Katrina's aftermath

No one's saying that its frivolous. There's just a general question of blame over what occurred right now that people are beginning to have. Sure, there are coastlines and places next to faults and so on...but New Orleans had a set of circumstances that was special that makes it especially vulnerable; more so than other cities. St. Louis may be near the Mississippi River, but it would take a catastrophe beyond the realms of what we know in weather to cause this kind of devastation to its metro area. Its near miraculous this didn't happen in 1992 or 1995 or 1998 or 2001.

xpost - o yeah i definitely wasn't disagreeing with geoff, i was just curious how many cities aren't 'asking for it' by the argument floating around (i could even imagine scenarios where atlanta ('it's hot! the entire city was doomed to dehydrate eventually!') or boise ('it's cold! they were doomed to freeze to death eventually! plus that blue astroturf - they were asking for it!') or even denver ('that thin air! and coors promoting incest! they were doomed to have three legged babies eventually!').

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco called for an
evacuation of the 20,000 storm refugees from the
Superdome after she visited the hurricane-damaged
stadium Tuesday evening for the second time of the
day.

She set no timetable for the withdrawal but insisted
that the facility was damaged, degrading and no longer
able to support the local citizens who had sought
refuge in the Dome from Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s a very, very desperate situation,” Blanco said
late Tuesday after returning to the capital from her
visit, when she comforted the exhausted throngs of
people, many of whom checked in over the weekend.
“It’s imperative that we get them out. The situation
is degenerating rapidly.”

Blanco also said the people in the New Orleans
hospitals were being moved out.

The Dome has no electricity, holes in the roof have
let in water and the sanitary conditions are growing
worse, Blanco said.

“It’s a little rough in there,” Blanco said.

Also word on Slidell:

Slidell Police and emergency officials continued to mop up Tuesday
after the devastating flooding that overwhelmed much of the southern half of Slidell following the glancing blow from Hurricane
Katrina’s eye wall.

Entire neighborhoods in low-lying areas were under
more than seven feet of water, leaving many families trapped in attics or on second floors.
Slidell Police and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies have
been combing through neighborhoods hit by the flooding since after the strongest winds
ceased Monday afternoon, said Capt. Rob Callahan, a Slidell Police spokesman.

Police had rescued more than 100 people as of Tuesday afternoon, he
said, none of whom were injured.

At the height of the storm Monday, major flooding extended from Lake Pontchartrain through Olde Towne and up to Fremaux Avenue

But by Tuesday afternoon, much of the
flood water had receded from neighborhoods closest to the lake such as Oak Harbor and Eden Isles. Many portions of Pontchartrain
Drive and its adjoining neighborhoods still were beneath at least three
feet of water.

Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.

Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.

The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.

Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.

(...something about this seems weird to me -- if there's actual danger then by all means this is fucked but I'd want to know more about this.)

Well, apparently New Madrid is overdue for a nice big earthshaker, so they say. The last one there changed the Mississippi River's course.

And there's that Yellowstone/supervolcano thingie.

Info on parish and road access:
St. Charles: Only St. Charles parish residents can return to their homes. There is no power, low fuel and no food. If you must return home, please bring supplies with you. Hwy 90, I-10, Hwy 3127 and Airline are all open. However, there is water on Airline near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.
Terrebonne: No road closures. Use Hwy 90 or the Sunshine Bridge.
Lafourche : As of 2 p.m. Monday, the curfew was lifted. Go directly to your homes. Hwy 1 is closed between Golden Meadow and Grande Isle.
St. James: Open to residents only.
St. John: Open to residents only. You need your ID.
Jefferson: You can return Monday with your ID. You will be allowed to collect your belongings and will not be allowed to return for a month.
Orleans: Closed. The Highrise is not safe to cross. Many parts of I-10 are flooded.
Plaqeumines: Closed.
St. Bernard: Closed.
St. Tammany: I-10 and the Twinspans are destroyed, but the Hwy 11 bridge is intact.
Washington: No information available. Lines are busy!
Tangiphoa: No information available. Lines are busy.
Other road information:
--Hwy 90 between Lafayette and St. Charles Parish line/Lafourche parish line is open.
--Hwy 308/Valentine, south of that area is closed.
--Hwy 3185 (Thibodeaux Bypass) is closed.
--La Bourg Larose Hwy is closed.

And with that I'm getting some sleep. Hope everyone's friends and loved ones are okay.

My GF went to Tulane. Came home weeping. Christ.

Uhh.. looters? Might it not just be desperate cold/wet/injured people going to a hospital for help?

they could want drugs.

Donation to the Red Cross would be a good start. Donate what you'd spend on a night of drinking at a bar. ILX alone could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars at that rate ; )

xpost -- i already made my donation. it was more than my average night of drinking.

re why serious work wr2 hurricane preparedness has taken so long (i.e., not really before the late 1960s): i'm pretty sure that i've read that certain ecological changes in and around new orleans didn't really come to a head (or were paid attention to) until then -- like the erosion of marshlands (caused by the levee building), the effects of offshore drilling, etc.

you mean a phone and a fax machine?

http://photos24.flickr.com/38776762_18668c88d0.jpg

The uk.gov chief scientist was on C4 news last night talking on this subject. He said that they cannot conlcusively link the increase in intensity of hurricanes over the last 30 years to climate change because the data before about 1950 consists mainly of 'Wow that was a biggie'. It could be a part natural cycle, a rising trend due to climate change, or a climate change trend overlaying a natural cycle and there is no way of knowing. whta is known is that hurricane power has been shown to be proportional to surface sea temperatures in the carribbean and the gulf and that these have risen by half a degree over the last thirty years mainly due to a weakening of the gulf stream and other eastward currents that take warm water away from the carribean (and the corresponding deep conveyors that bring cold water back in). The slowdown of the North Atlantic conveyor is posited to be one of the effects of climate change and if this the case then the carribbean will warm and hurricanes will continue to increase in power.

Hopefully the $3.50 a gallon gas prices and corresponding high heating oil prces this winter are going to force people to re-evaluate their energy use habits.

i wish, but i doubt it.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned,
Bush strummed a C chord while New Orleans sank

If only we had an organization like the Army Corps of Engineers and National Guard to help out, but they are all over in Iraq looking for, Osama Bin Ladin, er, I mean weapons of mass destruction, er, I mean bringing freedom to the men and women of Iraq, er, I mean just the men of Iraq, except of course the Sunnis. who are pissed off about the constitution and will plunge the country into chaos..... never mind.....

7:49 A.M. - Governor Blanco: Four Navy ships headed to New Orleans with food and water.
7:38 A.M. - CNN report...another attempt will be made to sandbag the 17th Street Canal.
7:24 A.M. - Slidell Mayor Ben Morris: Electricity is six to 12 weeks away.
7:06 A.M. - Governor Blanco wants the Superdome evacuated within two days.
6:57 A.M. - Governor Blanco: "Absolutely necessary" that the Army Corps of Engineers drop sandbags into the levee breach.
6:50 A.M. - Sen. Landrieu: The whole parish of St. Bernard is gone.
6:27 A.M. - (AP) Conditions in New Orleans hospitals deteriorate. Click for story.
6:22 A.M. - (AP) No time to count the dead as rescue efforts Click for story.
6:20 A.M. - Governor Blanco: Estimated 20,000 people in dome and they will be dispersed around the state to rescue centers being set up. Situation 'unteneable' in Superdome.
6:13 A.M. - Governor Blanco: Essential personnel will stay in city, but general public needs to go. Logistical nightmare to bring in food and water.
6:11 A.M. - Governor Blanco: We have found places around the state to house the refugees, we just need to get them out.
6:10 A.M. - (AP) -- Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says the Bush administration will release oil from petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina.
5:55 A.M. GOVERNOR BLANCO: Stopping the looting is important, but saving lives a higher priority right now. Not sure where looters think they are taking the stuff since city may soon be under water.

Barbour comparing it to Hiroshima, despite the cataclysmic scale of this, is kind of disgusting.

Hurricane Andrew first brought to national attention the damage and power a hurricane can do. Maybe it took Katrina to remind the state and federal governments that infrastructures and utilities as they stand now cannot withstand even a minimal hurricane.

Its not like its being used for anything else right now. Besides, it actually has power and water.

Anyone following the Interdictor and his cam on LJ, btw? Dude is obviously a survival nut getting his wet dream for the world to see, but its pretty interesting nonetheless. It sounds very boring, but I just watched water start moving into his region of the city (St. Charles?) and begin to pool.

http://www.tv-heads.com/networkpages/darynkagan.jpg

Results 1 - 10 of about 19,000 for gregory peck zombie. (0.27 seconds)

I've seen his posts. He IS nuts and I have to wonder what the hell he's going to do when he's finally told to leave. Expect all sorts of whining.