What Happened to the Hurricane Rita Thread?

[drakethib]

While I feel horrible about the victims of Katrina, the victims of Rita have been forgotten.

Places that opened their hearts and homes to those who were affected by Katrina, had to destruction themseleves one month later, and yet it seems that the nation has only focused on Katrina.

I was one of the lucky ones who did not lose as much as others, but neighbors have lost everything.

Sour grapes maybe, but it is very upsetting.

God Bless all victims.

 

[GammaPro]

This thread?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=924495

It's not the people's fault Rita and the people it affected were forgotten so easily. With no looting, rioting, or shooting at rescue workers, the media didn't have enough negativity to focus on.

And, I know how you feel. I'm from Lake Charles. We go to Beaumont quite often. I love the China Border right off the College St exit.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

With all due respect--we cannot spend the rest of our lives comparing all the hurricanes and seeing who gets the biggest coverage for having the most damage.

Katrina was Bad--very bad...in many respects. Towns have been obliterated.

Lest we forget last year with 4 hurricanes in Florida. A resident in my neighborhood just had their home bulldozed a few months ago after being condemened due to hurricane damage LAST year. Another friend is still having their home repaired--missing Christmas in it last year while they lived for 3 months in a hotel.

Almost 4 months down the road post Katrina--and entire cities aren't even close to up and running, schools--some are just reopening while others simply can't, areas where it will take years to get the postal service back on track and towns where there is just NOTHING left.

And the list can go on....but again--Katrina was so devestating--with or without the media coverage. It isn't a lack of respect for your area or any other future area that will be devestated by a hurricane. They aren't exactly the prettiest forces of mother nature and don't tend to leave things neat and tidy.

But think about the scope of what we are talking about here.....

And to put it in perspective--I admit to being bummed when Andrew hit b/c those who were face to face with Hurricane Hugo's destruction became blips in hurricane history when for its time it was the costliest hurricane ever until Andrew. So I do see where you are coming from. But in all fairness--Katrina was horrible.

 

[drakethib]

With all due respect--we cannot spend the rest of our lives comparing all the hurricanes and seeing who gets the biggest coverage for having the most damage.

Katrina was Bad--very bad...in many respects. Towns have been obliterated.

Lest we forget last year with 4 hurricanes in Florida. A resident in my neighborhood just had their home bulldozed a few months ago after being condemened due to hurricane damage LAST year. Another friend is still having their home repaired--missing Christmas in it last year while they lived for 3 months in a hotel.

Almost 4 months down the road post Katrina--and entire cities aren't even close to up and running, schools--some are just reopening while others simply can't, areas where it will take years to get the postal service back on track and towns where there is just NOTHING left.

And the list can go on....but again--Katrina was so devestating--with or without the media coverage. It isn't a lack of respect for your area or any other future area that will be devestated by a hurricane. They aren't exactly the prettiest forces of mother nature and don't tend to leave things neat and tidy.

But think about the scope of what we are talking about here.....

And to put it in perspective--I admit to being bummed when Andrew hit b/c those who were face to face with Hurricane Hugo's destruction became blips in hurricane history when for its time it was the costliest hurricane ever until Andrew. So I do see where you are coming from. But in all fairness--Katrina was horrible.

Lisa,please don't take offense either, but I really don't give a rats behind who got more coverage and who didn't. That is not my point.

The problem I have is that we have entire towns gone as well. Fema is gone, the red cross is gone and was a joke to begin with, and all we hear is about Katrina and New Orleans. We still have thousands of people around here without homes.

Many creditors have programs for the victims of Katrina, nothing for Rita.

Yes Katrina was horrible. But fly one of those newes cameras around Holly Beach. There isn't even foundations of homes left there. The only structure which is still standing is a water tower. Cameron is pretty much a memory. Bet you never heard of those towns have you? Same kind of devastion, but these towns are forgotten by most of the U.S. These same places opened homes and shelters for Katrina victims and was pretty much slapped in the face when they got hot with Rita.

Yet, when they open some stupid bar in N.O. it makes the nightly news? Sabine Pass opened its first resturant today since Rita hit over 3 months ago. Nothing said anywhere.

Local Chemical plants gave trailers for people to live in becuase there was no homes and not much help elsewhere, no coverage there.

Both storms were horrible and I pray for all who suffered through them. But it seems that there are many people in this area have been forgotten and it is a damn shame that they are still suffering and can't get help. There is a misconception that Rita was just a rain storm. It was a Cat 3 hurricane. Same as Katrina.


Again, please pray for all who are still suffering everywhere.

P.S. Sorry for typos, been a long day.

God Bless.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It's not your point yet you are complaining about lack of coverage (and lack of DIS threads??)

I'm sorry your towns are still suffering. Response isn't what it should be nor should it be what everyone fully expects it to be-but that is an entirely different thread.

It isn't easy--we had 4 hurricanes in our state last year. Big deal to us--not so much to a lot of the country except when it came to the disruption of their vacation plans and the inconvenience of being locked in their rooms at Disney b/c there's a hurricane going on outside.

It's all relative when you look at scope and the big picture. Many years from now it will make much more sense as it does for me as I look back on when my family went through Hurricane Hugo.

And please correct me if I am wrong---but IIRC, Rita was what all of Houston evacuated for and then the citizens whined and moaned about how all that was for nothing?

I guess I'm not sure what you are wanting out of all this.

I'm not seeing how it is lack of respect. Perhaps it is that I'm not familiar with the townships. I don't know.


Not sure what happened to your threads you were inquiring about--I can only see the first page of threads anyway--not multiple pages.

 

[Dan Murphy]

.....Not sure what happened to your threads you were inquiring about--I can only see the first page of threads anyway--not multiple pages.

If you set the 'display options' in the lower left of the main board page for this board, you can set it to look back further than the default of 30 days.

's and prayers for the so many affected by all the weather disasters of this and past years, it really has been a tough go.

 

[Zurealsoon]

Mississippi also got no coverage. Look at the link on the new Biloxi thread here & you will see more devestation.

I think the coverage of NO's small things , like reopening of restaurants, is important to get tourists back there-NO's #1 business is Tourism.

 

[drakethib]

It's not your point yet you are complaining about lack of coverage (and lack of DIS threads??)

I'm sorry your towns are still suffering. Response isn't what it should be nor should it be what everyone fully expects it to be-but that is an entirely different thread.

It isn't easy--we had 4 hurricanes in our state last year. Big deal to us--not so much to a lot of the country except when it came to the disruption of their vacation plans and the inconvenience of being locked in their rooms at Disney b/c there's a hurricane going on outside.

It's all relative when you look at scope and the big picture. Many years from now it will make much more sense as it does for me as I look back on when my family went through Hurricane Hugo.

And please correct me if I am wrong---but IIRC, Rita was what all of Houston evacuated for and then the citizens whined and moaned about how all that was for nothing?

I guess I'm not sure what you are wanting out of all this.

I'm not seeing how it is lack of respect. Perhaps it is that I'm not familiar with the townships. I don't know.


Not sure what happened to your threads you were inquiring about--I can only see the first page of threads anyway--not multiple pages.

In regards to the DIS Thread, at one time there was a sticky about Hurricane Rita. I check it from time to time and that is what I was asking. I probably went off when I started typing, but many of us are still pretty ticked about lack of repsone and aid. We still have families leaving in tents in campgrounds around here for God's sake.

In regards to your comment about lack of respect, I don't think anyone said anything about it being a lack of respect.

Call it complaining, griping, the Bword-ong or what you want but the lack of attention and aid to the victims of Rita is my focus. Take how I wrote it how you or whoever want, I really don't care. Make a trip down here and you will hear that it is not just me saying this.

These hurricane repsones will never make sense to me. I went through several of them in my lifetime being from South Louisiana. You may accept this as being all relative, I do not.

As a former member of the LA National Guard, I served my time through emergency repsonse of some of these god foresaken storms, so I will never take them lightly and this response for both storms will never make good sense big picture or not. I will admit FEMA did a better job on Rita then Katrina, but still not acceptable IMHO.

As far as for the Houston citizens complaining, you will have to take that up with people who live there. I personally think you are wrong on what is being percieved as most of their views, but think as you may.There were many who didn't prepare for the evacation (i.e. leaving for an evacuation without gas, food, etc. being from Florida you know what is needed to prepare for one of these) and got caught up in traffic and ran out of gas, etc. That is wher I think most of the griping is from.

As always, the media only reports what they want so I doubt you see very many people complementing on the MAyor of Houstons job on the evacuation,only peple complaining. I will say if you check in to it and speak with people from Houston, many people thought it was not a totally bad plan as the evacuation of nearly 3 million people from one city isn't exaclty an easy task. Was it not perfect and does it need to be tweaked, definelty, but it sure beats the heck out of some others plans as we have seen in the pass.

I doubt CNN showed where hundreds of volunteers met at the Metro stations in the late night, loaded up in buses and went up and down the highways passing out water to people on the highways, ignoring that they could be in jeopardy. Nah, That is not newsworthy.

Nope, all you know is that all of Houston was complaining becuase the storm didn't hit and the effort was for nothing. That makes great news.

FWIW, I got the pleasure of evacuation with a infant who was less then 2 weeks old, a wife who was still trying to recover from a very rough delivery but we were blessed and made it ok. There were many who weren't so lucky.

From all storms there are still those who are suffering,and in this day in age, it is a shame that 3 to 4 months later many have nowhere to go, no place to call home, and have nothing left of their pre-storm lives.

But when Jessica and Nick split up, or when Paris Hilton has a sex tape, or Tom Crusie jumps on a couch and yells that he is robbing the cradle, that world is all over that.

Let me just end here. I get worked up and proably will start taking repsonse in a different manner then they were typed, and that will do no good except get me kicked of this board and I do enjoy the DIS.

I just ask that everyone remebers there are other people suffering then the Katrina victims, thats all. They all need our prayers.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It looks like the sticky is back up top.

You obviously are upset tremendously by the situation and this is turning into nothing more than a debate which is not my intent.

 

[drakethib]

It looks like the sticky is back up top.

You obviously are upset tremendously by the situation and this is turning into nothing more than a debate which is not my intent.

I apologize if I have Lisa.

That was not my intent either.

Thanks

 

[lucyanna girl]

DS and DIL lived in Holly Beach, LA. and taught school at Johnson's Bayou. We went down to visit them on the last pretty weekend before Rita devastated their hometown and destroyed both their home and workplace. Holly Beach and Cameron and Johnson's Bayou and all the other small towns and communities that were destroyed did not make the news. Furthermore, if your home is gone and your job is gone it doesn't matter where you live or which storm did it. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Florida, or anywhere else it is the same helpless feeling.
These little towns have been overlooked. When DIL called about having a boat payment deferred, (their bank was also destroyed and did not reopen for over a week - payment would have been late) she was told that because Rita and not Katrina hit them they could have one month - if it had been Katrina the payment could have waited 3 months or possibly more.
DS and DIL are now living in our other DS's camper trailer so that they can teach their kids 2 1/2 days a week at a less damaged school further inland. I am so proud of both of them for sticking it out. They have friends with small children who were thrilled last week to put up a portable lawn shed type building - it meant they could get the children out of a tent and off the now cold ground where they had been sleeping. This is in an area crawling with water moccasins and even alligators.
Our government did not do a good job with either of these storms. Maybe no one could have given the scope of these disasters. But it does seem like a shame that the US gives aide to so many foreign countries and we still have children whose parents have always been tax paying citizens without proper shelter.

 

[GammaPro]

To put Cameron and N.O. in perspective.... when people talk about Cameron, they're usually referring to an entire Parish (a county for the Lousiana impaired ).

 

[Zurealsoon]

lucyanna girl...that is so sad how Rita victims are the forgotten ones.

A week before Christmas an upscale looking couple came into the store I work at and bought crystal perfume bottles as Christmas gifts and used their FEMA debit card. ,,,and here we have people still living in tents!

 

[drakethib]

lucyanna girl...that is so sad how Rita victims are the forgotten ones.

A week before Christmas an upscale looking couple came into the store I work at and bought crystal perfume bottles as Christmas gifts and used their FEMA debit card. ,,,and here we have people still living in tents!

They should be turned in.

 

[tammyg]

GammaPro I live in Westlake. We are almost neighbors. We had two trees fall in our house. We are living at my inlaws house. The house is a total loss.

 

[ducklite]

I"m the one who started both of those sticky threads, and both have been on top all along. Might be the way you've got things set up to view on your computer.

Anne

 

[Shadeaux]

Tammyg & GammaPro - I live north of Moss Bluff. I haven't seen many DISers from the Lake Charles area on here before.

We were very fortunate that all we lost were a couple dozen trees and had minor damage to a gutter from one of those trees clipping the corner of the house when it fell. One good thing is I can now see the sunrise through the woods where the trees are gone. (just trying to find something positive to this whole situation...hope I didn't offend anyone.)

The lack of news coverage during & after Rita was very frustrating. Most of the coverage was from Houston,Galveston or New Orleans. There was a mandatory evacuation; people were scattered across the south in hotels, motels, friend's homes & shelters not knowing what was going on at home.

Tammy - did you try to get a FEMA trailer?

 

[Planogirl]

I agree that the coverage of Rita was pathetic. I got most of my information from my cousin and his wife who evacuated from Beaumont well after the storm. She works for a hospital and stayed, and he was given permission to ride Rita out in the hospital too. Otherwise, I would have known virtually nothing which is sad.

I do think that the reasons for extra coverage of Katrina were in some ways understandable though. As someone commented earlier, the press focused heavily on the rioting and other problems in New Orleans. One reason for that is that many of the reporters were themselves stranded in New Orleans for a while and witnessed all of this first hand.

Also, many non-natives are quite familiar with New Orleans with many people caring quite deeply about the city. A place like Cameron wouldn't mean much to many people as sad as that is. It's just a name to many people and while they can care about people in general, way too many people were hurt by storms last year. I think that people tended to get complacent after a while.

It happened to us too many years ago. When Alicia hit, people went on and on about Galveston and Houston. There were also many small towns that were devastated that hardly got noticed.

 

[lulu71]

I think the reason that Katrina got more coverage is that over 100,000 homes in New Orleans proper alone were destroyed, and that's not counting the surrounding parishes, such as St. Bernard, where over 25,000 homes were destroyed and Jefferson. Besides, New Orleans is such an important port city (#2 in the nation, I believe) that everyone who drinks coffee, eats rice, gases up their cars, and uses plastics will feel some effect.

 

[Zmsksirt]

It seems to me that the lesson to be learned from all of these hurricanes is rather simple. People that lost their houses due to tidal surge should not rebuild in the same location. If you live behind a levee, then be prepared to die.

With storms such as Rita and Katrina, it is not a matter of if another will happen. It's just a matter of when. Rebuilding in known flood zones is foolish. Yet, throughout Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, rebuilding in known flood plains goes on at a rapid pace as I type.

Also, people that had severe damage to their houses due to fallen trees and other wind damage, need to harden their houses against wind damage for the next time around. There are several inexpensive techniques that can be used (such as attic gable braces, 6 nails per 3 tab shingle, wooden hurricane shutters, etc.) that can make a huge difference in home hurricane survival.

Unfortunately, most people are very short sighted. They don't plan for future storms. They think that a hurricane such as Rita, Katrina, Ivan, Dennis or Charley is unlikely to hit them. The truth is, they are right! The odds of being within the destructive path of most hurricanes is rather small.

Frankly, I have little sympathy for people that were surprised by the level of destruction due to Rita or the other recent storms. If you live in an area that is subject to hurricane force winds, then you must honestly evaluate the potential for damage to your home and take any needed steps to mitigate those problems.

If anyone expects the local, state or federal governments or the Red Cross to save them in the event of a major storm, then you are being foolish. You need to be totally self sufficient. You should have a 30 day stockpile of nonperishable food, water, medicine, temporary shelter and whatever else you deem to be necessary to your survival.

After all, it's your responsibility to survive.