Hurricane Katrina!

[MilitiaSniper 0]

Hey I don't know if any of you know. But a major storm has hit the Gulf Coast area.

As most of you know. BumRush and I had a small mission making team going. Called, "OFF the WALL Team."

It saddens me that BumRush and his family is missing. He was stationed in New Orleans, LA. USA.

For those who don't know or seen the latest. Click on the link that says: State of Emergency

Please put BumRush and his family in your prayers! I know he and his family is ok! But they lost everything! And I haven't heard from him in 3 days now!

Sincerely, MilitiaSniper

[D.murphy man 0]

Heh, if any one hasnt heard about it they must of been sitting in a cave with there fingers in there ears and selotape wrapped around there head in a amusing fashion, its been all over the news here in the UK any way.

But seriously sorry to hear that BumRush has gone missing, i hope it all turns out alright. From what ive seen New Orleans looks a bit of a state with almost 80% of it underwater and the water level rising every hour it looks pretty grim

Best wishes to BumRush.

[billybob2002 0]

I hope they keep their hopes up through this tradegy. Don't worry, BumRush and his family is probably okay.

[Heatseeker 0]

The magnitude of this tragedy is terrible, actualy hard to describe with simple words, many lost lives, some lost loved ones, all of their posetions (spl?) and goods, everything. They also said that the water level keeps rising and some areas of NO will be flooded for 3/4 months, they are also worried about possible diseases that might develop and that many people are in need of basic survival conditions, food and medicine.

The worst hurricane to ever hit the US or atleast the one who made the most damage .

I think that if BumRush and his family lost everything they had they are not really "ok" but i too hope they are safe.

...

[Sophion-Blue 0]

hmm... Katrina dumped 3 1/2 inches were I live yesterday (Cincinnati). Flooding isn't the only thing were looking out for, Bush has gotten a grant to pull out reserve barrels of oil. Gas prices are jumping. I just hope New Orleans returns to a city and not become a permanent part of lake something-hard-to-type. Indeed, my prayers shall be with those who is touched by Katrina (if you notice its always the female named hurricans that give us trouble now in days ).

[MilitiaSniper 0]

I live in Panama City, FL. We got hit with 5 hurricanes last year. And 2 or 3 this year. I work as a cable, internet, and telephone tech. It seems as though. Everytime we get everything back up and running. The damn hurricanes hit us again!

But BumRush and I have been best friends for years and years. We been through alot together. And it hurts that I don't know how he and his family is doing. We would talk everyday at least once. Like women! (LOL) We have been battle buddies. We consider each other as family! In a non-homo way. (LOL) I love him and his family. His little girl and my son. Always played together.

It's hard to see the things I am seeing. I have lived through some pretty bad hurricanes. And it just missed me, by 1 1/2 hrs. away!

In the military. When a person is missing. They do a missing man formation! Since he was my battle buddy. Until he turns up! I will always be thinking of him as the missing man!

God Bless You and Your Family, BumRush

Sincerely, MilitiaSniper

[denoir 0]

I'm surprised that this thread hasn't been posted before. Anyway, terrible situation - really shows how man is helpless against some of the stronger forces of nature.

Poor bastards living in the New Orleans region, not much to return to. And the logistics nightmare of the whole thing.. where do you start?

A bit morbid, but it is interesting to see the down-break of a society. A complete breakdown of the infrastructure (electricity, water etc) - and a long term one. We're already seeing the short-term effects like looting, violence etc It goes to show how fragile our civilization is. In this case it's fortunate that the damage is localized - help and security can be provided from outside. Imagine however if something like this would happen to a whole country, or even more on global scale. We'd be permanently back in the stone age within a week.

[D.murphy man 0]

Yea apperently with global climate change and warming we will be seeing A LOT more disasters on this scale more frequently in the future within our own life times. which in the worse case secenario would lead to even rich and powerful countrys with crippled ecomonys and civil disorder on a global scale, leading to war, dieseas, famin, just about every bad event you can think of..

But im getting wayy ahead of my self, who knows it could all turn out fine and dandy.

Any way once again sorry to hear about bum rush and i hope every thing turns out fine for him and every one else in effected areas.

[red oct 2]

last i saw, there was a oil refinery that broke free from the storm and crashed into a bridge. whats left of the storm is just a overcast hanging over my home.

[MilitiaSniper 0]

After the Tsumani in the Indonesia areas. The world came to the rescue, with money and relief supplies!

WHEN is the world gonna come to our aid? Where is the hearts crying for us? This is not to start any flame wars ok!

It hurts you the most when you are affected in one way or another. I'm affected in a couple of ways! 1st: My country is hurting right now! 2nd: Bum and his family is missing! God knows that he's ok? It's the not knowing.., that hurts the most!

Until he turns up. I will be flying the missing man formation. In my heart and mind!

Gods Speed BumRush!

Sincerely and Always Your Battle Buddy,

MilitiaSniper

[The Frenchman 0]

I went to a minor league baseball game yesterday. Around the 3rd inning, what was left of the hurricane started moving in on New York. Im glad I brought my poncho.

Around the 7th inning, they called a rain delay which lasted 45 minutes. During that time I sat in wet seats, watching half naked kids throwing cups filled with rain water at eachother, listening to Scorpion's "Rock you like a Hurricane" about 4 to 5 times and BJ Thomas' "Raindrops keep falling on my head".

They finally decided to cancel the game; which was good since we were up by one.

New York was pretty lucky. The only damage I saw was 3 branches laying on the ground.(around 6 feet/2 meters in length) My pool looks like green jello and my fish pond was |this| close to over flowing.

Of course; I know that I should not be complaining. Places like the small towns near New Orleans were completely devestated. It will be a few good years to get close to normality.  

[Sophion-Blue 0]

WHEN is the world gonna come to our aid?

Sort of makes you think don't it.

Just hold on. It was a Federal order to evacuate. What hits me the most is the homeless population. Theres a bunch down there. Sometimes you just have to move on and build again. to me New Orleans was Sand, not Rock; but I'm not going to point fingers. not now, not ever. we have to continue with our lives no mater how tough or how curvy it may be. Judging by your posts you have been praying alot about it. But remember this: God deals out all events; not just the good, or not just the bad. He deals out all things that happen in your life. And that is all according to His plan. One door closes, but stay vigilant because one more opens.

off the relegious part:

I'm just thankful for the ones who made it alive.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]WHEN is the world gonna come to our aid?

Maybe your OWN country should go there first ?!?

I guess you are no level 3 country with nothing but rice to feed and no own methods and capacity of dealing with such. Sorry dude, but you ring the wrong bell here. You have all the grieve and symphathy you need but your own country should be able to cope with this crisis on it´s own, shouldn´t it ?

Or did you assist germany in the latest floodings ?

Again, you are not a level 3 country and I guess the Tsunami victim count was A BIT different

Maybe ask your president for the National guard ? Ups, they are of to Iraq ?

Maybe that´s why you shouldn´t send the National guard abroad if you don´t know what is coming to hit you.

Anyway, intersting enough a temperature change of 0.5 degrees in the carrebean can cause level 4-5 hurricnes with the wide slope as this one had. Maybe it´s definately time to rethink the approach to global heating ?

It´s been surprisingly silent from the White House the latest days and the pics we see on CNN and other news channels are really terrible.

Don´t get me wrong. I fell sorry for the people. Every single one of them, but this is what has to be expected. Today it´s the US, tomorrow islands will vanish into the sea and europe will loose a lot of it´s lower and coastal regions. I hope that people wake up someday and see that WE are the ones who cause that. It´s not a freak- nature, it´s freak - humans who get the bill.

[billybob2002 0]

It seems people within the NOPD have been seen looting with the looters. At least one NOPD officer has been shot in the head and likely will survive. The Navy has been called to help including the Navy Seals (source:Yahoo!...i doubt that).

Quote[/b] ]Maybe ask your president for the National guard ? Ups, they are of to Iraq ?

40% of Mississippi's National Guard is in Iraq.

35% of Louisiana's National Guard is in Iraq.

That equals about 6,000 personnel. Majority are not overseas. The total amount of national guardsmen overseas is 78,000 out of 440,000.

Other states are sending their national guardsmen to help out. Ohio is sending 1,500 guardsmen and this includes military police. Pennsylvania is sending 6 guardsmen who specialize in communication. Kansas has offered six Black Hawk helicopters with 40 support personnel and they can also sent 30 five-ton trucks with 70 personnel, including a communications team, medical personnel and others if need be. Illinois is sending 300 soldiers and up to 50 military vehicles. Nevada is sending 24 medical support personnel. Let me stop...other states are offering their services too.

So far, 20,000 guardsmen have been called up in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.

Edit: clean up ...

[denoir 0]

After the Tsumani in the Indonesia areas. The world came to the rescue, with money and relief supplies!

  WHEN is the world gonna come to our aid? Where is the hearts crying for us?

Yes, I thought about that a bit too. There are however a number of differences between the Tsunami and this.

First of all, the tsunami claimed some 150,000 lives, which is several orders of magnitudes more than Katrina could possibly have done.

Second, the tsunami happened in a fairly poor region of the world. The local governments did not have the resources to deal with it. The US has enough resources to deal with the consequences of Katrina.

Third, the largest overall aid for the tsunami came from Europe - not surprising as there were thousands of European tourists in the regions that got hit. On the other hand Katrina did not hurt many foreign tourists - the consequences are fairly normal.

In European media, the current disaster has been front-page news, but there have been very limited initiatives for raising money to help the victims. This can be contrasted with the aftermath of the WTC attacks where large donations were made by private citizens, to help the victims. My perception of it is that there was far more sympathy in 2001 than today - although this disaster can very well turn out to be worse in terms of casualties than the WTC attacks.

So I guess the transatlantic deterioration in relations is showing - or at least one could interpret it like that.

Personally, I've always had a hard time feeling empathy from an abstract description. This meant as little to me as the stampede that killed nearly 1,000 people in Baghdad today. Of course, I can on a conceptual level recognize the tragedy of it, but still 1,000 dead 2,000 dead 10,000 dead - it would really make no practical difference for me. What makes it relevant however is specific human tragedy. For instance I donated money to tsunami relief efforts when I started hearing personal accounts of how people (in practice western tourists) lost loved ones in a horrific way. And undoubtedly if I start hearing similar stories from New Orleans, I will look at it more as a tragedy and less as a curiosity. Indeed, seeing a man yesterday on the news who lost his wife when his house fell apart made the whole thing much more real in terms of a human tragedy. Until such a reality comes to light, there is little difference between this and watching a disaster movie - even though I in theory know that this is the real thing.

[Harnu 0]

WHEN is the world gonna come to our aid?

You do understand we can handle this ourselves? To think otherwise is treason. Now put some cock in your walk and know that America can handle anything.

As for the rest of the forum, appreciate this sarcasm.

[ShadowVS 0]

I lived in Biloxi and NO for many years and it's simply amazing to see everything that I saw everyday simply vanish in the span of 48 hours. I saw the slab of my house on CNN a few hours back. It's just really surreal and tragic. FEMA has ordered 100,000 body backs with a realistic chance that tens of thousands could be lost.

Living on the coast, we always dreaded this scenario and unfortunately, the reality of the situation outstripped the planning for such. It's just one of those things that you have to put aside and move forward getting back on level footing. Keep the area in your thoughts wherever you live and know that the people down there have been knocked on their ass but will bounce back in time. They always do.

[shinRaiden 0]

Since everyone's in the mood to fly off the handle, how about this to torque your pessimistic persuasions...

For those of you who've actually lived through a heavy hurricane, you'll understand how that this is not nearly as bad as it could have been.

1) Katerina moved through quite quickly, and did not linger. Anybody else in the slightly-longer-than-average attention span crowd recall that it just cut Miami in half? Not making the news outside Miami right now... <span style='color:red'>MEDIA BIAS!</span>

Hurricane Elena had similar effects in terms of flooding to the greater Tampa, Fl (all above sealevel) metro area in 1986, due to the fact that it parked over Tampa bay for three days. You get up, black skys and horizontal rain, sit in your house all day, and go to sleep. Next day, get up, black skys, horizontal rain, go back to sleep. Third day, screw this you say, we're going for a walk even if the neighbor's camper bus just blew by.

Had Katerina similarly parked right over Lake Ponchartrain, and sucked up the storm surge for three days, there would be no levees at all in the south half of Lousiana. They've got a hole, and it's a big one, but most of the levee's are still there.

2) It's not that wet. C'mon, what's 5+ inches in 24 hours? It's a lot, and the pumps don't work, but Katerina wasn't a super-drencher either. Plus it moved through so quick that it wasn't more than a quick dump.

The problem there wasn't the overwhelming volume of rain, they could handle it reasonablely if the pumps were still online. By far, the biggest water problem wasn't the rain, it's the stupid levee hole.

3) The hurricane got bumped. Just by 'magical conicedence', a cell of dry air pushed out of the midwest and bumped the eye away from New Orleans, and weakened the storm a bit.

Here we are wringing our hands about how bad it is, instead of thanking the Good Lord that it's not nearly as bad as what the faithless sensationalizing <span style='color:red'>biased media</span> claimed it would be.

------------------------------------------

Raise of virtual hands, how many folks know about how the not-so National Guard works and is mobilized? Would you be suprised to learn that they're under the command and jurisdiction of the local state governers? This is the Deep South below the Mason-Dixon line, and they value the concept of States' Rights more than the commie states to the north.

But until they get that levee patched, and the pumps back online, what can any organization do except extract the idiots? Seriously, if you need to get out of Dodge, if you were told to leave but were too proud or antagonistic towards civil authority, who's fault is it really? There was a picture in the paper today of a guy with lung cancer who insisted on staying behind. Well, his oxygen supply ran out and he asphyixiated to death. The city expected that not all would be able to leave the city on their own, thats why they preped shelters like the Superdome. Yesterday the reports said 10K people there, today the reports say 25K people. How many of these are the people who stuck around hoping for a five-finger discount? Whatever happened to the oldtimer's definition of Martial Law? The South needs a lot more heavily armed Korean groceries with kids who've grown up playing Counterstrike for the Korean Mafia.

Look real close at some of the New Orleans video next time. There's a 45 minute clip circulating, passed through Slashdot yesterday. Across most of the middle-class neighborhoods, the walls are up, and the roofs are on. Yes there's truckloads of mud in the bedrooms. That'll keep the carpet companies in business. That's repairable, and live can go on when it does.

Across the tracks though in the mobile homes though, the sardine cans got fed through the chipper. Hello, not news. Tornado, Average wind, hurricane, lightning, drunk driver, dead dog, bug-infested tree, heck if you sneeze on them half the mobile home fall to bits. Round file that so-called news item in the appropiate trash can.

------------------------------------------

It's interesting to see the reports about the attempts to plug the levee. For various reasons, most places in the US don't have seriously substantial levees, I mean of the scale that you find in Japan or in Europe. It's not from malfeasence or any thing like that, it's simple apathy towards prepardness when it's not raining. Simple Noah Syndrome.

I don't know of any similar disaster actions like it, but my first thought when I heard about the Chinooks flying in the sandbags was the similarities to Chernobyl, where they had to find helicopters and dirt and materials and try to plug an unpluggable hole. Hopefully they'll get it plugged soon so they can get to work getting the pumps back up.

------------------------------------------

The oil problem is twofold. There's probably enough oil in the system at the moement to hold things over until the platforms are back online, they've already weathered one good storm this year. The oil industry is fairly optimistic about getting back online.

The immediate problem is the power outages elsewhere. That's Atlanta's problem. Unlike Seattle, Atlanta has lot's of pipelines. Atlanta has power to take the oil they get and distribute it all over the metro area. But the pipelines and storage facilities between Atlanta and New Orleans lost their power. Until those intermediate sites can get power back, to pump their tanks to Atlanta, Atlanta is in a critical one-week supply shortage. Prices are skyrocketing for gas, but that reflects the cost of scrounging trucks to compensate marginally for the offline pipelines. The problem there is not a lack of oil, it's a lack of power to pump the oil.

------------------------------------------

Now for all the Euro-commies who insist on taking the opportunity of a natural disaster and human suffering to shake a finger in our face. Petty politics is fine to discuss after the work is done. And as for the allegedly anti-environmental American attitudes, give us an economicly viable with minimal financial impact redo of the Kyoto treaty, that does not surrender one drop of national soverignty, then we'll talk, but not until. That's our priorities. What's the point of a beautiful world if you're not free to enjoy it? Oh wait, I forgot, humans are a blight on the planet by mere existance...

Is there an arguement that claims that this is attributable to global warming? One set of data suggests that, but what sort of solution is an over-night wonder? If we caved and cowtowed along and signed onto Kyoto as-is this very moment, would there be any real net effect overnight, or would China just make up the difference? Playing this for political games at the moement is just as opportunistic as looting 5 pairs of jeans when what you really need is clean water.

------------------------------------------

What's the real story?

The news media in the area is freaking out because they just saw their own mansions float away down the river. Guess what, you're mortal. Stop sniffing the hairspray. The city's flooded out in most places.

The snakes are probably out in force, especially the cottenmouths. Probably everyone in all the southern swamps got washed into New Orleans. As Indiana Jones said, "I hate snakes". Nobody's mentioned gators yet... dunno that they'd be that far out of Florida though. If there were though, then that would be a real problem.

Some people didn't listen when told to evacuate. Politicians call them the 'reliable electorate'. First dibs on the water and food, and vote for Fred. Want a job? Chicago Municipal Trucking's hiring...

There's looting. It's like the Day After Thanksgiving, except theres no clerks, no crowds, and everything's soaked. Your risk of getting the plague or black death runs about the same though.

Nobody can talk to each other. Hello, how does a cell phone work? Oh, it has batteries. And what happens when you have it on all day? No batteries. And how do you charge it up? Put electricity in. Hmm, the power is out. Probably didn't think of that if you have a pokemon-class attention span.

As for the municipalities though, there's no excuse. This happens EVERY time, to the point that it's making its way into fundamental management and engineering courses. That is, don't be running incompatible seperate-band computerized radios without mobile emergency power capability, and organizational training for disaster management. This wasn't news on 9/11, it was old news back the first time Bin Laden made a swipe at the Twin Towers. And to thank the hams who always step in to provide actual communications capability to the relief and local organizations, all the thanks they get is having BPL knock them off the airwaves.

------------------------------------------

Oh, the important part finally. Say a prayer to thank the Good Lord for minimizing the damage as much as was done and to look after those suffering, and pass the hat to your local relief agency. There's a lot of folks that won't be going anywhere near 'home' for a long time, and they need all the prayers and pennies that you can spare. Most importantly are the immediate care agencies that cover housing, food, and especially water until disaster management can roll in and set up shop. The supplies are ready and available all over the country, what's needed is the assistance to get it down to the area.

[MilitiaSniper 0]

I didn't start this thread to debate if the world should help us or not!

I know us Americans can take care of our own! But that wasn't the point! We always try to help where ever we can. I really don't expect world help! But just to hear them say they cared or want to help. Was all I really was looking for.

BUT..! alot of you knew the name BumRush. Because of the, "OFF the WALL Team" days. They say when you are hurting. You should talk to someone. Or write down how you feel! So I'm doing both! As you all may already read. BumRush and I are very close! When you go through certain things together. And lived as close as we did. He's more a brother to me than my own blood! Battle buddies will die for one another. And to this day.., I still would!

It's the not knowing what kills you the most!

Anyways.., Let's not start a flame war! Everyone is entitle to their own opinion. Even if they are blabbering idiots!

So respect each other! And please, if you do pray! Please pray for, not just BumRush and his family. But for all the victims!

Sincerely and God Bless!

MilitiaSniper

[denoir 0]

Oh, the important part finally. Say a prayer to thank the Good Lord for minimizing the damage as much as was done and to look after those suffering, and pass the hat to your local relief agency.

If you get assaulted on the street and you get a broken jaw, do you thank your attacked for not breaking your neck? Given that you obviously think that divine intervention has something to do with hurricanes, would a more reasonable approach to be to ask god to fuck off and stay away from our weather all together in the future?

Quote[/b] ]And  please, if you do pray! Please pray for, not just BumRush and his family. But for all the victims!

Sincerely and God Bless!

Given that Louisiana is a nice and god-fearing red state, I reckon quite a few people did some praying before the storm, saying something like "Please god, save my house and let my family survive". And now a number of those god-fearing good praying people float in a shallow grave. So if you really think that prayer in any way can change the way the future unfolds, the reasonable thing would be to stay off it altogether - given what happened to those that prayed before the storm.

Or is this one of those "god works in mysterious ways" thing? Well, if that's the case, there's even less of a point of appealing to an entirely unpredictable entity.

It's even worse when the Louisiana governor announces an all-state hour of prayer (like she did yesterday). Time is running out for the people trapped in NOLA and she wants to waste valuable time on that kind of bullshit. I wonder how many poor bastards will die during that hour. Prayer indeed.

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]It's even worse when the Louisiana governor announces an all-state hour of prayer (like she did yesterday). Time is running out for the people trapped in NOLA and she wants to waste valuable time on that kind of bullshit. I wonder how many poor bastards will die during that hour. Prayer indeed.

Thank you for setting up the nail in coffin for this thread, Denior.  

Calling for a hour of prayer is bullshit to you? Good for you! Praying gives hope to many people in these kinds of situations. You might want to take off your cynical bastard glasses this time, Denior. Anyway, the hour of prayer is more directed to the citizens and not the rescuers.

Edit:  

[ralphwiggum 6]

ok, ok, let's not get to feisty here ok?

[shinRaiden 0]

Oh, the important part finally. Say a prayer to thank the Good Lord for minimizing the damage as much as was done and to look after those suffering, and pass the hat to your local relief agency.

If you get assaulted on the street and you get a broken jaw, do you thank your attacked for not breaking your neck? Given that you obviously think that divine intervention has something to do with hurricanes, would a more reasonable approach to be to ask god to fuck off and stay away from our weather all together in the future?

Who are we to tell the Good Lord His business? We don't need His intervention eliminating disasters to know of his goodness, we need His strength to prove our own character. Storms come, and storms go. Yesterday there was rain, and today the sun shines. Hurricanes are a good thing, they keep the oceans stirred up, clean out the stagnant swamps, stir the sand on the beaches, and clean out the air, as well as thin the forests. It's us that can't seem to get a clue that life ain't like in the movies. It is possible to design and build a disaster resistant home. It is possible to have a stash of food and fuel. It is possible to go camping - outdoors - so that you know how to live away from the couch and console. It is possible to get out enough to know the performance differences between Stihl and Husquvarna chainsaws, and that a stock Husqie is as good as or better than a modded Stihl for sliceing your way down the street through trees. (My dad went for the cheap Jonsered, underpowered wimpy piece of crap. )

Quote[/b] ]

Quote[/b] ]And please, if you do pray! Please pray for, not just BumRush and his family. But for all the victims!

Sincerely and God Bless!

Given that Louisiana is a nice and god-fearing red state, I reckon quite a few people did some praying before the storm, saying something like "Please god, save my house and let my family survive". And now a number of those god-fearing good praying people float in a shallow grave. So if you really think that prayer in any way can change the way the future unfolds, the reasonable thing would be to stay off it altogether - given what happened to those that prayed before the storm.

Or is this one of those "god works in mysterious ways" thing? Well, if that's the case, there's even less of a point of appealing to an entirely unpredictable entity.

The real point isn't whether Joe Louisiana's house floats away or not, whether Mt. Rainer blows on my town or Orting, or such. The idea is to have a hope confirmed in the ultimately important tomorrow, so that there is the strength to take care of the mudane details of today.

It's usually not God working in mysterious ways, it's usually man foobar'ing the agenda, and God wondering if we're going to pick up the slack, or expect Him to do all the heavy lifting again.

Quote[/b] ]

It's even worse when the Louisiana governor announces an all-state hour of prayer (like she did yesterday). Time is running out for the people trapped in NOLA and she wants to waste valuable time on that kind of bullshit. I wonder how many poor bastards will die during that hour. Prayer indeed.

That assumes that everyone's going to drop their shovels and boxes and kneel with their heads under water for an hour. Well there's much more practical prayer, and that can be done on the run or at work. Then again, since the place is still flooded there's plenty of people standing around waiting, so while there's waiting, time, I say put it to the best use, so that when you can go in, you're ready to go.

--------------------

One of many videos circulating. ~50 minutes. Interesting how the vortex in between buildings magnified the damage, as in the case of the Hyatt Regency. Also includes bits of a SH-60 USCG Seahawk winch extraction from a residential roof.

[Hit_Sqd_Maximus 0]

Blah, its starting to sound like the 700 club in here.

A few Oklahoma national guard friends of mine are being activated to go to New Orleans to help. Sucks for them because most of them are in school and it is the beginning of the semester.

A friend's father owns an oil company in Austin and they have a few oil rigs in the Gulf. He told me a few weeks ago every time a large storm came through it costed something like 12 million dollars a day to have it offline because they have to fly the crew to shore and still pay them.

[shinRaiden 0]

I got an uncle that lives in Midland, but still flys out the the rigs on a regular basis. I think he's more in the exploratory side than operations, but I'll have to ask next time I talk to him. Then again, platform status of this magnitude would be considered a vital national secret I think in most countries.