1200 Drowned at Marion Abramson School, Read Blvd, N.O.?

Sorry for this hasty diary, but I wanted to get it out.

This rumor has just been reported by the British paper the Guardian:

One French journalist from the daily newspaper Libération was given precise information that 1,200 people had drowned at Marion Abramson school on 5552 Read Boulevard. Nobody at the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the New Orleans police force has been able to verify that.

But then Fema could not confirm there were thousands of people at the convention centre until they were told by the press for the simple reason that they did not know.

"Katrina's winds have left behind an information vacuum. And that vacuum has been filled by rumour.

"There is nothing to correct wild reports that armed gangs have taken over the convention centre," wrote Associated Press writer, Allen Breed.

Indeed there is a Marion Abramson Senior High School at 5552 Read Blvd, NO, LA 70127, located on the east side of the city. See Google map point A here

It is the largest High school in NO (1714 enrollment).

and was a citizen assembly point for public transportation to the Superdome shelter on the  August 28, 2005

 From The Times-Picayune

 Beginning at noon, as officials prepare to open the Dome as a shelter of last resort, the RTA will begin ferrying passengers to the facility from 12 locations around the city. Those locations are:

-- Arthur Monday Senior Citizens Center, 1111 Newton St.

-- E.J. Morris Senior Center, 1616 Caffin Ave.

-- Eleanor McMain Magnet Secondary School, 5712 S. Claiborne Ave.

-- Warren Easton Fundamental High School, 3019 Canal St.

-- Sylvanie F. Williams School, 3127 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

-- Israel Augustine Middle School, 425 S. Broad St.

-- Sarah T. Reed High School, 5316 Michoud Blvd.

-- Marion Abramson Senior High School, 5552 Read Blvd.

-- L.E. Rabouin Career Magnet School, 727 Carondelet St.

-- O. Perry Walker High School, 2832 Gen. Meyer Ave.

-- New Orleans Mission, 1130 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

-- William Frantz School, 3811 N. Galvez St.

Cook also said streetcar service on St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street will be replaced by buses in case power goes out.

Generally, RTA regular service will continue until the weather doesn't allow it or a curfew is imposed by city officials, she said.

Does anyone have any information on the status of  Marion Abramson Senior High School?  

Have there been any US media news reports that can discount or support this report in the Guardian?

•  No Idea

  But there have been a lot of rumors like this posted at NOLA.com and elsewhere.  Seems like a very large number not to have been reported by a major news organization up until now.  As I diarized previously, I am very worried that the official body count will never be made or known.

  by bink on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:02:02 PM PDT

  •  The Information Is Being Rationed...

    ...to manage the outrage.  If Bush can get out there enough times before the reporting gets ahead of him, Rove thinks he can basically ride the crest of the wave ahead of the outrage until we are all overcome by the fatigue of our feelings and, well, outrage.

    This is a proven strategy and that's what is happening now.

    by InquisitiveRaven on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:30:24 PM PDT

    •  They do this all the time

      With casualty news from Iraq.

      by paradox on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 09:28:01 PM PDT

•  Gulfport Body Count?

  They are going to kick out the journalists and hide the dead.

  by lecsmith on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:04:26 PM PDT

  •  Doubt it

    Dead people have families. Dead people has life insuracne, SS death benefits etc.

    Be hard to hide.

    by Pounder on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:30:31 PM PDT

    •  Yes

      But if the people are never identified - or found - what is your guess?

      The insurance companies will pay out right away - or they will wait these poor people out.

      My guess is -- we'll never know the real number of dead -- that number is going to be burried.

      As someone wrote in a diary the other day -- People - elections matter !!

      Let's throw these bums out.

      by sara seattle on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:38:12 PM PDT

      •  Yes, they can hang that

        number missing out there until people forget about it.  

        by Ted Hitler on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:51:10 PM PDT

    •  Condi was talking

      mass graves "for health reasons".

      I hope the new shoes she bought on her vacation are beautiful...

      by lubarsh on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:59:39 PM PDT

      •  There is absolutely no reason

        To have mass graves for health reasons.  When did she say such a thing?  Do you have a link to that?

        by QuickSilver on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:52:28 PM PDT

        •  Heard on Air America

          No link.  Will research.  Danke

          by lubarsh on Wed Sep 07, 2005 at 08:01:56 AM PDT

•  Can you find a picture of the school online?

  If it's more than one-storey high, I wouldn't give the report another moment's thought.

  If only one-storey...

  by lampwicke on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:08:54 PM PDT

•  Location

  Appears to be well below sea level based on other maps, and this appears to be a ward that had alot of water.

  by phillies on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:11:35 PM PDT

  •  and the Industrial Canal...

    ...was the first one to break, on MONDAY MORNING. The NOAA flash flood bulletin reports this levee break on Monday. Sorry, can't get a link right now.

    This is the levee that caused the 9th ward to flood, as I understand it.

    by Sunporch on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 10:46:02 PM PDT

    •  But also, it was reported that

      on Tuesday pm authorities were deliberately opening up the floodgates into the 9th ward Crowder Road neighborbood, allegedly in order to allow water to drain away from  adjoining areas.

      by shumard on Wed Sep 07, 2005 at 07:51:27 AM PDT

•  I find it hard to believe

  Out of a group this large a percentage would have survived and spread the story.

  by irate on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:14:00 PM PDT

•  Haven't found a picture of School yet

  But here are some stats

  It's enrollment is 94% Black.

  by shumard on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:19:06 PM PDT

  •  And 1% White n/t

    by shumard on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:21:28 PM PDT

•  Here is the google map

  Of this location

  and here is the (PDF) satellite imagery taken after katrina.

  The area was heavily flooded from the very start.

  Certainly a possibility that many died
  

  by RedDan on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:25:31 PM PDT

•  I heard on NPR this afternoon

  an interview with a man, looking for his wife, daughter and mother in law.  They lived in the 9th ward.  He heard they had gone there and on one had heard anything from those who went there.
  His wife's fmily name was Williams.

  by Desert Rose on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:26:19 PM PDT

  •  Preview is your friend.

    The man thought maybe his family had gone to that school 'cause they lived nearby. He heard that no one who went there had been heard from. Will look for link at NPR.

    by Desert Rose on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:28:52 PM PDT

  •  The rumor about the school.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4835201

    All Things Considered, September 6, 2005 · Kem Cooper is one more person among the thousands searching for their lost family members after Katrina. He lived in New Orleans, in the Ninth Ward and is now he's in Houston, at the Astrodome. But he does not know where his daughter or her mother are.

    by Desert Rose on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:47:03 PM PDT

•  Enrollment for this HS

  Total High School Enrollment - 1669. Lookin' for photo as well.

  by BCO gal on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:28:09 PM PDT

•  Based on Google Earth:

  The high school is the building adjacent to the RED OCTAGON ROOF. Looks like the water didn't clear the first floor roof, and it looks like there is at least some higher floor.

  Click Image for Hi-Res
  

  A altered the levels and contrast from an original image taken by NOAA. The image can be found at: http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24440712.jpg

  by Kudos on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:29:02 PM PDT

  •  There a large hospital next door

    Just off this image.

    This story seems highly unlikely.

    by Kudos on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:38:30 PM PDT

    •  Don't be so sure:

      remember, the satellite imagery shows the area flooded on monday, which means it was flooded all week.

      There was no food, water, electricity, or transport to many, many locations, including hospitals, arenas, convention centers, and more.

      People in those places died of dehydration, infection, lack of medicine, and treatable wounds/diseases.

      It is entirely possible that a large number of people died in that place.

      We have no confirmation of the rumor yet, but simply dismissing it out of hand because "there is a hospital nearby" is not particularly compelling.

      by RedDan on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:44:55 PM PDT

      •  Photo was taken on Wednesday

        http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/
        

        NOTE: The date of the photography can be derived from the first 3 characters of the image name. Image names beginning with 243 were acquired Aug 30, 2005, those beginning with 244 were acquired Aug 31, and so on.

        Photo Name is 24440712.jpg

        by Kudos on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:50:39 PM PDT

    •  See the Google map link in diary

      Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital is  next door to the school

      by shumard on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:54:18 PM PDT

    •  Actually there are TWO hospitals close by

      Marion Abramson Senior High:

      PENDLETON MEMORIAL METHODIST HOSPITAL (5620 READ BOULEVARD

      UNITED MEDICAL REHABILITATION HOSPITAL (5650 READ BLVD)

      Has anyone heard any US media reports about these two 9th Ward area hospitals either?

      They have mainly been talking about Tulane and Charity for the past week.

      by shumard on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:27:31 PM PDT

  •  Are you sure

    There is a large possibly one story building directly across the street.  Google maps seems to show the building being on the other side of the street as well.

    Here is another pic from the satelite.  The building is in the lower right corner.

    by DanD on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:51:30 PM PDT

    •  That area is a very large parking lot

      Before Katrina Satellite

      by Kudos on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:58:08 PM PDT

      •  Just to the east of the parking lot

        I see there is a lot on the street, but if you look at the image just east of the lot and before the large wooded area is a series of low buildings all interconnected.

        I don't know for sure.  I'm just asking do you know for sure or are just guessing on the maps?

        by DanD on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:00:51 PM PDT

        •  Those are tennis courts

          If you have Google Earth, you can get in much closer.

          by Kudos on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:03:15 PM PDT

          •  Ok

            I can kind of see how they look like that on the one photo.

            by DanD on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 08:21:30 PM PDT

•  Haven't seen the story in Libé...

  Pascal Riché covers the NOLA situation for the French daily. He hasn't published a word. However, he travels with Julian Borger of The Guardian.

  Riché has a blog where he describes his experiences. His latest entry: a story about a young French tourist who spent three days in the Superdome before being sent to Dallas. He confirms the widespread mistreatment by the military at the Dome. Case in point: soldiers throwing water bottles as hard as possible on the crowd, hurting one woman.

  A un moment, pour s'amuser, les militaires ont envoyé vers la foule les bouteilles d'eau le plus fort possible, comme au baseball. Une femme s'est pris une bouteille en pleine tête. La Navy est arrivé et c'était pire encore, les soldats n'arrêtaient pas de nous gueuler dessus. Depuis le car qui nous a emmené vendredi matin vers Dallas, on a vu par les fenêtres un champ de coton. Les Noirs ont rigolé: "Rien a changé" ont-ils dit. Moi je savais que j'allais retrouver mon appart', mon confort. Mais pour eux, le cauchemar ne faisait que commencer".

  by ClaudeB on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 07:47:58 PM PDT

•  god, are you there? it's me, neal.

  i know you're pretty busy... i know that you know i wonder if you 'even exist,' blah blah blah, extend argument outward. i think you're on the level with my questioning, because i always feel 'a presence like you,' strangely, while i'm doing such self-questioning as i happen to experience now.

  i also know you're busy with 'heaven's nursery,' where presumably all unwanted/unallowed pregnancies end up... must be an up-to-the-minute business, nursing all the beautiful spirits that need to be re-alloted a shot at this plane of existence (as futile as it must seem at times)...

  purportably, you send these beautiful little creatures down our way, to do your work, as long as they have parents with remnants of your original beauty intact. this doesn't always happen... i imagine many white, hardly-rich americans (fools, -self-made- fools, oftentimes) right now have somewhere back in their faulty memories pictures of small, faulty children, throwing -other- children out the windows of subdivisions resultant of faulty welfare subdivisions (obviously without adult supervision - someone could not afford 'babysitting' supervision of said subjects...)

  there are some, higher up, reportedly female, that suggest that a portion of the population you wisely allow creation that are not worthy of help from others who have been worthy of being earthly borne into a portion of worldly wealth. they consider any toss-off from the high dinnertable to be a 'godly' gift from on high... a 'fantastic opportunity' to leverage oneself upwards in an unequal society that -you never gave birth or fortuity to.- (if you gave fortuity to america, then you gave proof to your own existance, which is forbidden.)

  if there is proof of your existence, then it is between the lines, by chance of this story... innocent children, knowing what's right, leading other children. no wonder i feel, just as i felt reading this story the first time last night, that i put a point one for my 'personal scorecard' for your existence... they know what's right, intrisically. just as the young doe scampers through the meadow out back early in the morning... the simple joy of existing; the inward knowledge that, faced with mortal danger, take all of younger ones with you when you can.

  i know i don't say this often, but god, you're beautiful... you pull all of us back to where we need to be eventually, peaceful and quiet, gathering all crying, lost souls together, to press onwards into the strange, scary future. the future that will eventually eat us all up... but we know where the current watermark is at, and if we keep climbing for it, we will achieve it... whether or nor -you- will have to provide that end-goal for us.

  to wish anyone who would speak against us, to wish that they would travel in our same shoes... our same -lack- of shoes, through waters that could reach us neck-deep, -nostril-deep, because of circumstance of our wealth, -through- circumstance of our race... a circumstance that those on high - again, purportedly female, is not judgement. is not anger. is not temper. is simply, your will... humans are humans are humans, no matter wealth, power, or judgemental temperament.

  it is, your will. we are equal. we are one. no one any more or less than the other. this is your will. we know this.

  through the leadership of one toddler, who should be fingerpainting in kindergarten, instead of leading others younger than he through waters reaching their necks, reaching their nostrils. oil-slicked. toxic.

  without a place to 'relieve themselves,' without anything to eat, to drink clean water.

  see, other 'children' of yours will cry, 'why didn't the mother keep them close,' 'why didn't they leave,' 'why aren't they well-off to do any of the above...' etc, etc. you know who these children are... you know they are lost. just like the bumper sticker... 'all those who wander are not lost.' you know who your children are.

  and, with just a tiny bit of vengefulness on your behalf, i wonder how well those people sleep tonight. i know you don't -officially- approve of such measures... but i feel, i -feel,- you know where i'm coming from tonight.

  there's not much more i can say about this... the evidence speaks for itself. a six-year-old, leading a small band of children, may defeat a president tonight... as long as others, serving in the american journalistic community (we already know where the international community is tonight... this boy will be the closest thing to the second-coming that the self-proclaimed 'chosen ones' have been looking for all this time)...

  your will be done. salute... and a long, under-the-stars, on-my-knees bawling cry.

  yours forever. perservere.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------

  good evening...

  my apologies... as always here, dkos entries are not edited, except by the writers themselves. i take full responsibility for the following. first, i would like to repeat what i wrote earlier... in case it adds context...

  ----------------------------

  ...

  --------------------------

  tonight... would you deny me the right to live?

  (as opposed to an unknown, possibly future serial-killer white fetus?;)

  would you? would you, if you knew that i was a poverty-level white male, somewhat handsome, intellectually capable in most any capacity, the right to be me? would you rather tell me to die than to impose you for a little extra tax, a little extra off your profluferous income?

  would you? would you, if you knew that i perhaps had -black blood- within me, the 'niggah-lips' giving me away, despite my somewhat handsome exterior, my rather intellectual capacity (that might one day save -your- pure, unadorned ass, in the line of fire>?

  would you, your own child, put them into the meat-grinder... lips too big, eyes too wide open, ears too big? just might be too fuckin' smart for -you- to handle?

  -who the fuck are you?- i want to know... -we- want to know...

  -we all want to know who you are.-

  speak up. we are smarter and more caring than you, so you have nothing to fear. -we will take care of you.- we will not offer ourselves up to -your- services, because -your- services do not provide that guarantee.

  stand up. speak loud, whoever you are. we will finally know who is who. and we will make sure that -all who can live- ... -will- live.

  sleep well tonight.

  -----------------------------------------------

  no doubt...

  'pathological politicians' will be the weak link for any savior of sanity.

  ... but not 'democrats.' well, not 'democrats' in the current, certain sense... those who would stand up upon any upon-this-earth, within-this-plane-of-existance personages' rights. (the pre-born, and post-born - those with tubes up their noses - might not apply currently. they simply will not be willing visages for the voting movement. take a pill, and think things over... you will -never- engage these particpants willingly, except as 'advertising campaign images.')

  i understand if you don't understand... not everyone can. sometimes takes a minimal of college education. take a moment, take a breath, then re-read. then re-read again, if need be.

  and allow yourself -to learn.-

  turn off the cable-tv religion... (CANCEL your cable; you're paying for 60 channels of bullshit you don't believe in anyways.) turn off the 'bewwwwwww!' faith-healing bullshit. turn off -all- that bullshit.

  turn back on your own quiet mind, your own quiet spirit... the one that truly informs you, the one that truly -nurishes- you. the six-year-old who will lead others through the dark to the light.

  there are only two houses existant... two houses, precarious, shaking upon their foundations. one, intrisically, will outlive the other. one, instrisically, will better match -your- motives,-, your -beliefs,- than the other. the so-called 'third' party, -does not exist.- -period.-

  -form up now...- coalesce, or forever see your belief sink.

  -form up now...- and -have a chance to -clean house.-

  -form up now...- or never have a chance to have a chance.

  choose now...

  or forever, no more bullshit 'independence' crap.

  choose sides... clean house. stop bullshitting... i understand, but STOP BULLSHITTING ABOUT IT. FUCK THIS SHIT. TAKE A HOUSE, AND CLEAN IT UP.

  YOU GODDAMNED BASTARDS...

  -------------------------------------------------------

  i want my goddamn country back.

  - jesus

  (i'll goddamn quote god/jesus as much as -they- do... even if it's -false.- fuck them.)
  

  by n step on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 09:26:49 PM PDT

•  UPDATE:

  (tried to do this in the diary but it got royally messed up for reasons beyond me]

  Two hospitals are also located very close by the high school in question:

  PENDLETON MEMORIAL METHODIST HOSPITAL (5620 READ BOULEVARD), a a 306-bed, full service acute care facility

  Methodist is flooded to the second story (20-24 ft)
  

  Hurricane Katrina Update

  Methodist Hospital patients and staff have been evacuated to safe locations. The Methodist facility itself remians under water up to the second floor level and is not operational.

  and

  UNITED MEDICAL REHABILITATION HOSPITAL   5650 READ BLVD, a small 20 bed hospital,   which was evacuated on August 31 according to this  photo legend

  No mention of the status of the adjacent high school was made in the stories about the evacuations of  hospitals, as far as I can tell.

  by shumard on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 09:27:27 PM PDT

•  Shumard,

  I've linked your diary here: The Missing and the Dead Part II, where I've been attempting to archive Diaries/Links regarding seeing to the missing, the dead, and related hurricane issues.

  by DianeL on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 11:23:32 PM PDT