It never fails to amaze me how stupid people can be:
New Orleans police officers are moving through the Hurricane Katrina- devastated city and trying to get thousands of residents who have resisted moving to leave, a deputy police chief said Monday.
During a news conference, Deputy Superintendent Warren Riley said police were telling the remaining residents that there is no food, water or jobs and nothing to remain in New Orleans for.
“This city has been destroyed,” Riley said.
Riley said police did have the authority to force evacuations, but did not spell out whether officers are taking that step. In an earlier interview on WWL radio, Mayor Ray Nagin said that authorities were going to try to persuade people to leave. Officers will no longer be handing out water to people who will not evacuate, the mayor said.
Riley estimated that fewer than 10,000 people were left in the city. He said some simply did not want to leave their homes, while others were hanging back to engage in criminal activities, such as looting.
“We don’t know how long this is going to last,” he said.
New Orleans – for the time being, anyway – is no more. There is no power, no functioning infrastructure, no way to get food or water on a continuing basis, and no sewage service. Police protection is spotty, even with the help of the National Guard. The only practical, safe, and intelligent thing to do is to evacuate and try to put your life back together. Yet, there are people who are refusing to leave their destroyed homes and neighborhoods.
I can believe it about the people in Jefferson Parish. A lot of the homes there were not damaged too badly, and electricity and water has been returned to a small portion of the populace. In this case, it makes sense to stay at home and to begin to repair whatever damage was done. However, within New Orleans proper this is not the case. Utilities will not be restored for at least two or three months. Simply put, the people who insist on staying are placing those who are trying to work the disaster in danger. If something happens to one of these idiots, a National Guardsman or firefighter will have to go in and try to help.
The authorities are understandably reluctant to force anyone to evacuate. No one wants to carry people away from their property screaming and yelling. However, if they are going to allow people to stay, they need to make sure that those people understand that they are doing so at their own risk. They need to make sure that these people understand that under present circumstances, there is no guarantee that someone will show up if they are in danger or in need of assistance.
September 6th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
Just another today
Today’s dose of NIF – News, Interesting & Funny … It’s Kerry-180 Tuesday (but it feels like Monday)