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Posted by pamsterdam on 2005-08-29 14:21:49 +0000

Thank goodness frame609 isn't in New Orleans yet

Does anyone have friends/family down there? Sounds absolutely horrific...

Posted by rladew on 2005-08-29 14:30:10 +0000
What sounds horrific? Jandek , or the hurricane? :) Talked to him via cell last night right before Jandek show #1 in Austin. Jandek #2 in New Orleans is like Thur or Fri, I believe. No word on cancellation yet. I'm sure Pitchfork will be a good source on this.... _______________________________

Posted by tendiamonds on 2005-08-29 14:59:32 +0000
My aunt and uncle have been evacuated from their Slidell home. My uncle is talking about it like he'll be surprised if he has a home when it's over, but he's nuts, and an alcoholic, and sometimes thinks I'm his grandson, so who knows.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2005-08-29 15:04:10 +0000
It's good that he's (apparently) prepared for the worst, but if it makes you feel better - it seems that the storm is not hitting New Orleans as hard as it could have. So, no "toxic soup". Damned scary. Anyone else checking Metafilter? People posting from the area are giving some amazing first-hand accounts.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2005-08-29 15:13:04 +0000
The Metafilter site is overwhelmed with hits for now. Here is a copy-paste of 2 entries (ColdChef lives in New Orleans & is staying with his parents in Baton Rouge): I have two updates from ColdChef, by email (he couldn't get in to post) The first was from about 1:00 this morning: Hi, everyone. Checking in. I got to my parent's house at about 7 tonight. I walked in the doors and my brother grabbed my arms and said, "Let's go." The local nursing home was taking elderly refugees from New Orleans and they needed help unloading them when they got there. We had no idea what we were in for. Five large tourbuses from New Orleans showed up with at least fifty patients on each. For the next four hours we carried these old folks off the buses, put them into wheelchairs and brought them inside. When we first got there, there were only about fifteen men there. Then, about two dozen volunteers from the police and fire department showed up. And then came two vans carrying most of the local high school football team. Though it was raining when we got there, it completely quit as we were unloading them. Wearing gloves and using sheets to wrap them up as we moved them, we physically had to carry these people down the aisle of the bus, to waiting wheelchairs and then into the building, where we would lay them down on one of the 400 inflatable mattresses they brought with them. Picture the soldier scene from "Gone With the Wind" and you have some kind of idea what it looked like in there. Most of them had soiled themselves on the four hour ride from New Orleans, so we had to be careful moving them. We filled the cafeteria with mattresses and then lined them in the hallways. Many of them had Alzheimer's, and were angry and confused, so it was hard to move them. A few refused to get off the bus and we had to physically bind them in sheets to move them. It was awful. But we got them all inside. And a few of them who had an idea of what was going on were very thankful and tearful and…it was hard knowing that most of them would never return home. Two people died on the bus ride up there, so we'll be taking care of them later this evening. From the looks of some of the others, death won't be far away. I don't know. It's too much to think about right now. The rain held off until the last people were unloaded, and as soon as we got them inside, it started pouring down raining. By the sound of the wind and the rain outside, I don't think our powerlines will be intact for long, so I'll post this while I still can. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts. posted by yhbc at 5:31 AM PST on August 29 And here's ColdChef's second update, from about 7:50 this morning: I don't know if you got my last email, but just another quick update. The sun's coming up and the storm is really starting to whip around out there. The lights are still on amazingly enough, so my mom and I are making breakfast for all the people staying with us. No one really slept well last night except for my one-year-old girl. Everyone was kind of crashed in front of our tv, flipping back and forth between local coverage, CNN, and the Weather Channel. My dad was working up front in the funeral home, so I laid down with my mom in her bed and watched the news with her and told her all the funny things that happened at the nursing home with all the refugees. (Like the woman whose response to every question was, "Fuck you.") I fell asleep and woke up between my mom and dad. Felt safer than it should have, I guess. It's getting worse out there now and the lights are starting to flicker. I've had to restart my computer several times this morning. For some reason, I can't post to MetaFilter or MetaChat or anything like that, so I'll try to keep up the emails. People on the tv at the gulf coast keep saying awful things like, "This is worse than we expected." Makes the coffee and biscuits not taste so good. posted by yhbc at 5:32 AM PST on August 29

Posted by dawnbixtler on 2005-08-29 16:01:58 +0000
"You're my favorite Grandson." "Lloyd, I'm your nephew." "Oh."

Posted by frame609 on 2005-08-29 16:50:47 +0000
I'm in Austin right now. New Orleans is under six feet of water- think I might come home early.

Posted by Miriam on 2005-08-29 17:04:32 +0000
Hooray for not drowning!

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