Hello every one.
This is my first post. I'm very excited about it. Sorry if it's in wrong location.
I'd like to go south with my crew to do some cleaning work. Is any one want to share information about Hurricane Katrina. FEMA told me I need to talk to local authorities. I tried to contact county clerks and town halls, but phones don't work. My company registered in New Hampshire. Do I need to register in LA and MS to work where? Any one with previous experience? Thanks
this is your 4th post climber. :) This is ALL the forestry forum. Lets move this to the general board. It might be a better place for it. :)
I'll send you a PM with alot of info.
Climber, where are you going? Are you driving any company vehicles? Pm me the name on the side if you want. I might be there soon!
Hello Climber, thinking of going ourselves. We're waiting to here back more from a contract service i know. Communication is still pretty much none existant. We are thinking about going in as an independent comp. , If we do it will be at least next week. Mississippi is pretty tore up from I20 south. What are y'all thinking, as for as going in for cleanup?
Thanks to every one for replies.
I am owner of my company witch is registered in NH.
I do have insurance – 2M
I am thinking to go with my body, whose company in MA. He is insured too.
We were thinking to take one or two more guys with us. They are working for us.
Equipment: dumper, chipper, rigging, winch and Stihls.
Destination: Unknown yet.
I am trying to establish some kind of commitment from authorities, but no luck us of right now.
Hi, Climber. They are still too busy looking for survivors and bodies in the principle areas to worry about chipping up tree limbs. One thing you might do is contact some of the cities 50 to 100 miles inland. They are the ones that are likely to need tree work. The ones on the coast don't have any trees left. You could start at Jackson or Montgomery and work your way south. This storm didn't lose Hurricane strength until it reached Tennessee. There is plenty of work in the inland parts of the coastal states.
If you do come down, do your soul a favor and donate an hour or two a day to the poor folks that can't pay your rates. You'll sleep better, and create some goodwill for yourself, too. ;) :) :)
I'll be in it tomorrow. I work for the local government in Jefferson Parish which is only a few miles from New Orleans. Many trees on the streets in our area. I know clean up has already started. Not my area but I am sure there have been emergency contracts issued. The usual protocal is waived in these situations. I dont know if this event will go as past lesser hurricanes where FEMA did not have as strong a presence so I dont know if you need to talk to FEMA or to our purchasing people. All the water has been pumped from our parish back out in to the lake beleive it or not. We did not have as many areas where water was up to the roofs though.
I'll find out more in the morning and will try to get back on line if power and phone lines permit.
If you want to PM me with your contact information I'll try to give you a call when I know more.
HEY, Good to hear from ya LSU. 8) 8) We were concerned you were in really deep. ;D :) :)
Thank goodness. 8)
Glad to hear you are OK. Prayers are still in order. I dont know what else to do.
Just thought of something morbidly funny. Is that water y'all pumped back into the lake headed for the breaks in the dikes in New Orleans?
You are absolutely right.
I'm always thinking how can I help to people and Mother Nature.
And if some person can't afford my services, I am asking to pay me by praying for my guys and me.
In the other time, if I can be paid well, why not?
Any way, before we going there, I have many questions, like:
What do I need to take with me? Gas, diesel fuel, water, food maybe RV to live in.
Where to go?
My LLC certificate and insurance. that else?
I don't want to go to ground zero, however people and government in regions of national disaster area needs my capability the most.
Climber, you'll all of that stuff, cept the RV unless its your tow vehicle. Although the RV would be nice.
You'll need a generator for sure. You should plan on all the food you would need for the entire trip as food will probably not be to your liking the farther south you go. Bring lots of high calorie stuff.
Cash, you can't count on atm's or gas stations with operating credit card machines for fuel.
I sent you another pm
Thanks for the well wishes fellas. My family and I got out of Dodge for this one. I normally have to work through storms but they let most of us but skeleton crews go. Turned out to be a good selling point to my friends and family to go and go now!
My feeling is that anyone who had the means to leave, but did not, has performed a truly selfish act. Look at the dollars and manpower now devoted to saving folks that should not even be here. This was the storm we have dreaded for decades.
Tom, its a BIG lake. The water pumped out of Jefferson Parish had virtually no effect on the lake elevation. As of a few minutes ago they are making good headway on the repair of the breech. And the lake elevation is slowly but surely dropping and should continue until the elevation reaches sea level.
The breech is on the New Orleans side of that canal. That canal and its levees forms the boudnary between Jefferson and Orleans Parishes so our drainage basins are segregated. Jefferson Parish is also a little higher and will be up and running again much sooner.
I hope to have some pics and more info tomorrow from ground zero. I already have a story about a hero. My brother in law who tried to leave but waited too late. Have to go for tonight. On dads computer and his phone doesnt work when Im on.
Thanks for checking in, LSU! And thank GOD you and your's are ok. 8) 8) Take care and keep a good journal. You'll have lots of stories to tell us when things settle down. ;D
Lord yes! Make a journal. We need some stories real bad. Heck, I've almost come to the point of having to make some up. ;D
You too Tom ???
Climber, sounds like our situation and thinking are pretty close. If I find out any information I'll PM you.
LSU,
I came to this forum to get away from the bad news on the TV. All of my family live in Jeff. Parish. Most are here with me in Tn. now. Your news is the first good news I have heard from that area. I will have the whole family reading this thread. I know that bad news keeps the televisions networks in business, but plenty of us would rather see some good news and a vision of hope for our future. I will keep a watch on this websight for more info. Thanks, LSU!!!
LSU, My son was in a Hospital downtown during the storm and I have not heard anything from him. His name is Nicholas Allen. Do you know the names of any of the downtown hospitals? I have a couple numbers but still no connection to be made.
If by the Grace of God you are near a downtown Hospital during your efforts PLEASE inquire about my son. Ypu cant miss him: (21, 6'6" - 250lbs White Male) If you do come across him, make sure you SLAP the CRAP out of his mother for refusing to leave.
I have been told through some military friends that if I dont hear from him by Tuesday that I had better come down packing hardward and start looking for him on my own as they are terribly under manned to do the job at hand and that numerous gangs have taken over many parts of the city.
Thanks so much for any and all information you can provide.
Hey everyone I just want to say thank you for all the good stories on the hurricane smiley_thumbsup. I have the news on most of the day and I just get tired of the same old stories over and over and over smiley_thumbsdown I think that they should be reporting on some of the good stories in between. Gives more people hope instead of despair.
Thanks smiley_thumbsup to you all in Florida that have been through it giving us a really wake up to what is important. Just can't wait to get on and read the new stories. They are a really inspiration to me.
Kirk my thoughts and prays are with you and hope you hear for your son. There was a doctor on today from one of the down town hospital and I just wondered if Kirk son was there. Everyone down there are in our thought just keep your chine up.
Thank again everyone.
smiley_thumbsup
Kirk, this may not be much help, but go to www.msnbc.com and look for the missing persons segment. Also find the Red Cross site and post his description and a pic there. They have forums set up for this. Good luck, and we'll be praying.
Kirk, the "downtown" hospitals would be University, Charity, or Tulane.
There are also a few on the outskirts: Memorial Medical Center, Meadow Crest, East Jefferson, West Jefferson and Oschner (sp?).
We're praying for a safe return of your family members.
I think the downtown hospitals have all been evacuated. I know I heard that Charity has.
Kirk send me all the contact info for you and his name and I'll put it on http://survivedkatrina.proboards54.com/index.cgi
I'm one of the admins there and i'll post it where needed. gene
With big bad Rita out there this is probably a little off topic. But I am just now getting the time, power and computer system all at the same time to check in from just outside of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish.
I am the engineer for the Water Dept. here and the first two weeks we worked nite and day restoring the water system with very little power and very inconsistant phone service. We had about 425 water main breaks due to fallen trees and had up to 30 work crews going at one time. Just today we are caught up on all we know about so far. The "boil water" notice was lifted about a week and a half ago.
Some things you won't hear on the news:
In N.O. when thugs were gaining control, the military postioned snipers with night vision technology to take out anyone with a gun.
On the ground military and local law enforcement gave looters only one chance to obey the stop order before being disposed of. Some civilians also took care of looters without prejudice.
Everything you heard about what happened in the Superdome was probably true. Most of the people there stayed outside at nite because the thugs took over inside. Even scared the N.O.P.D out for a while. Hopefully these thugs were all included in those detected with night vision.
My neighbor witnessed a pickup filled with armed thugs riding through our neighborhood. He said it looked like Mogadishu. This is why our sherriff placed armed deputies and guardsmen at our borders.
SWAT teams raided a known drug dealer hangout in N.O. and took them all out.
Very spooky coming in to town that first day. First thing I did was come to my house to find it had been flooded. Had to drive on two of my neighbors lawns to avoid downed trees to get here. Not one street in my neighborhood was passable from one end to the other.
The two or three neighbors who stayed through the storm were all carrying weapons. So was I for the first two weeks.
Before coming here I sat at home and fumed at all the people who stayed and felt very little remorse for those stranded at the Superdome and on I-10. But I drove past the folks on I-10 and could not help but stop and give them some of the supplies I had brought. I think I know how parents feel when their kids do something stupid that almost gets them killed. You just help them today and cuss' em tomorrow.
I hope ya'll realize that those folks above represent a small percentage of the population here. Most of us are smart enough to leave and dont depend on "the man" to take care of us.
With the exception of all the debris...carpet, sheetrock, insulation, refrigerators and trees.... along the roadways things are starting to return to normal. A few more businesses open every day and few more neighbors around.
New Orleans is getting dryer by the hour. My father in law and brother in law have already begun rebuilding their houses. They live across the street from each other about a half mile from the breech in the 17th street canal.
I have no great love for the City of New Orleans (or any other city for that matter). I live in this area because my wife and her family are natives. I dont think rebuilding this City, particularly with a weakened levee system is the practical thing to do. Though not all of the city requires complete reconstruction. That decision should be based on a cost benefit analysis. However, I understand not wanting to leave the place you've grown up and raised a family.
The levee system here is designed to resist a cat 3 storm. Like any engineering decision economics has to be balanced with probablility of the event. All structures could be designed to withstand a tornado or an earthquake but it is not always economically feasible, just as levees could be built to withstand a cat 5 storm that has to hit just right.
On the bright side, Ive been trying to convince my wife to move to the country on about 4 or 5 acres for about 2 years. That may happen now. And I made 1/8th of my yearly salary in the last two weeks!
Well thanks for reading. It feels good to get some of this off my chest. I hope by now everyone knows of the whereabouts of friends and relatives and those heading down here for work has found it. I was not able to help anyone due to time and communication restraints.
Also a big thanks to your husbands, wives, children and friends who came down here to help. I cant believe the number of firemen, police and other volunteers who are down here on their own accord to help.
Great to hear from you LSUNo1
Many thanks for the report from your 'front line' battle and the job you are doing.
Let's hope that the progress continues, and that the RITA storm doesn't duplicate the disaster.
My prayers for you and your family to make the right decisions.
I'll second beenthere on that and you all are still in mine and pats prayers
Rita eye to pass 20 miles or so east of us, hurricain and tropical storm winds from 6 friday to midnight Saturday, Pray for Texas, as you did for the other states.
I have 11 folks here, three in their 90's, one 83, and us other assorted old farts. We have two houses, so should be able to live in one or the other till power is restored. We have taken all precautions we can think of, and still nervous as a nine tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I felt less stress the hours before a combat mission, there, we knew what was about to happen, now it is all "predictions". I think I would rather be in combat.