I am so glad to be in Baltimore...

UPDATE: Per the Miami Herald online: Still no sign of FEMA.

Although I am very lucky - we had no windows broken in our South Beach condo, and already have power I am told, I feel so badly for the rest of the area - Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties remain virtually in the dark. The boil water order is serious - the City of Miami Beach is under such an order, but we have power so this is not a problem...but what about those with electric stoves who do NOT have power?

Raw Story has a reporter based in West Broward...from her report it is NOLA all over again - without the levee break, of course...but in the response from FEMA.

Lots of talk, but no action. And a client of mine was able to drive from his home in South Dade to check on his boat on mid-Miami Beach yesterday - so how come no one has seen FEMA?

Here is her story:

Exclusive: Fort Lauderdale suburbs

still without water, aid

Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrova lives in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has been without supplies, fresh water, power, landline and cell phone service since Wilma struck the area Sunday evening. She phoned in this report from a pay phone, after waiting in a line.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has yet to arrive in the hurricane-stricken suburbs of Fort Lauderdale.

"FEMA hasn't arrived yet," Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrova said in a call from the region Tuesday afternoon. "Even though they've said, 'we're ready, we're standing by,' they haven't come."

The area is under curfew, Alexandrovna noted. The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that Miami-Dade police arrested five people in two separate violations-- four of them at Miami's Finest Barber Shop, NW 79th Street and NW Seventh Avenue, and the other at a bar called Johnny's LBR, at Northwest 65th Street and 27th Avenue.

Alexandrovna said residents have seen little aid from police, who have been guarding shops.

"I saw a whole slew of them guarding Wal-Mart," she said.

The situation is reported to be dire. Residents have been told to boil their water, but most are finding it difficult to do so, as millions are without electricity.

"It's horrible," Alexandrovna said. "There's no water. The water comes out of the faucet, [but] you have to boil the water, and you have no electricity to boil your water. The sewage is backed up."

"We need supplies," she added. "If FEMA isn't coming, we need people to get in and give us water."

Local merchants have been rationing supplies, Alexandrovna noted, saying that shopkeepers have been friendly and helpful. She said she has seen no looting.