I can see Halifax harbour from my office. Today I watched the Canadian Navy flotilla set out on its four day trip down to New Orleans. They removed all the weapons from the boats and filled the gaps with blankets and diapers, because 'they are what's needed'.
Indeed.
One of my colleagues has a brother on board one of the ships and says it is so rammed with supplies, he is sharing his bunk with boxes of diapers. The flotilla must sail through the two hurricanes currently making their way up towards the Grand Banks, then will go past the US Navy flotilla coming out of Virginia and will get to NO before them.
All the tankers, sailboats and yachts in the harbour stood to and let them pass. The fireboats accompanied them and sprayed them as they went. Each of the four ships sounded their foghorns, even though it is another bright bright blue day of blazing sunshine. It is a little windy because of the approaching hurricanes, so you could see the flags snapping in the wind and all the sailors on board standing to attention (while getting soaked presumably).
Everyone here is very proud of their quick turnaround, and a little nervous for them. I hope they stay safe and can deal with the unimaginable sights that await them. Not to mention the bacteria and disease and grief.
And I hope that Aaron Broussard and the Emergency Management guy and Sherriff Harry Lee can find some comfort from their arrival:
Tim Russert on Meet the Press talked with Aaron Broussard, president of hard-hit Jefferson Parish, immediately after Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff defended the federal response to the tragedy. An angry Broussard called for the firing of top officials responsible for the poor response, saying "the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history."
But his appearance ended with the man in tears and even Russert barely able to keep it together, when Broussard said: "The guy who runs this building I’m in, Emergency Management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' and he said, 'Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you.' Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. [Broussard begins sobbing.] Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday...and she drowned Friday night!"She drowned Friday night!
[Sobbing] Nobody’s coming to get us! Nobody’s coming to get us."
Broussard also recounted: "We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago.
FEMA--we had 1,000gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, 'Come get the fuel right away.' When we got there with our trucks, they got a word: 'FEMA says don't give you the fuel.'"
Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, 'No one is getting near these lines.'"
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