My nephew used to live in New Orleans

I just got off the phone with my nephew, who left New Orleans on Wednesday. He has a lot of insight that you won't find in the media.

The first point that should be made is that there's more than just one side of this story. The people of New Orleans fall into a few different categories:
1. People who left before the storm hit. Some feared the worst, some feared the unknown.
2. People who would have left, but couldn't for whatever reason. Many people could not afford to leave, others were too ill, and couldn't move. And there could be a dozen other valid reasons.
3. People who have been through several hurricanes and underestimated the scale of this one. I have a hard time criticizing these people. In the past they have endured similar storms, and they didn't think this would be much different. When you bear in mind that areas have endured category 5's (such as hurricane Andrew) with less trouble, it would seem that a cat 4 would be bearable.
4. People who decided to stay with the intent of taking advantage of the situation and looting. These people deserve some serious punishment, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they deserve to die. Some of the armed bandits you see are these folks.

Point #2 really makes me angry at certain reporters who want to place blame for this tragedy on those who remained in the city. How arrogant you have be to make those claims! That's your small minded way of saying: "I've considered all possibilities and came to the conclusion that there's no valid reason to stay in the city". I really want to punish the people who think this way.

The situation in New Orleans is grim. The armed thug gangs that run parts of the city have become so powerful that the police cannot control them. The 80% of the city that is flooded has problems we may not consider at first. The first thing that happens when the streets flood is the sewers intermix with the flood waters, making the water that you see horribly smelly, and a serious health risk. Another problem comes from the broken levee's that let in seawater. It doesn't just let in the water, but in this case it has also let in bull sharks. Right now, these sharks are feeding on corpses of victims. The flooded streets have also seen an influx of a few Water Moccasins (Ancistrodon piscivorus or cottonmouth). These are one of the few snakes that really scare me. In the wild they are territorial and aggressive, and who knows how they will react to this new situation.

My nephew was holed up with his wife, his 1 year old son, and his wife's father in his father-in-law's apartment. The apartment building formed into a group dedicated to protecting each other. Eventually they housed a few police officers who showed up seeking refuge from the streets. One of these police officers spoke of a shootout he was part of that went very badly. I won't go into what happened, but this officer is happy to be alive after seeing his fellow police officers fall. He also mentioned that some police have been forced to resort to looting food because they have been cut off from supplies and support. Thankfully this building was in a gated community on high ground, part of the 20% that isn't under water right now. My nephew's apartment was not in the dry 20, and since he was on the bottom floor, everything they own is now underwater. They were able to take their car to a 4th floor parking garage located in the dry 20, but looting may take that from them as well.

When they decided to flee the city, the group had to stand as armed guards as they loaded up his father-in-law's Ford Expedition, and pray that the only people who saw them were unarmed or poorly armed. Any of the larger looting gangs would likely have the firepower to take the SUV and would willingly kill for something this valuable. The group had heard of the stories of people trying to leave the city, and knew that a common car-jacking tactic was to stand in front of a fleeing car and when it stops, shoot the driver and passengers if they resist. With this in mind, they resolved to run over anyone who stood intentionally in their way. To discourage this, they flew through the streets at ridiculous speeds, and thankfully, didn't have to resort to this extreme. When they heard on Saturday that the storm was going to hit New Orleans, they filled the gas tank (at pre-storm prices), and that allowed them to get far from the city before needing to refuel. When they got to (I've forgotten where they refueled), there was only 1 gas station that still had fuel. Thankfully, they weren't gouging prices in this emergency, but there was still a 2 hour line for gasoline.

Now my nephew and his family are staying in a Miami suburb with a friend. Cell phone coverage is spotty, as the entire gulf coast area is under a heavy telecomm load. Text messages don't deliver every time, and when they do, they don't always show who sent the message. I'm just happy that it's over for the ones I love, and I continue to pray for those still in that hell.