Squadrons to the rescue
PNJ photographer accompanies evacuation missions
[KLP Note: Did Krugman think the Navy ships and personnel should have been sent in DURING the Hurricane on Monday???}
Published - September, 4, 2005
pensacolanewsjournal.com
Tony Giberson
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Evacuees board a waiting H-53 Sea Stallion helicopter at the New Orleans Convention Center enroute the New Orleans airport.
TonyGiberson@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Photo Gallery
Click images for full-size view
ABOARD THE USS BATAAN — Nearly 50 miles off the coast of Gulfport, Miss., an amphibious assault ship is the base of operations for a helicopter squadron flying evacuation missions into New Orleans.
Four H-53E Sea Stallion helicopters, based in Corpus Christi, Texas, and deployed aboard the Bataan, take about 30 minutes to reach the flooded city where thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims are awaiting rescue.
Over the weekend, the crews were rescuing people from the New Orleans Convention Center and taking them to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for bus or airplane trips out of the area.
The four helicopters were among hundreds transporting people to safety, Lt. John Hill, a pilot, said. Each of the four rescued about 500 people, with about 45 people on each trip.
"The people we rescued today were mostly elderly, people with walkers, people in wheelchairs, and from nursing homes," squadron mate Lt. j.g. Jason Uhrina said Saturday. "Our crews literally carried people on board the helicopter."
The crews "have been very accommodating," Hill said.
"They've allowed the evacuees to take everything they were carrying, mostly in plastic bags and bins, even a pet or two."
Once in New Orleans, flight crews spent up to 14 hours conducting rescues. The flight from the Convention Center to the airport, west of the city, took only about five minutes.
But, Hill said: "You spend 10 to 15 minutes on the taxiway dropping off evacuees."
Hill said the flooding in New Orleans and the extensive wind damage in Mississippi have made command, control and communications more trying than during the tsunami disaster in Indonesia last year.
He participated in that rescue mission.
"It is very close to combat-type situations," Uhrina said.
Most information comes from communications with other pilots in the area, Hill said.
"However, it is getting better every day," he said.
News Journal photographer Tony Giberson accompanied USS Bataan helicopter crews during rescues for about 10 hours on Saturday. |
