist them. If you live in an area in which there is a possibility of such a storm, then you MUST have a plan. You MUST have transport or the means to pay for it. You MUST have the intelligence to see a threat and flee from it.

Don't even play the "circumstances" card. I am almost always broke myself. But GUESS WHAT: I have a PLAN. I do have a vehicle. If I didn't, I WOULD have money in a coffee-can or matress for transportation. I will LISTEN to the authorities and NOT EVEN BE HERE if my life will be threatened. Otherwise, I have well-planned and stocked kits to include a tent and kennel items for our cats. So NO, I am in no way harsh when it comes to people who should know better getting themselves into these jams. It is just like those idiots who go out in heavy seas in a tiny little boat. Whoops! Now a helicopter crew and diver must risk life and limb to save them. Nope, not harsh at all. I just refuse to make excuses for adult men and women who will not even plan for their very survival.

[Mello1]

Oh no you don't. We're risking the Mod-Wrath, but the people who are truly incapacitated have a care-giving infrastructure to assist them. If you live in an area in which there is a possibility of such a storm, then you MUST have a plan. You MUST have transport or the means to pay for it. You MUST have the intelligence to see a threat and flee from it.

Don't even play the "circumstances" card. I am almost always broke myself. But GUESS WHAT: I have a PLAN. I do have a vehicle. If I didn't, I WOULD have money in a coffee-can or matress for transportation. I will LISTEN to the authorities and NOT EVEN BE HERE if my life will be threatened. Otherwise, I have well-planned and stocked kits to include a tent and kennel items for our cats. So NO, I am in no way harsh when it comes to people who should know better getting themselves into these jams. It is just like those idiots who go out in heavy seas in a tiny little boat. Whoops! Now a helicopter crew and diver must risk life and limb to save them. Nope, not harsh at all. I just refuse to make excuses for adult men and women who will not even plan for their very survival.

Again, you assume that all the angles can be easily planned out for others as it may be for you. While there are those who CHOOSE to stay and play needlessly with their lives, others have little choices and no resources to implement any sort of plan. That's all I'm saying here.

[cajungal]

Then, why did they not leave? Why do people want to gamble with their lives? Why stay on a barrier island with a Cat 5 hurricane bearing down? Or any hurricane for that matter. They could of left if they wanted to, but chose to be stubborn.

[stormie_skies]

Oh no you don't. We're risking the Mod-Wrath, but the people who are truly incapacitated have a care-giving infrastructure to assist them. If you live in an area in which there is a possibility of such a storm, then you MUST have a plan. You MUST have transport or the means to pay for it. You MUST have the intelligence to see a threat and flee from it.

Don't even play the "circumstances" card. I am almost always broke myself. But GUESS WHAT: I have a PLAN. I do have a vehicle. If I didn't, I WOULD have money in a coffee-can or matress for transportation. I will LISTEN to the authorities and NOT EVEN BE HERE if my life will be threatened. Otherwise, I have well-planned and stocked kits to include a tent and kennel items for our cats. So NO, I am in no way harsh when it comes to people who should know better getting themselves into these jams. It is just like those idiots who go out in heavy seas in a tiny little boat. Whoops! Now a helicopter crew and diver must risk life and limb to save them. Nope, not harsh at all. I just refuse to make excuses for adult men and women who will not even plan for their very survival.

You have a vehicle, and are able to drive it. That most certainly makes a world of difference...

Having money for transportation does not guarantee someone a way out of town. Greyhound and Amtrack stopped running several days ago, if I remember correctly. Rental cars were difficult if not impossible to find. I'm sure taxis had their work cut out for them - but they are ridiculously expensive and I am sure many of them were just going one way and evacuating themselves. So what then???

I'm glad to hear that you have a tent and a survival kit. But who is to say that these people didn't have supplies, too? We are talking about flood water that has risen up to their rooftops - tents and kennels don't do you a lot of good in that situation.

I just don't understand the desperate need to cast a blanket judgement on the people whose lives are at serious risk (or are ending) right now. Sure, some of them probably stayed because they wanted to, because they thought the storm would be no big deal and they could deal with it. Those people are idiots - I don't disagree. But I am sure that some are there for other reasons, too. And I don't see what good it does anyone to sit around saying that people deserve to die.

[Mello1]

Then, why did they not leave? Why do people want to gamble with their lives? Why stay on a barrier island with a Cat 5 hurricane bearing down? Or any hurricane for that matter. They could of left if they wanted to, but chose to be stubborn.

I think I accounted for those who choose to stay. I'm not referring to them. But just like everything else in human nature, you will always have those who think they can survive what's clearly not survivable.

[CajunMama]

Folks, we're talking Grand Isle here...a community...not many full time residents...many, many camps. A small community will take care of their neighbor in good times and bad. There was a Mandatory evacuation so therefore law enforcement would have had to go around to every house to make sure it was vacant. And trust me as small as Grand Isle is, every house would have been visited.

[Windtalker1]

really really cared, they would of sent in Military Cargo planes, loaded people on them, brought them to army bases with tents set up and got everyone out of harms way !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gtalum]

DO you know how many planes it would take to evacuate 100,000 people? it's not possible in the amount of time available between evacuation and the onset of TS winds.

[CajunMama]

really really cared, they would of sent in Military Cargo planes, loaded people on them, brought them to army bases with tents set up and got everyone out of harms way !!!!!!!!!!!!!

and just where would you land the military cargo plane at in Grand Isle???? It's easy to come up with ideas but implementing them is totally different.

[cajungal]

There were 7 people who chose to ride it out in Grand Isle, I heard. You can plead and plead with someone to leave, but what else are you to do? Pick up a 200-pound man literally and drag them in the vechicle to leave? They have a lot of die-hard cajuns who refuse to leave the low-lying areas of Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish. Some don't speak any English, only cajun French. Many think that since they survived every other storm threat over the years, they are invinsible.

[stormie_skies]

Folks, we're talking Grand Isle here...a community...not many full time residents...many, many camps. A small community will take care of their neighbor in good times and bad. There was a Mandatory evacuation so therefore law enforcement would have had to go around to every house to make sure it was vacant. And trust me as small as Grand Isle is, every house would have been visited.

Okay, I understand this. Perhaps the idiot-to-stranded person ratio in Grand Isle was pretty high (although what would law enforcement do if someone said they wanted to leave, but couldn't? would they give them assistance?). I guess this was my combined reaction to all of the "they deserve to die" sentiments expressed towards all of the stranded people - not just on Grand Isle, but throughout the area. As I understand it, some of the areas (the 9th Ward particularly) in New Orleans that were flooded were among the poorest areas in the city....

[melhow]

Folks, we're talking Grand Isle here...a community...not many full time residents...many, many camps. A small community will take care of their neighbor in good times and bad. There was a Mandatory evacuation so therefore law enforcement would have had to go around to every house to make sure it was vacant. And trust me as small as Grand Isle is, every house would have been visited.

Okay, I understand this. Perhaps the idiot-to-stranded person ratio in Grand Isle was pretty high (although what would law enforcement do if someone said they wanted to leave, but couldn't? would they give them assistance?). I guess this was my combined reaction to all of the "they deserve to die" sentiments expressed towards all of the stranded people - not just on Grand Isle, but throughout the area. As I understand it, some of the areas (the 9th Ward particularly) in New Orleans that were flooded were among the poorest areas in the city....

Please understand that being poor does not make you stupid. I'm guessing that we will hear in the upcoming days that plenty of poor people made it out of harms way just fine. They caught the busses to the shelters, they listened and took direction from city leaders, many probably walked to where they needed to be. The poor people who stayed in thier homes had options. They might not have been glamourous, comfortable options, but they were options. What makes it so frustrating is that they were informed of these options well enough in advance to make a difference in thier survival.

[chicagopizza]

I wasn't going to say anything, but I can't count how many times I've done something incredibly stupid and was lucky enough to not pay for it with my life. I am sure at some point we all have made horrible mistakes. While I agree that some may be there for stupid reasons, in my humble opinion, no one deserves to die this way. Being so far away, it is easy to forget that a guy on a roof is someone's son, father or brother; a woman trapped is someone's sister, mom, etc. My hope is that, through some miracle, they all live to learn from their mistakes. {and that I don't get yelled at for this post }

[sweetpea]

Just heard from Shep Smith on fox news that all 7 are unaccounted for.
Debbie

[cajungal]

Just heard from Shep Smith on fox news that all 7 are unaccounted for.
Debbie

I heard the same thing. I also heard that Grand Isle is in awful shape. I heard on the local news, it was split in two and under 20 feet of water.

[Mello1]

I wasn't going to say anything, but I can't count how many times I've done something incredibly stupid and was lucky enough to not pay for it with my life. I am sure at some point we all have made horrible mistakes. While I agree that some may be there for stupid reasons, in my humble opinion, no one deserves to die this way. Being so far away, it is easy to forget that a guy on a roof is someone's son, father or brother; a woman trapped is someone's sister, mom, etc. My hope is that, through some miracle, they all live to learn from their mistakes. {and that I don't get yelled at for this post }

You won't hear any yelling from me. I agree 100%. Always been easy to sit back and armchair quarterback far away from life and death survival situations.