If you have ever seen a disaster movie, or read a book like "The Stand," what is unfolding right now in the Gulf Coast seems to have been taken right out of the pages of fiction.
Below the fold is an article from CNN, and were this not unfolding in front of our eyes on TV, I would have thought came from the pages of a fictional story.
The absolute lack of this administration to address this disaster has got to be one of the worst failures of any president in the history of our country, there is no excuse, there is no escaping that this all rests on the shoulders of those now in office.
More....
CNN
Troops and police have been working to evacuate tens of thousands of people, who are growing weaker and more desperate each hour.
Thousands of people have been sleeping on streets, interstate access ramps, bridges or any dry spot they can find.
Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, a huge crowd waited on the sidewalks for aid that could be a long time coming. The building was used as a secondary shelter when the Louisiana Superdome was overwhelmed.
People still don't have water or food, and this is at the supposed evacuation center. No shelter, no way to communicate, and it gets worse:
Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, a huge crowd waited on the sidewalks for aid that could be a long time coming. The building was used as a secondary shelter when the Louisiana Superdome was overwhelmed.
CNN's Chris Lawrence reported that conditions inside the building were appalling -- a number of bodies were visible, including a baby.
"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have any help," Rev. Issac Clark told the Associated Press.
How can this happen? How can the richest nation in the world not be prepared for this? Where is the leadership and preparation?
A Louisiana National Guard official told CNN Thursday morning that between 50,000 and 60,000 people had converged at evacuation points near the Louisiana Superdome hoping to get on one of the buses out of town.
"It's no longer just evacuees from the Superdome, as citizens who were holed up in high-rise office buildings and hotels saw buses moving into the dome, they realized this is an evacuation point," Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard said.
He said there were reports that several small trash fires were burning around the building and firefighters were having a hard time reaching the area.
And then you get to this:
Officers told CNN they lacked manpower and steady communications to properly do their jobs -- and that they needed help to prevent the widespread looting and violence now prevalent in the city.
A police officer working in downtown New Orleans said police were siphoning gas from abandoned vehicles in an effort to keep their squad cars running, CNN's Chris Lawrence reported.
The officer said police are "on their own" for food and water, scrounging up what they can from anybody who is generous enough to give them some -- and that they have no communication whatsoever. Police also told CNN they were removing ammunition from looted gunshops in an effort to get it off the streets.
And more:
Electricity was out for more than 2.3 million people in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
Meanwhile, Katrina's effect on oil supplies and gas prices spread nationwide, prompting the White House to tap the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
News of disruptions in the gas supply sparked runs on stations and a sharp spike in prices, with some drivers in Atlanta, Georgia, facing prices above $5 a gallon.
While many warned exactly of this situation unfolding, those in charge, those in the WH, ignored all of the warnings, ignored the planning, ignored the possible human suffering.
The photos, videos and reports coming out of the Gulf Region (this isn't limited to NO, it is a whole region) are reality, this isn't a movie, this isn't Hollywood, this is human suffering and incompetence unmatched in our nations history.
Mission Accomplished.