Photo from MG Miller Facebook post
Photo from Jeffrey Major Facebook post
My Facebook page has been full of tragic photos, so I asked Louisiana commenter jacy if she could put together information on donations and general information.
Photo from MG Miller Facebook post
While the news is preoccupied with Hillary’s emails and Donald Trump’s racist world salad of the day, Louisiana is drowning. I’m here in the middle of it, and I’m telling you that this is a genuine, epic disaster that is still unfolding. It’s hard to describe the scope of it, but here are some numbers:
11 confirmed dead.
40,000 homes destroyed
30,000 people rescued by boat, helicopter, and high water vehicle
20 parishes (that’s a county if you’re not in Louisiana) have been so far declared federal disaster areas.
Denham Springs (pop. 10,000) 90% underwater. More towns, large and small, devastated.
There are more than 20,000 people in shelters across the area. (That doesn’t count people who have been displaced and have been taken in by friends, relatives, strangers with an extra cot, or are staying in hotels)
Uncounted business, large and small, completely flooded or damaged enough that it will be weeks before they reopen.
4 days of closed Interstates, so no movement of supplies or people in or out of the area.
30 feet above flood stage for the Amite and Comite Rivers, which has no historical precedent. Some of the rivers will not crest until Wednesday. Smaller tributaries won’t crest until the coming weekend.
The Baton Rouge metro area is home to 830,000 people – and it has been brought to a standstill.
Tens of thousands of displaced critters – the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, which has a giant livestock barn, is full to the seams with dogs and cats and other animals plucked from the flood waters, stacked in kennels awaiting a reunion with their owners.
I’ve heard it said that the this hasn’t come to the forefront of the national consciousness because it was a storm that didn’t have a name. No hurricane, not even a tropical storm. But in many ways the fact that it wasn’t a recognized storm system increased the scope of the disaster. You see, it was just some rain. But it didn’t stop. It didn’t stop for days, just sat over Southern Louisiana and inundated it. Nobody was prepared. Nobody saw it coming. They’re calling it a once-in-a-thousand-years event. And because it’s flooding places that have NEVER flooded, a lot of people didn’t have flood insurance.
And on the national news, the few minutes dedicated to it almost make it seem like a passing human interest story. Charming little stories of the “Cajun Navy” out in their bateaux, paddling up and down what used to be neat residential streets and plucking people and pets out of the water. What you don’t know is that these people, and a lot of the first responders, are out there with little or no sleep, without eating or stopping, because their homes are already lost and they don’t have any place to go back to. So they just keep going forward, ferrying more lost people and animals to the nearest patch of dry land.
It’s overwhelming. If you want to help, there are a couple things you can do. First of all, spread the story. This is a major disaster – close to a Katrina-level disaster. (And I lived through Katrina too, so I have a reference point.) If you are anywhere close, volunteer. If you want to donate, the Red Cross is one way.
My suggestions:
- If you want to find a way to volunteer or donate visit http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/
- Second Harvest Food Bank does good work: https://give.no-hunger.org/checkout/donation?eid=91189
- This happened just as school was about to start and many classrooms were destroyed or damaged. I have several friends who belong to the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, and they have a disaster relief fund here to help teachers throughout the area replace their supplies: https://apel.site-ym.com/donations/donate.asp?id=14775
- The Denham Springs Animal Shelter is the only municipal no-kill shelter in the area. Their facilities were totally destroyed, and it was only through the efforts of their staff that they got the animals out as the floodwaters were rushing in. They have a Go Fund Me page here: https://www.gofundme.com/2jdh3xg4 (You can also visit the website of Louisiana SPCA for more suggestions on how to help other critters throughout the area.)
I was very fortunate to be located in one of the few areas in Baton Rouge that did not flood at all, but there are tens of thousands of people who are devastated. The extent of the loss of life, loss of property, damage, and destruction won’t be clear for a week or more, when the flooding stops and the waters recede. Keep the people of Southern Louisiana in your thoughts.
Devastating photos, if you click on the photo links you should be able to see many more without a FB account. Meanwhile An Inconvenient Truth is streaming on both HULU and Netflix. But hey, Al Gore is fat, so it doesn’t matter, right?
redshirt
Sure am glad Global Warming is just a liberal lie.
Get used to this. It’s gonna keep happening.
Prescott Cactus
From Go Fund me page of Denham Animal Shelter
$64,650 of $100k goal
To encourage this support, the Petco Foundation will match all amounts received by the Denham Animal Shelter during this time up to at least $50,000 in support of the flood recovery and rebuild efforts.
ETA: UPDATE From the Petco Foundation– Matching grant increased to $100,000. Due to the overwhelming response, and incredible need, the Petco Foundation is increasing its matching grant from $50,000 to $100,000.
Today, donation to Denham Animal Shelter.
Tomorrow, get flood insurance.
Keith P.
One of the most satisfying bits of volunteer work was handing out teddy bears to kids from Katrina refugees.
But yeah, this flooding is getting ridiculous. The creek by my house crested again on Sunday. I’ve got neighbors who have flooded 4 times in 10 years…that I know of.
raven
@Prescott Cactus: gave
BlueDWarrior
@redshirt: I think a lot of people need to believe that Global Warming is a lie or a plot because to consider it otherwise would send you into an spiral of existential dread that is difficult from some people to recover from.
But much like the nascent threat of nuclear annihilation from malcontented national leaders (and overequipped terrorists organizations), we will destroy ourselves if we remain paralyzed in fear as much as if we outright ignore the threat.
So let’s get over ourselves and start hardening our infrastructure so we can mitigate and recover what damage we’ll take from these persistent weather events.
MomSense
Donating.
Prescott Cactus
@raven: Sweet. You’re a good man. I’m in too.
ETA: THANKS jacy ! Without your guidance we could not have helped .
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Thanks for the pointers. I gave to the shelter and the food bank. Here’s hoping they’re able to raise enough to put a dent in the huge need. :-(
I’m sure it would be so much better if only federal taxes were lower…. (sigh)
I’d like to think that we’re close to turning the page on the idea that we can’t do anything by acting together as a citizenry through our national government. It’s hard to think of an idea that has been more caustic to progress in the last 15-20 years.
Fingers crossed for the survivors.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
Just donated to second harvest. Those poor people
jacy
Your useless information of the day: the cavernous shelter pictured above is Celtic Studios, which is the largest movie soundstage in the south. Used to be Master P’s recording studio.
Mary G
I donated to the food bank and the teacher’s fund too. I also put a link on a comment to Rod Dreher’s blog. He just moved to Baton Rouge and has been justifiably furious about how the national media has ignored this disaster.
Viva BrisVegas
They really mean that this used to be a once in a thousand years event.
How does this 2016 flood compare with 1927, 1993, and 2011? Does anybody see a pattern here?
Mike in NC
What has Barbara Bush had to say?
jacy
@Viva BrisVegas:
There was massive flooding in Louisiana just this last March. Many people had just finished the renovation from that event. Hurricane season starts in a week.
Viva BrisVegas
@jacy:
Thankfully, although last July was the hottest month ever recorded, there is nothing to worry about because Global Warming is a hoax.
jenn
Thank you for the info, it’s much appreciated. Great to have something useful to do. Also, given there’s already another thread, maybe reposting this tomorrow would be a good idea?
jacy
@jenn:
TaMara said she’s going to repost tomorrow. (And it’s not Adam’s fault, but ironic that a post describing how the political conversation has eclipsed coverage of the flood was eclipsed by a post about the political conversation. Dog, but I’ll be happy when this election is over! Of course I say that about every election….)
Mnemosyne
And in the irony file, California is on track for a very bad fire season because we didn’t get nearly enough rain this winter.
I get paid on Thursday and can do some donations then.
Lizzy L
Donating. Also, I copied the whole damn box to my FB page: I’ve got friends who’ll donate. Thanks for putting this up.
TaMara (HFG)
@jenn: I am going to repost tomorrow – hopefully in the morning if I have time before my meeting, otherwise, when I get home in the afternoon.
Gemina13
I don’t know what to say. I have friends there, friends who survived Katrina and who were quick to assure their various circles that, no, they weren’t in danger, or were out of danger. I know this is bringing back bad memories. If I weren’t dead broke, I’d send what I could, not only to them but to others.
I hate not being able to help.
Also, I want to smack the shit out of the media members who propagated that fucking meme about Al Gore. Fuck all of you for helping to dig humanity’s grave a little deeper, you both-sideserism assholes.
SarahT
Some other great ways to help rescue, relieve, & rebuild Louisiana: AmeriCares, Team Rubicon, Gulf Coast Network, & DonorsChoose.org (almost back-to-scool time & you can help fund Baton Rouge & Lafayette-area classrooms).
satby
Because I used to work as a contractor and disaster volunteer for Red Cross, I always donate to other organizations instead, and Save The Children is in the area working. Direct Relief has mobile medical clinics set up too.
Azelie
Delurking to say thank you for drawing attention to this. I’m in south Louisiana, too. I’m in an area that didn’t flood but the impact of the flood is so wide-reaching – 20 minutes away from me there are people still stuck in their homes and neighborhoods underwater. As I’m typing I can hear the start of more rain.
SarahT
D’oh ! Dropped the phone on my foot pre-edit ! Um, “SCHOOL”, sorry…
Mnemosyne
Also, too — if, like me, you work for a giant corporation, see if any of the above organizations are eligible to receive matching donations by your company. I’m pretty sure that Second Harvest will be eligible, but I’ll search for Baton Rouge and see what else comes up.
redshirt
@TaMara (HFG): I don’t encourage but I applaud.
Aleta
@Prescott Cactus: Thanks for letting me know about this.
seaboogie
@TaMara (HFG) Please do repost tomorrow. I will split a Benjamin amongst the worthy causes and follow jacy’s suggestions. Remember doing this not much more than a month ago in WV for flooding, and since I missed the Walter-thon, I am overdue to toss in my bit.
Starfish
The Louisiana School for Math Science and Art is a public boarding school in Louisiana. Students were moving in as the flood hit so some kids have not made it to school yet, and some kids are not going to have the things that they need. Here is a link to their alumni Facebook page where they are asking for support.