Journal feed from New Orlean's business district

[IglooDame]

Available here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

The blog is self-explanatory (read from the bottom, up) and written by an emergency management director of a network provider in downtown New Orleans. CBD is central business district.

Edit: Associated pictures here, but I think the site is under a heavy load at the moment. http://sigmund.biz/kat/index.html

 

[Sparta]

Wow; fascinating. Thanks for the link, ID!

FWIW, another blog of info I just stumbled onto in case anyone is interested:

NOLA.org

 

[Renata]

I've been reading that for days. Scary stuff. They've lost most of their service providers, so they may wind up offline yet despite having the fuel and supplies to keep going.

Renata

 

[stormbind]

3. Dead bodies everywhere: convention center, down camp street, all over.
...
Crime is absolutely rampant: rapes, murders, rape-murder combinations.
...
The hospitals are in dire straights. The police barely have any capabilities at this point. The National Guard is doing their best, but the situation is not being contained.
...
It's interesting to note that I see no ASIANS looting, but I'll leave that observation to the sociologists to explain. This crisis is not about race, but about inhumanity. Got it?

So much for western society!

I do not recall looting in the aftermath of the Great Tsunami. Baghdad looters have put New Orleans to shame: at least they only took things when owners weren't looking

Now I feel kind of sick

 

[Savage Discipil]

So much for western society!

I do not recall looting in the aftermath of the Great Tsunami. Baghdad looters have put New Orleans to shame: at least they only took things when owners weren't looking

Now I feel kind of sick

After the Tsunami what could they loot anyway a broken claypot.

 

[Rambuchan]

After the Tsunami what could they loot anyway a broken claypot.

This post deserves to be flamed but I won't.

Anyway, break down of law and order indeed:

Looting: The police are looting. This has been confirmed by several independent sources. Some of the looting might be "legitimate" in as much as that word has any meaning in this context. They have broken into ATMs and safes: confirmed. We have eyewitnesses to this. They have taken dozens of SUVs from dealerships ostensibly for official use. They have also looted gun stores and pawn shops for all the small arms, supposedly to prevent "criminals" from doing so. But who knows their true intentions. We have an inside source in the NOPD who says that command and control is in chaos. He reports that command lapses more than 24 hours between check-ins, and that most of the force are "like deer in the headlights." NOPD already had a reputation for corruption, but I am telling you now that the people we've been talking to say they are not recognizing the NOPD as a legitimate authority anymore, since cops have been seen looting in Walmarts and forcing people out of stores so they could back up SUVs and loot them. Don't shoot the messenger....

New Orleans Police Department Status: The situation for the NOPD is critical. This is firsthand information I have from an NOPD officer we're giving shelter to. Their command and control infrastructure is shot. They have limited to no communication whatsoever. He didn't even know the city was under martial law until we told him! His precinct (5th Precinct) is under water! UNDER WATER -- every vehicle under water. They had to commander moving trucks like Ryder and UHaul to get around. The coroner's office is shut down so bodies are being covered in leaves at best or left where they lie at worst.

They don't even know their own rules of engagement. He says the force is impotent right now. They have no idea what's going on, no coordination, virtually no comms, etc. the National Guard is gonna air drop a radio system for them with 200 radios? They are getting very little direction.

More from the Police Officer. I'm typing as fast as i can while he talks to us:

He's only hearing bits and pieces. The people in the city are shooting at the police. They're upset that they're not getting help quickly enough. The fireman keep calling because they're under fire. He doesn't understand why the people are shooting at the rescuers. Here it is 5 days ago the Mayor said get out of town and nobody went and now they're pissed.

The National Guard was at the Hilton, but now the Hilton is evacuated. When they said the CBD was gonna get 6 feet of water, it seems like everyone evacuated.

He turned the corner onto Canal Street and it looked like a flea market. People breaking into every store, going to the neutral gound (median) and trading and selling everything.

They broke into Winn Dixie Monday Night. Do they steal food? No. Cigarettes and liquor. Store was a mess. All the meats were going to waste so the districts went over there to salvage food for officers. Many cops have been eating MREs.

The Iberville Housing Projects got pissed off because the police started to "shop" after they kicked out looters. Then they started shooting at cops. When the cops left, the looters looted everything. There's probably not a grocery left in this city.

Over 30 officers have quit over the last 3 days. Out of 160 officers in his district maybe 55 or 60 are working. He hasn't seen several since Sunday. HQ is closed, evacuated. No phones to contact them.

"HQ, be advised, we're going 10 7."

"Ok, y'all coming back on???"

"We don't know."