Many Louisiana Hurricane Gustav evacuees who ventured north this week to escape the wrath of whatever was coming were out of luck and in harm’s way, thanks to practices of hotel chains that, for whatever reasons, are putting them out on the street. They are finding their cash money is no good.

Whether for lack of preparation or lack of planning, many evacuees seeking shelter from the storm are running into a familiar echo among hoteliers in north Louisiana, particularly the Alexandria area, where stores were closing and gas was in short supply. Those who were smart enough to anticipate where the safest part of the state would be may have made hotel reservations when the storm was still around Haiti or Cuba.

Now that it’s here, those who evacuated as late as Friday or Saturday and tried to get a room ran into the old “no room at the inn” - “no vacancy” - signs.

Then, to add to the hurt, Alexandria’s convention center, used as a Red Cross shelter after Hurricane Katrina, was set up only for special needs evacuees. And the Rapides Coliseum, a blighted, old, circa 1960’s drafty, leaky, stadium dump of a Red Cross shelter, had “no new registrations” signs posted as early as the Saturday before Gustav made landfall in Louisiana.

It was only housing evacuees bussed in from several places around the state. Also, local shelters (schools, etc.) were only accepting local residents, said one evacuee who was turned down.

That left Monroe and Shreveport as the only two closest other cities with Red Cross shelters for evacuees, according to the state’s emergency info operators.

At hotels like Super 8, Ramada Inn, and others in Alexandria, those who got rooms were being told they had to leave “due to reservations”.

Now, who would get on highways and evacuate AFTER a hurricane heads their way? And the hotels wouldn’t accept money from guests already in rooms, so guests could not pay in advance for one day or one week and were forced to checkout. Most, if not all evacuees, had no relatives or friends in the area.

A call to FEMA got the response of “Louisiana hasn’t been declared a disaster yet”, so FEMA wouldn’t help. Also, FEMA was giving the city of New Orleans’ 311 info number or the state’s 211 or the Red Cross as the only further assistance, even for those outside the city of New Orleans.

Take the bus, go by car, but boating is not advised, as Katrina survivors on the Gulf Coast start leaving home for parts unknown. Here we go again. Paying the cost to live in America’s most unique city or the beautiful Gulf Coast.

Whatever the case, most of us love where we live, and don’t really want to live anywhere else. And we pay the price, in losses from hurricanes - utterly destructive forces of nature that threaten all coasts of this country, that are called cyclones when on the west coast.

Other kinds disasters, like wildfires, tidal waves, or landslides, can strike anywhere, and you can’t always predict them, as with hurricanes, so at least we have warning systems in place, to give us time to think.

And thinking ahead is a key to avoiding a disaster. We’ve got to think of what we’ll do in case of a hurricane BEFORE it hits. So - don’t even THINK about hunkering down and going without power or water for at least a few days. The one thing you don’t need to think about is whether or not to evacuate when advised to do so.

With law enforcement in place to prevent looting in New Orleans and surrounding areas, the shameful stuff we saw after Hurricane Katrina won’t be seen this time. Besides, anyone found outside in these areas will be arrested, reportedly to be taken straight to the infamous Angola State Prison for booking. And Hurricane Gustav looks like it’s gonna be such a threat that it’s not worth taking a chance for anybody except first responders to stay behind…don’t even THINK about it!

As the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and the rest of the Gulf Coast - still already ravaged by Hurricane Katrina three years ago - prepares to defy yet another tempest of the sea called Gustav, FEMA has issued no public media statements regarding the impending threat.

Is this just a repeat performance or a deliberate, calculated step in introducing the Gulf Coast to the new “FEMA of 2008?”

Joke of the day for those who haven’t heard:

The new attitude of the “FEMA of 2008″, as FEMA Director R. David Paulison reportedly said at a recent U.S. Senate hearing, is that ice is not a life-saving commodity.

To cut the cake-spending, FEMA officials reportedly announced that the agency will no longer directly offer ice to victims after a disaster such as a hurricane. The revelation has caused a storm of protest, and anyone who’s suffered through any hurricane, especially Katrina or Rita, would probably beg to join in and disagree.

Ice - that “commodity” treat of frozen life-saving water, is actually a life-saving necessity, especially when the power is out for miles around and stores are closed for days, weeks, or even months.

Word is, FEMA is slipping the ice job over to the Army Corps of Engineers who will only provide ice on request to a state facing an emergency, to be used for medical emergencies.

Suppose a major, destructive hurricane was headed for your home and you and your family had to evacuate NOW?

As the price of a gallon of regular gas has soared close to the dreaded $4.00 per gallon national average, do you have the money and could you afford to fill up your gas tank TODAY?
Please take a quick survey! Look for the results to be published here soon!

Anything sound familiar in our nation’s horrifying response to the horrifying disaster in Myanmar? Given the eerily ironic, deja vu feeling as our hearts go out to all those affected, KC won’t get involved in partisan politics, so you are invited to THINK PROGRESS for some outstanding reminders of where that feeling comes from. Thank God it’s not happening here and now.

An African-American family in the New Orleans area are victims of a hate crime so hideous, it’s not been seen or done in years. But it sends a loud message to the new homeowners…and America (Full story and video)

In post-Katrina America, it’s sad that the incendiary injustice done to New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina somehow prevails today in the form of racism or prejudice toward some of the city’s survivors, who, by all rights, should have overcome in 2005.

From nationally-recognized nooses in Jefferson Parish to the behavior in this story, the New Orleans area, that proverbial melting pot of American culture, must overcome all biases, welcome and strive to bring any and all of its area Katrina-surviving residents back, and work together to ensure a better quality of life, uncluttered by racism or prejudice, in order to return in glory and assume a rightful spot in America.

Whoever it is on the legal team at State Farm headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois that does not want to add insult to injury suggested this olive branch:

State Farm Insurance Company has reached a settlement with a Mississippi couple.

A few weeks ago a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in New Orleans ordered a new trial and threw out a lawsuitthe couple filed against the insurance giant for denying their claim of hurricane Katrina damages.

In 2007 a Gulfport jury had awarded the couple $2.5 million in punitive damages, reduced later to $1 million by the judge. The panel said the judge shouldn’t have allowed jurors to consider punitive damages in the first place.

Let me tell you a little story about a EMT who worked in New Orleans long before katrina. He lived over on the Ms. gulf coast and did the responsible thing and evacuated his family out of harms way. He was far from rich and he was barely able to keep his families head above water (pardon the pun).

He left town with 100 bucks for gas and food and no idea what would happen to him. Luckily he worked for a good co. and they found a safe place for his family to go. The only downside was, as soon as they were safe he went to the superdome to help with all the poor, unfortunate, and downright ignorant people who refused to leave.

Upon arrival he was cussed at constantly and berated by the citizens he was there to help. He went without sleep for days, taking care of the sick and dying. There was no air conditioning and the temp soon rose to over 100 degrees. You couldnt even wipe the sweat from your forehead because of the possibility of cross contamination into your eyes. All the while the doctors and nurses that were sent from all over the country to help were being yelled at and treated like shit by the residants of N.O.

You had tourists there from germany and england that could not believe the peoples behavior. You fought and yelled and screamed like little babies. Everyone was scared, alot of people had lost everything, so what gives you all the damn right to make it personal. The only person responsible for your plight at that time was yourself.

Allow me to fast forward a couple of days. After being shot at and working on a MP that was shot, my company decided it probably was not safe anymore. On my way to a helicopter I was punched in the face and had feces thrown at me. “How Civilized”  I was evacuated to I-10 and causeway, many of you remember the place, TV crews kept calling it the cloverleaf.

My company handed me a hot breakfast when I arrived. I noticed a young boy standing nearby looking at me as I opened the plate. Considering my last 72 hrs. I really had no appetite so I gave the plate to him. His mom took the plate from him!!!!! That pissed me off to the point of violence almost.

Here we were 1000’s of volunteers helping 10s of thousands of people get out of a city, and I personally wanted to give that little boy a plate of food and his Fn mother took the plate from him. Then I looked around and noticed all these people in line bitching and crying that they had no food or water. I had been there for 5 minutes and I noticed, just across the interstate mind you 10 tons of mre’s and another 10 tons of water. People were to lazy to go get it. Another lady came up to me and asked me for a coke. I handed her my bottle of water, she threw it back at me because it was not cold.

Photographers were trying to take pictures of patients on stretchers. I was removed from the situation and placed on another helicopter to be re-united with my family 5 hrs. later. Upon seeing my wife behind the wheel of the only car we owned now, my stepdaughters 92 acura hatchback, I got in the car and she informed me that we had lost everything. I broke down, finally, not because of my loss or because I was in a strange city with no friends and only my family to rely on.

I broke down because of you stupid, incencitive, ignorant citizens of New Orleans that didnt have enough sense to evacuate a bowl, even though you had a cat. 5 hurricane coming towards you and were told to leave. I hope you leave next time, I doubt anyone will come to your rescue again.

One of the findings from a study presented at a meeting of the Population Association of America in New Orleans is that hurricane survivors who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina were over five times more likely to experience serious psychological distress a year after Katrina than those who did not…[SCIENCE DAILY]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Several weeks ago, a hurricane survivor sent a very well-written, poignant letter to Katrina Connection (see Eclipse of the Heart: Shattered Dreams). It deserved to be published - unedited. It touched the hearts of many others, including myself. Here is a second letter - unedited - and the name says it all (Thank you, Joyce):

I have been seeking work now for 3 months, but we are living in a town of 900 people, and there are very, very few business where one can get employment. My husband has been walking to work, and his paycheck is enough to cover our monthly bills, but not much more than that.

When I said that we had the chance to come down again? It is on the prayer that I get work soon. I have applied for work at every place possible, which isn’t many due to not having a vehicle. So far? I’m not working, and it’s maddening, truly, sitting at home and waiting for something better to happen, for something… period…

We don’t have much, my husband and I… but we have each other. He has waited as I underwent surgery, worried about the tiniest thing going wrong. I have been quiet through bouts of insomnia so that he could rest… and no matter how bad things get… I still have peace in falling asleep next to him, with his arm around me. We’ve been without food for days on end… without a car for over a year now… without power, water, or heat… and still, re-reading what I wrote, our story about Katrina, hurts me more than all of that combined.

It’s hard when you struggle, and fight, and claw at the walls and rocks surrounding you, yet all you get is injuries, and stuck deeper in the pit. When all your dreams hinge on one tiny break… and can be broken on it just the same.

There are days when all I want is another chance, to go back, and change things in my life. To not be so scared, so shy, so worried… there are times when I wish I would’ve made a different decision…

For now, New Orleans lives in my heart. It lives in a dream that gets foggy and begins to fade upon the dawn. The sun rises, and I realize that I’m not in that place, but here, surrounded by cold… where we have electrical problems we can’t afford to fix, plumbing problems that are the same, holes in the floor that need replaced… it breaks me.

Everyday I wake from that dream, and I am broken, battered, and bruised by the events of the day. Every night I fall asleep and smell the flowers again, and hear the sounds… of my home.

One day we’ll be there. It may take us 40 years, but one day we will be home again… It’s the thought at the edge of my mind every day, as I look at rentals in New Orleans, and photographs, and videos… I watch documentaries about the city, Katrina, the history… I listen to the stories, see the people… it consumes me.

Yet, despite my all consuming love of what I consider my home, I am attacked, berated, and dragged down by people who call themselves ‘true New Orleanians,’ those that feel I don’t belong, because of my upbringing, or the inflection I put on certain words. People feel that because I’m a ‘white girl’ that my parents have money, and so should I… that if I considered it my ‘home,’ that I’d have been there already.

People assume things of me, just because I’m white, and don’t speak with a southern drawl.

We have no one, we rely on ourselves… and as anyone that has ever been married, or in their 20s, can tell you… when you have to rely on yourself, it’s a struggle just to breathe sometimes. Moving across the country is a different struggle altogether, it requires time, planning, money…

No matter what anyone says, one day I will live in New Orleans, and I will finally be home, and be able to fall asleep with my husband next to me… and wake up and not have my heart broken. People can attack me verbally, try to break me down… but I know where I belong. They can call me names, assume whatever they wish… but assumptions aren’t true just because someone decided they were.

What is true? I’m 27 years old, as of about a month ago. I’ve had 2 relatively invasive surgeries already in my life. I was lucky enough to meet my soulmate when I was 22, and we were married when I was 23. I don’t know for sure, because of health issues (private), if I’ll be able to have children of my own, but for now I have 2 dogs, and some cats. I have trouble sleeping if my great dane isn’t curled up next to me, as he’s been doing it since he was tiny and could fit between the pillows. My family doesn’t speak to each other unless it involves screaming, and so I moved out right after I graduated. My heart aches everytime I hear certain songs on the radio, and ‘The Notebook’ makes me want to cry because it reminds me of my grandparents. I found out today that my grandmother has a serious health issue, and can’t live on her own anymore, and must move into a nursing home… and it breaks my heart, because I know that it will break her spirit, and that she will pass away soon, and I’ll lose her. Everytime I smell black-eyed-peas I assume I’m going to smell cornbread as well, because my grandfather used to cook those things all the time before he passed away, and had for years. (He was from Arkansas… and I miss him every day.)

Right now, as I write this, I am crying… thinking about loss, and loved ones, and wanting to be home.

I just want something to go ‘right,’ to be ‘easy,’ and to feel like it’s home again. I want to be in a place that feels like sanctuary, where I want to take my clothes out of boxes (finally) and hang pictures on the walls.

I’m not sure what else to say… just that right now, I feel broken, as if the world has misplaced me, and forgotten to care.

If anyone reads this, and it touches you in some way… please feel free to write me, I could use a friend right now.

-Joyce Woodward

If you are a New Orleans area hurricane survivor aged 8-18 years old, listen up. A New Orleans area construction company is trying to get the word out that they’ll give $100000 in materials and labor to a lucky (and smart) New Orleans area youngster.

Just write an essay on all the good reasons you think your family deserves to have it. Read more about this contest at www.katrinaconnection.com/Business.html.

A hurricane Katrina photo exhibit in Gullfport is drawing visitors and attention to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where Katrina’s destruction was especially felt.

The exhibit, being called a Katrina museum, at the downtown Gulfport branch of Hancock Bank (one of the sponsors), is not meant to celebrate destruction but to show the strength and resilency of survivors from Katrina.

Gulfport’s Fire Chief Pat Sullivan and his firefighter son Brian contributed eyewitness photos to the exhibit, a brainstorm of the Gulfport Main Street Association. It is free and open to the public.