STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Seashells · Dooney & Bourke

Interesting thing heard on the news tonight...

theotherjess · Chanel

FEMA is a little, uh, disorganized from my experience. There was an article in the paper about a month ago that said FEMA had paid for 100-300 (can't remember the exact number, but somewhere in that ballpark) people to be buried that had died of hurricane causes. Later it turned out these people had not died of hurricane causes, but of other things. Way to research it

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lsubatgirl · Gucci

A lot of the people who normally evacuate to the Superdome are elderly and some poor but the majority of the poor stay at their house to protect it from looters.

The superdome was never meant to be a shelter for this hurricane. It was opened sunday as a shelter of last resort not a hurricane shelter (they are two different things). there were other shelters around no with supplies to help evacuees and those were designated hurricane shelters. Just FYI for those not use to hurricanes and NO.

bumblebee · Coach

i saw the spokeswoman from the Red Cross on tv the other day. it's my understanding that the Red Cross was not even present at the Superdome, precisely because they were told not to be (by the mayor and governor). as lsubatgirl said, it was supposed to be a shelter of last resort, and they wanted people to get out of the city rather than be encouraged to stay in it by the presence of a more long-term shelter (which is what the Red Cross usually sets up). the Red Cross set up their shelters in areas that were accessible and not flooded, directly outside the city. i didn't know this before, but apparently that is their usual course of action.

blubirde · Chanel

lsubatgirl wrote:

A lot of the people who normally evacuate to the Superdome are elderly and some poor but the majority of the poor stay at their house to protect it from looters. The superdome was never meant to be a shelter for this hurricane. It was opened sunday as a shelter of last resort not a hurricane shelter (they are two different things). there were other shelters around no with supplies to help evacuees and those were designated hurricane shelters. Just FYI for those not use to hurricanes and NO.

Maybe it's true that the Superdome wasn't supposed to be a hurricane shelter for THIS storm but it was used as a hurricane shelter for Ivan. This is a link to an article in the Times-Picayune stating just that in September 2004. http://www.archpundit.com/archives/012866.html And this article from January 2005 further discusses the use of the Superdome as a shelter in a hurricane (including it being upgraded to be used as such). http://www.archpundit.com/archives/012865.html

Even if it wasn't a planned shelter (although I think an argument can be made that it was), I see no reason why the leaders in the city couldn't see to provide potential shelters - wherever they were - with at least the bare minimum of supplies.