The Ohio special ops trio ventured out on a recon mission in the west suburbs of Columbus, codenamed Indiana. Even the strongest of us can only take so much of this suffocation, and must periodically surface to … anything else. Walking on a brand new street lined with brand new, trend-driven stores accomplished but one thing: it made me want to go home.

Friends in New Orleans are still doing alright, especially with the visible troop presence, and haven’t been asked to leave. No “bad people” since troop arrival – residents of Uptown and the Garden District, holed up in their houses until now, are out and about cleaning up. (They can’t vouch for the rest of the city, but the news sounds positive on this topic. Besides, cleanup cannot commence in a lot of the rest of the city until water is drained.)

It looks like a while before evacuees are allowed back in the city because:

a) clean water and food are in very limited supply,
b) there is no running water (there is talk of it coming back in less-hit parts of the city some time early this week),
c) the power grid will take a while to get back up, and
d) rotting property and dead bodies have to be accounted for and removed before the city is inhabitable.

Bottom line: Don’t bumrush the city yet and induce unnecessary strain in a just-recuperating system. Your home has been through this much, it can wait a little longer.

If you are aware of any relief operations that perform generator deliveries, please contact me. We’ll work something out.

—

The gap in the worst levee breach (300-foot gap in the 17th St. Canal) has been repaired. Mild sigh of relief.

Jeff Koinange, CNN TV reporter, stood on the corner of Canal & Magazine today and said, “Just take a look at the deserted streets of New Orleans.” At that moment, the camera panned right to a white couple assessing damage to their property, a black man cleaning up his business and a truck turning right from Canal onto Magazine. Granted the city is not as full as it used to be, but it’s no ghost town. Tell it like it is.

—

The father and brother of Irvin Mayfield, renowned musician and artistic director for the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, are still missing in New Orleans. If you know of their whereabouts, please notify the Missing Persons forum.

—

Someone please get Richard Simmons and Celine Dion off Larry King Live. The hyperbole (“New Orleans is the Venice, Italy of the world”) and hysterics are offensive, not helpful.

The progress of New Orleans updated on the NYTimes interactive graphic to which I introduced you a few days ago. The water recedes a bit by bit. Additionally, nola.com has rounded up some statistics. A couple from the long list:

– In the past 48 hours, no one has fired shots at rescue workers or security forces in New Orleans, officials said Friday morning.
– Corps of Engineers estimate that the flood water can be drained from the city, 36 days after the levees are rebuilt and pumps restored. They hope to have pumps operational in seven days.

Please take the drainage time stat with a grain of salt.

Problems still abound.

Troops: All of the accessible footage is from around the downtown areas of the Superdome (90% of the evacuees out) and Convention Center (30,000 remain to be evacuated).

What about troop activity in other poorer parts of the city? What are the final troop numbers?

The Columbus Dispatch reports on red tape delaying military efforts. Officers complain that “no military assets can be touched without an official request from FEMA” and that they now feel compelled to persuade FEMA for the sake of progress.

“There is a tremendous amount of frustration here, that we have assets stacked up ready to go and we don’t have the requests for them,” said an officer who asked not to be identified. “All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA and say, ‘How about if we do this or that?’

Complaints about FEMA’s impotence may carry some truth after all, but blame-slinging now is inappropriate. Take notes, argue later. Get a coordinator on the ground NOW, preferably one who has authority over FEMA and our troops. Stick him/her with one who knows the area well. This is no time for bureaucratic slowdown.

Whatever the conflicts, let’s hope that Nagin is right and that evacuation successfully ends in less than a week.

Evacuation of the obvious is important, but now nola.com reports that 2000 will not be evacuated until tomorrow. More as this develops.

—

Security: A third of our police force (NOPD) abandoned their posts as the hurricane approached. Go back and help your city right now! To paraphrase an NOPD officer on CNN TV this morning, you didn’t get that badge for nothing. My heart goes out to my PD: they are overwhelmed. Troops are required to relieve them soon and all over the city!

—

Pumping: The NYTimes reports that FEMA estimates “six months to drain the city and another three months to dry it. State officials said that it would take more than a month, and that pumping would begin on Monday.”

A month? Six months? Of course, the reality of the situation is that the pumping is fraught with problems ranging from system reliability to the water getting and staying out.

—

This morning sees our mayor, Ray Nagin, assured that aid and resources under the Bush administration will make it through to New Orleans and that all is not lost.

It was terrifying to hear the leader of our city break down in tears yesterday. I am confident, however, that he never gave up hope and that his bitter SOS was just that: a call to America to help us in our time of need.

—

Schools & Universities: Tulane has canceled its fall semester. Students are requested to attend other universities who will give credits, grades and free tuition. I have a strong feeling that Tulane and other NO universities will not re-offer fall classes in the spring term. Student evacuees, live somewhere else for a semester and take classes. It will take your minds off what’s going on at home and NO will wait for you until after Christmas break.

—

Evacuees, Send Out Your Stories Now! Were you affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath? If so, The New York Times invites you to share your story. Let them know how the hurricane and delayed aid have affected our city and your neighborhood and lives.

—

What The Rest Of America Can Do: We still need your support, neighbors! New Orleans is the birthplace of core American musical forms such as jazz and Dixieland, the mother of American Mardi Gras, a port city which supports the oil & gas industry for our national use, the quintessence of preserved old-world culture in our young nation and the home of easygoing and caring Americans who wouldn’t do any less for you. Don’t be fooled by the presence of troops there right now; we don’t have as many as was promised. So, please continue to give the devastated region anything you can in terms of financial and emotional support. Petition your community and state leaders and find out why this level of emergency does exist in the world’s most civilized nation. This could happen to you.

—

A Note On The Racism Of Federal Response: The population of New Orleans is 70% non-white. This is the first city in which I have lived that has a lot of the richest and poorest black people in America, but mostly poor. It is not surprising then that a predominance of non-white people are in this plight. Having said this, our nation’s delayed response to a mainly black constituency in the south is quite appalling. “Did they not have a plan?” Would this be what the people of L.A. receive after a quake or New Yorkers get following another terrorist attack? My hope is that this disaster shows America how their fellow citizens truly live in parts of the south. Yes, we have fun, culture, food, drink and our share of the rich and famous, but we also have abject poverty, crime, deplorable schools, and utter humiliation. Please take this opportunity to open your eyes to what occurs in your own country and do something about it.

Several creators and members of the SEA EAT (South East Asian Earthquake And Tsunami) blog-wiki have reunited on three continents to aid in getting the word out on Hurricane Katrina.

KatrinaHelp Blog offers news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts – no politics and opinion. I was invited to join their blogging team and provide updates as I continue to post to my own blog and the ThinkNOLA wiki.

Please use these sources of information to educate yourselves and pass them on to evacuees and remaining New Orleans residents.

From folks I talked to about a couple of hours ago:

The troops are in New Orleans. Helicopters are all over the sky and there is a marked troop presence. Apparently, the president just landed in New Orleans. (A part of me wonders if all of the helicopter coverage is solely to cover the C-in-C.) Military trucks have been sighted in the Lower Garden District and “normal people” are wandering the streets after days of them being empty.

St. Charles Ave. has been a bit scary, but they are hoping that these people will be incarcerated, allowing people to leave their homes to start the cleanup and rebuilding effort.

The French Quarter, Lower Garden District and Uptown folks have some food and water, but are hoping rations enter the city soon for troops, relief workers and residents.

After ample warnings not to let herself turn into the Florence Nightingale / Hanoi Jane of this mission, I let Mac and her friends go. What do you do when she stands her ground with, “If it makes you feel any better, I can pretend I’m leaving, but I’m not.”

—

Shell: Human Resources would like anyone who knows of employees who are okay to feed their names back to HR; this is part of EP accounting of how many are still missing and reporting that number to authorities. Please contact HR at (866)745-5489.

Shell Sympathy & Support: I wouldn’t expect otherwise from my employers, but the genuine hurt and concern that radiates from their emails and voices provide much-required comfort. They are there for us. Frank Glaviano, lifelong resident of New Orleans and our American Vice-President of Production, writes:

There is not a doubt in my mind that we will work our way out of this mess and be stronger for it. We will help our employees get back on their feet, we will rebuild our affected assets, we will help the communities that are impacted and we will reopen our office in New Orleans, a place where great people deliver great results.

We are Shell, one company, one family in crisis. We are more than iron and data. We are people with great resolve and tremendous determination. We are people with beating hearts who have and will continue to reach out and help others.

This evening, nothing but relief and tears came as I talked with my manager, Cathy McRae, who gave me the concern of a mother, which she is: “Don’t report to work, get all the help you need, stay with family, be safe, and take care of your head and heart.” Her husband, children and cats are safe in Houston, but what of her Lakeview home?

Your Responsibility As A Shell Employee: Shell has 4500 employees in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, 1100 of whom are Exploration & Production employees. Our first priority is to locate all of our employees, to get our offshore operations assessed and repaired, and to restart production.

Therefore, unless you are critical staff involved with any of the above work, please phone in to let them know you’re well and give them phone #s, but don’t report to work just yet. Our physical and emotional wellbeing, damaged facilities and resumed production take top priority.

On Tuesday, I plan to look into volunteer efforts in Houston coordinated by Shell. Be prepared to start helping out. If you’re a Shell evacuee in Houston or would like to help out, please email me. Volunteering our time and effort is something we can and should do.

—

Neighborhood Updates:

• Bruno J. of Gentilly, now in Baton Rouge, writes: “Thanks for being safe, guys. Jeanne and I are in Baton Rouge, safe and sound … the house has drowned we think, but we have insurance, our memories, and … a tear or two about the art work and all the perishables …”
• David Y. of the Garden District (riverside of St. Charles and Louisiana) writes: “I escaped N.O. yesterday, by joining a convoy to Baton Rouge then getting a flight out. I am at my parents house in Denton, TX – in shock and upset but surviving.”
• “I lived in the Garden District and we weren’t flooded. We rode out the storm and I was originally going to stay but then the water went out and it became apparent that help might not come until at least a week from now and I decided that was not good. A lot of the bad things you are seeing aren’t happening in my part of town (yet). The grocery store was looted but that’s inevitable. My hope is that the National Guard (which is finally arriving in force) will be out in the streets before the looters go from businesses to homes.”
• Dave, ByTheBayou‘s friend on Port St. in the Bywater, has left the city. His house was still ok when he left.
• Rue de la Course coffee shop, on the corner of Magazine & Race, has been trashed. The bigger Rue on Magazine seems to be fine, except for a trail of melted icecream.

—

Mail Forwarding / Change Of Address: (from the WWL-TV blog): Once you land somewhere where you will stay for a bit, file a change of address with the post office. You can do this at the USPS site or by calling this number: (800) ASK-USPS.

—

Help from Texas Dept. of Health & Human Services: Unfortunately, folks, this is an urban legend. I am disappointed at whomever wishes to propagate such a cruel hoax at this desperate time.

THIS IS FALSE. PLEASE DO NOT PASS IT ON!

Do you know anyone in Texas as an evacuee from any of the three states Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama? If so, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services will give them 2 months of Food Stamps with no questions asked. All they need to show is a drivers license. This agency will also give you information and locations where they can receive FREE GAS. Also, if you are housing anyone from one of these states you can call FEMA at (800)621-3362, file a claim and receive assistance for your help. This is valid information directly from TDHHS (site).

—

A comprehensive, yet disheartening, article on conflicting press coverage.