Sorry if this has been asked before, or been highlighted in the news, but I am of the understanding that the NOLA refugees that were sheltered in the Superdome had no drinking water or working toilets, etc. I am very ignorant on the topic, so please be kind…
But I was thinking… why wouldn’t a stadium that holds a large capacity of sports fans, not have water and food in their store rooms that the refugees could have had access to? I mean they should have huge amounts on hand for regular sports fans… was it not stocked due to regular season football not being started yet (at the time of the disaster)?
What about the non working plumbing? Was it because water to the stadium was disrupted? Or did all the refugees just happen to stop up all of the toilets in the structure at the same time?
Sorry if these seem like inane questions, but I really would like to know.
The toilet problem was caused by the water supply failing. I am sure that there most have been some supplies somewhere in the Superdome. However, remember that the football season had been over for a long time and had not yet started. They were probably minimal.
ISTR reading that refugees broke open a storeroom that contained bottle water, but there was not nearly enough to go around.
As for normal stadium operations, they would normally rely on water fountains and third-party consessions (mostly beer and soft drinks) for the fans’ needs. There’s no reason why they would stockpile bottled water for 20,000+ people.