You saw the warnings, the approach, the impact, and now the aftermath. What would you have done and when would you have done it? Were you ready if you were there? Bug in? Bug out? What preparations would you have made and when would you have started them? Where would you be now? Do you think you would still have income? For what it is worth, yours truly would not live in such a place as below sea level. As interesting and lively as city life can be, there is no way I would have lived in flood prone areas. I'd have left as close to the forecast time of impact as traffic would permit, and probably stocked up just enough to get away, leaving a cache behind, then returned with enough supplies to take care of me and mine for a decent amount of time without power, just to watch over property if it was still there. For this case, bug out, then bug back. (My company's NO office is under water, a stone's throw from the Superdome. No idea if I'd be working.)
If i had been born in, had work in or otherwise had to live in New Orleans or other areaa prone to Natural Disruptions, I would Definitely have a high ground BO retreat. This is where I would stockpile almost everything I felt I needed for a short/medium to longterm stay. Tell the Wife/GF it's a summer getaway or such if it makes it more palatable. I would have put Food, Water, Medical Supplies, Weapons and ammo at the BO retreat and then made a family SOP that whenever ANYTHING was threatening to come in, we'd load the family up for an unscheduled vacation to the hills. AT the main home, Id have enough stocked to get me and mine out of the city comfortably. Possibly with a small 5' X 8' mini storage along the way with a backup of the BO supply, just in case I was caught in a sit where we couldn't get back home. With this SOP in place, there is no questioning how bad things can get based on speculation and news reports. Everytime a Hurricane track looks like it MAY come my way, I'm gone for a few days. If nothing happens, oh well. You just got to spend some unexpected quality time with your family. I might even consider renting a place if I had to live in NO so it wouldn't hurt so much to leave it, You may not even feel the urge to come back to protect property then. For those that didn't leave because they were afraid to lose their jobs, I bet they think differently now. You can always find another Job if you left too soon. You may not be able to find a gallon of clean water if you waited too long. my 10 cents
First off, I wouldn't have lived there. I was offered numerous jobs there in the past and turned them down. I did work down there for about a year straight, but just in temporay duty assignment. At the time it was the murder capitol of the U.S. I remember one weekend three cops were killed. That being said, for adults it is a fun place to visit if you know where to go, and where not to. Even if I was down there, with a hurricane bearing down I would have left. However, just for the sake of argument lets say I could not leave. That I had to be there, and my family was also (which I would not allow). The water has gone bad, but I am okay as I have a water supply. For argument's sake I will say that my house here would be my house there. At the first sign of rising water, I would have moved as much food stocks and water to the second story as I could, along with arms and ammo. Knowing me, if I lived in a place below water level everything important would be on the second floor anyway. If the water rose higher, I would head to the attic. I have twenty five foot ceilings, and an attic big enough above that to live in. I could always exit the roof if need be. We would be comfortable enough on the second floor, the attic wouldn't be, but we cold survive up there if need be. I would plan on staying put until we could access the situation. I would prefer to stay there if it was safe enough, at least until we saw law and order reinstated through massive military/LE presence. If we had to leave, we would carry small G2 Surefire's w/ extra batteries, food, water, ammo, and light weapons. Commandeering a boat would be an option, it looks like lots of them are around. Canteens would be filled before we left, and extras would be carried in packs. Light on food, maybe just protein or granola bars, but as heavy on water as we could carry. The heat and humidity would dehydrate you quick. We would take frequent brakes, resting in abandoned houses and such, and doing our best to avoid others who would be less prepared and looking to take what we had. I would carry my ammo on a GI belt with a load bearing harness. A photo/tactical vest would be worn over it with numerous pockets to hold .45 mags. As far as where we would head, I would be tempted to head to the SE, towards Thibodeaux if I had knowledge that I-10 was down. If I ran out of water and food, I would look for houses that were not flooded, or barely so, and I would take water out of the hot water heater and boil/filter it. I would think that I could also find canned goods in areas that were not flooded. Best bet would be to stay put though at my ready stocked house.
First off I agree that I would NOT be liveing in an area that men have built things to stop nature as nature WILL win. That said if I were in the area what I would have done would have depended on particulars. If I was in a brick house on a hill top that was well sheltered and figured it stood a good chance of remaining standing I would likely have stayed. If I was in a trailer in a valey Ild have headed inland. I cant say positivly on some of the stuff since I live in the midwest and huricanes are not a concern to me so I dont know all of what to expect from them. I and my lady had just been discussing this topic, I will cover it more on a new thread in the inferno as a lot of my thoughts may not be taken well but in general, I see NO EXCUSE for the folks who were so unprepared that in 72 hours they are already dieing of malnutrition, dehydration and lack of insulin. As we discussed I doubt many of them didnt have a TV at thier house or something that they could have pawned for $20, take that $20 to Dollar general or some such and buy 100 packs of Ramen noodles for $10 and 10 gallons of spring water for $7.50 and you have enouph to sustane 3 people for 3-4 days at least on water and longer on food. Prior to dieing of dehydration you find a container of some kind, build a fire from the debris and boil some of the flood water, I know it would be chemicly poluted that the boiling may not get out but would still give a better chance than nothing if you were that unprepared..... Before this turns into to much of a rant (Ill save that for the inferno) I will just say, Im not currently and never would be as unprepared as the folks dieing off there.
I've lived near the ocean a good portion of my life...you wouldn't see me living in New Orleans. Be that as it may if I was living there I probably would not of been able to leave but most likely been at work (all things considering I would of been in Biloxi). Sorry guys but it's not because I couldn't find another job it's the fact that I would of been called in to work at the hospital doing whatever they told me to do. You just can't tell a hospital sorry the patients don't matter (no I'm not a nurse but at times like that they do require help from all sources). Unless specifically told to leave the area and I could well of been told to do that because that is in place as well (I've received phone calls at home due to drills where we are either told to come in to work or told to stay home - usually on a weekend, then we're told it's just a drill and to disregard). Since I don't have a family (they're all basically here in the northwest except for one or two back in Kentucky and such) it's not like I'd have a problem with staying to help. Other than that I usually have in my vehicle (except for guns and such) a reasonable bug out bag - no food but most of the other stuff. And in an emergency it doesn't take long to load the rest.
Every disaster is a reminder to us the importance of being prepared. Someone mentioned in a topic the other day the importance of considering the various type of situations which might affect our lives. Living in New England, I'm accustomed to preparing for winter storm outages of up to 5 days and fall hurricanes (but not on the scope of Katrina). I'm far enough from the coast to avoid the brunt of coastal storms and far enough from the cities to avoid most of the urban problems during a disaster. Our elevation is high enough and I'm far enough from the river that life threatening flooding would be unlikely. We're not terribly prone to tornadoes or earthquakes although they do happen occasionally. My biggest concern is our nuclear power facility on the CT river in Haddam - roughly 40 miles away. That's the long term survival situation that I have to spend more time considering and Katrina's aftermath has been a wake up call on the reaction of human being during a disaster
Dang, I forgot the fact that I'm basically between two reactors...one in Arco and the other on in Oregon. Both while not extremely close (being over 150 miles away each) would depending on wind drift be potentially dangerous considering how the wind works in this state - which is extremely eratic here and this being a valley where it would just come right on down. Shoot! One more consideration. Plus if the one in Arco goes it polutes the Snake River aquifer - which is where a lot of our water actually does come from.
Well, I'm pretty darn close to the Y12 Plant and Oak Ridge national Labs... They know nuclear as the folks in Hiroshima can attest to... Lot of nuclear around me as well as hydro I don't fool myself into thinking I can run from that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/americas_new_orleans_lawlessness/img/1.jpg Here's another solution.
