Thursday, September 01, 2005

In the Wake of Katrina

New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast got absolutely hammered by this storm. I've never seen anything quite like this. Just some random observations.
  • I sent my $100 contribution to the Red Cross. I figure every little bit helps.
  • We got an e-mail this morning from corporate headquarters that ITT Industries has contributed $250,000 to the Red Cross and is trying to work out where to ship product and personnel to help out. ITT provides the pumps used in New Orleans to remove storm water. Considering what I've seen, they're going to need lots more of them.
  • The e-mail also mentioned that of the 25 ITT folks down there, the company has only been able to contact a couple who report that things are as bad as they look and maybe worse.
  • I have a friend that lives on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi about a hour from New Orleans. I checked with people who tend to stay more in contact (I'm really bad at that and I haven't talked to her for a couple of weeks) and the news wasn't that good. The last anyone heard from her was Sunday and she was planning on staying in the area and riding out the storm.
  • What's with the idiots looting, starting fires and running around with guns? Thanks to these morons troops and police have been diverted from rescue efforts to police duties. There's even a rumor that shots have been fired at rescue helicopters.
  • #2 daughter, the law student, told me about a friend of a friend who was supposed to start Law School at Tulane but was notified that the start of the term had been delayed, perhaps indefinitely.
  • On the way to work this morning I noticed that the price of regular was at $3.05 at my favorite gas station although down the block it was still at $2.87. Think I'll either go buy a horse or find a job closer to home and buy a bicycle. I wonder if I could work out a way to telecommute?

I have no idea how they're going to clean this mess up. I'll guess we'll have to see how things work out.

No comments: