Larisa Alexandrovna

Unlike with Hurricane Katrina, which drowned the city of New Orleans after the levees broke, there are no images of people wading through sewage-infested waters in South Florida. The streets are flooded, but the sewage is invisible to the naked eye.

Chris Lee, a computer programmer in Broward County, was finally able to get cell phone service on Saturday.

"I spend all day in some line for water or ice or whatever there is being given out,” he said. “I waste more water standing in the sun for several hours than the water I get after standing in line.”

Tap water is tainted by sewage to the point of not being usable. On the radio, Broward residents were told to boil or add bleach to water before drinking it.

"Sure, but we don't have power and I ran out of bleach disinfecting my back yard after the build up and flooding," Lee said.

Authorities suggested using very small amounts of bleach, but never explained how the water was to be disinfected or whether it would be toxic. Residents who have grills have been boiling their water outdoors.

Ann Louise, a massage therapist who lives in Broward, asking that her full name not be used, has a propane-powered grill, which she cannot replenish as there are limited supplies of propane.

"The lines for gas are really long,” she said. “I went to Home Depot to try to buy extra tanks. They had really long lines and were out of stuff quickly, most everything was gone."

An elderly couple next door to Ann Louise has been using the contaminated water to take sponge baths, but they try to stand in line everyday in hopes of getting bottled water.

Medicine needed

Hospitals in the affected areas are stretched thin and are not allowing patients with pre-existing conditions to "simply loiter."

University Hospital, in Broward County, would not allow me to speak with staff about supplies, relief efforts, and priority needs.

RAW STORY attempted to speak to the triage nurse in the emergency room, but was told to leave. When the security guard was asked what, if any, problems the hospital had and what, if any, supplies the hospital needed, he escorted this reporter out of the building.

"You need to speak to someone from administration," he said. "You can make an appointment."

After being escorted out of the hospital, I re-entered the facility through the main entrance where several security guards were already alerted of my description.

When I demanded to speak to someone at the hospital, the security team capitulated and allowed me to speak to a hospital administrative official, who would not give his name or title but who was clean-shaven, showered and seemed to be well rested.

"We are emergency prepared and are running at optimum speed," he said. When asked if FEMA was providing additional services or support, the official stated that the hospital did not contact FEMA and had no need of support. I was then escorted out of the building again.

Residents of Broward with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, are forced to wait in limbo. One woman sat on the ground in front of Walgreens, located at the corner of McNab and Pine Island Rd., crying because the pharmacy was not open and she had run out of insulin.

I suggested she should go to the hospital, but the woman explained that she had already done so and was told to return only in the event of an emergency. Exasperated and desperate, the woman explained that if she had renal failure, she would not be able to call 911 as phones are not operational, nor would she be in a position to take herself to the ER.

Others face similar issues. Two African-American women, a mother and daughter, both declining to give their names, told me while waiting at the same Walgreens line for water that they were both concerned about an asthma attack.

"We have the kids there in the house, we both have asthma. We need our inhalers," the mother said.

Walgreens was without power, but allowed cash only purchases of ten items per person. Customers were allowed in two at a time and were escorted around by a sales clerk who took the prices of each product down for check out.

"There are two of us, so I think we can split up and pretend we don't know each other. We can get twenty items" said the daughter, hoping to get as many over the counter allergy medications as possible.

Others simply hoped some water and over the counter medicine was left. Still others, not having enough cash, bargained in line, willing to trade with others.

"I just want some canned food or something like that," said one woman who did not wish to give her name. She had roughly five dollars in cash with her, a checkbook, and some credit cards.

"They only take cash. I can trade with someone. I have water at home. I can trade that if anyone wants to," she said loudly.

Help?

FEMA seems to again be mishandling a situation where lives are at stake. According to many residents, the help provided is coming mostly from the Salvation Army and the United Way, as well as locals themselves. The Salvation Army, for example, set up a water and ice pick-up point at the Tamarac Community Center in Broward County. The line was long, with some people waiting on foot and others sitting in their cars. The supplies, however, ran out in roughly two hours as the Salvation Army had only limited stock available. Later in the day, they offered hot meals from a few facilities used for homeless shelters. Again, supplies were limited and meals were available on a first come first serve basis.

Palm Beach special project manager John Jamason said real progress was being made.

“Our distribution sites have been running really well from the second day on," he asserted. Five cities remain on boil-water orders, which he said was mainly because they’re being careful.

Jamason said they had "no set plan" to check on the elderly or infirm.

"The county wasn't officially going out and checking on people," he said. When the county received calls for help, he said, they would forward them to United Way, the Red Cross, or the Salvation Army.

Broward mayor Kristin Jacobs said the area had been making “incredible headway.”

"The need for food is still out there," Jacobs said, largely because some people didn't work for a week. She also cited "quite some troubles with our traffic lights." A number of intersections are ten lanes wide—trying to manage the traffic without lights is a real problem, she said.

Eight cities are still partially on boil-water orders, she said, but asserted "we're doing fabulous." When asked about looting, Jacobs said the crime rate actually went down.

Muriel Kane and John Byrne contributed reporting for this article.

Originally published on Wednesday November 2, 2005