By George Anderson
Louisiana's Governor tearfully describes the scene as "untenable…heartbreaking." Mississippi's Governor believes this is what it must look like after an atomic bomb is dropped.
Rescuers in boats need to push the dead away with sticks as they try to get to survivors locked in attics or up on the roofs of buildings. A woman talks of not being able to sleep. How could you sleep when you can't get the images of the dead out of your head?
"There was this little baby. She looked so perfect and so beautiful. I just wanted to scoop her up and breathe life back into her little lungs. She wasn’t bloated or anything, just perfect," she said.
Looters, some like vermin, sweep in to profit off the misery that is everywhere. Others break the law out of the desperation that comes from not having enough food or water to drink. What are you to do when you had virtually nothing before the storm and now you're left with even less?
One man dies over a bag of ice.
Storeowners stand at the entrance of their shops armed and ready to protect what is theirs even if it means…
Thousands believing they were safe find themselves on buses to places such as Houston for it may be months before they will ever be able to return home or at least go back to where their homes once stood. Others make their way away by foot. They move in lines like refugees from some war-torn foreign land that is displayed on American television.
The President says it will take years to recover. Leaders call for prayer and the strength it will take to build something better, stronger, out of the ruins. Amen.
Moderator's Comment: What are your thoughts on the events this week surrounding Hurricane Katrina? Specifically, what will be the impact of the storm and its effects on retailers in the areas hit and on the national economy?
Here are a few groups involved in the Katrina recovery effort should you wish to make a donation. - George Anderson - Moderator
American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/
AmeriCares
http://www.americares.org/
Operation USA
http://www.operationusa.org/
The Salvation Army
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
- Hitting Bottom: New Orleans Glimpses Possible Turning Point - The Times Picayune
- Rescuers 'had to push the bodies back with sticks' - The Times Picayune
- President Struck by Devastation - The Clarion - Ledger
- Police say fatal shooting came after fight over ice - Hattiesburg American/The Clarion - Ledger
- 'Chaos up there': Red Cross Begins Distributions - The Clarion - Ledger