Hurricane @ MindSay 
katrina
Katrina's Victims Ask for Huge Checks
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN – 1 day ago
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.
A whopping $3,014,170,389,176,410 is the dollar figure so far sought from some of the largest claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.
Of roughly 489,000 total claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.
"That's the mother of all high numbers," said Loren Scott, a Baton Rouge-based economist.
For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn.
Some residents may have grossly exaggerated their claims to send a message to the corps, which has accepted blame for poorly designing the failed levees.
"I understand the anger," Scott said. "I also understand it's a negotiating tactic: Aim high and negotiate down."
Daniel Becnel, Jr., a lawyer who said his clients have filed more than 60,000 claims, said measuring Katrina's devastation in dollars and cents is a nearly impossible task.
"There's no way on earth you can figure it out," he said. "The trauma these people have undergone is unlike anything that has occurred in the history of our country."
The corps released zip codes, but no names, for the 247 claims of at least $1 billion. The list includes a $77 billion claim by the city of New Orleans. Fourteen involve a wrongful death claim. Fifteen were filed by businesses, including several insurance companies.
Little is known about the person who claimed $3 quadrillion. It was filed in Baker, 93 miles northwest of New Orleans. Baker is far from the epicenter of Katrina's destruction, but the city has a trailer park where hundreds of evacuees have lived since the storm.
Katrina, which is blamed for more than 1,600 deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, is considered the most destructive storm to ever hit the U.S. It caused at least $60 billion in insured losses and could cost Gulf Coast states up to $125 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Most of the claims were filed before a deadline that coincided with Katrina's second anniversary, but the Corps is still receiving them — about 100 claims have arrived over the past three weeks — and is feeding them into a computer database.
The Corps said it isn't passing judgment on the merits of each claim. Federal courts are in charge of deciding if a claim is valid and how much compensation is warranted.
"It's important to the person who filed it, so we're taking every single claim seriously," Corps spokeswoman Amanda Jones said.
Welp, Humberto upgraded to a CAT 1 Hurricane and sailed right past us. We dodged another bullet. I can't say the same for my husband's folks in Port Arthur, TX and Beaumont. They got hit pretty hard. His nephew called me this morning and told us they still don't have power, but he's glad he doesn't have school. I told him I was glad my school was cancelled until noon. That means I don't have to go to my first class. Yippee!
Anyway, I'd like to thank you guys who had us in your thoughts and prayers. *We have three weeks of Hurricane Season left. Let's hope its relatively quiet.
*Crap! According to Sandyquill Hurricane Season now ends on November 30th. That sucks because its been a hot summer which usually means the Gulf of Mexico has warmer water and areas of low pressure. The perfect recipe for large storms.
Please pray today for the folks who live in Nicaragua and Honduras.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 19, 2007 - U.S. Northern Command officials are closely monitoring Hurricane Dean's progress and continue to respond to requests for Defense Department support in preparation for landfall. At 11 a.m. Eastern Time today, the Category 4 storm was heading toward the Caribbean island of Jamaica with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It's expected to make landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula early Tuesday.
NORTHCOM has deployed the following personnel to support the federal response:
-- The Region X defense coordinating officer and six-person defense coordinating element has deployed to Louisiana at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
-- The Region VI DCO and six-person DCE deployed to Texas at FEMA's request prior to landfall of Tropical Storm Erin remains on-site.
-- A 17-person team from Standing Joint Forces Headquarters North is deployed to Texas to support the Region VI DCO and Army North.
-- An eight-person global patient management team from U.S. Transportation Command will help coordinate aeromedical evacuation efforts, if needed.
-- A joint interagency air-ground coordination team from Air Force Northern deployed at FEMA's request to assist FEMA and the Texas Emergency Operations Center and to help with aeromedical evacuation and search and rescue efforts, if needed.
-- The Region II DCO and DCE deployed to the Caribbean on Aug. 15, where they are supporting an advance FEMA emergency response team in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Should active-duty forces be requested to respond, the regional DCOs will provide their command and control and will facilitate requests for any additional Defense Department support through NORTHCOM.
Senior NORTHCOM officials said they are coordinating with FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Guard to ensure full situational awareness and appropriate response posture to Hurricane Dean.
NORTHCOM supports primary response agencies, as directed, as part of a comprehensive national response to manage consequences of natural or man-made disasters. The command also conducts operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories, and interests.
(From a U.S. Northern Command news release.)
I posted pictures on my other blog ventures of Wayne's home town in Louisiana.
These pictures are my hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi.
The second picture is a Dilliard's in the Edgewater Mall.
The pink building was my first office building for Premiere Promotions in 1986.
The bottom two floors are gone.
The road closed sign is the bridge from Biloxi to Ocean Springs.
We drove up and down the beach looking at slabs of concrete where buildings and houses use to stand.
Motels gone with just a swimming pool left. Restaurants gone with just a sign standing.
It was sad.
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