Hurricane Katrina Looks to be a Bad One

[DonJ]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/2...ina/index.html

New Orleans orders evacuation
Hurricane Katrina's winds nearly 175 mph

Let's hope those people get to higher ground ASAP.

Also, this will be another excuse to jack up the prices at the pump.

[jofultner]

Well I live 5 miles west of new orleans and will be staying.Without the needed funds or place to go my family and I will stand tough with Miss. river as back yard boundry.I hope and pray we make it all in one piece.God Bless,Jo.

[TripleRLtd]

It doesn't just look like a "bad" one...but perhaps the worst one EVER!!
I've been worried about the people around N.O. since yesterday when it first passed 150 mph. Now this thing is a monster!
Listen jofultner, as someone who lived through the 150 mph winds of Charley last year (with a hole in my shop roof still), I'd advise you to leave if at all possible. There is no such thing as "toughing" it out in the face of that sort of wrath. If you absolutely can not leave, then batten down the hatches: plywood ALL windows, get a generator with plenty of gas, and have a boat ready for escape from the surge.
But, only yards from the river???? Come on man. You NEED to get to higher ground. NOW!!
I truly am worried about the people facing this monster. I can only pray and hope that the damage and death toll is minimal...

[geeksRus]

can you get to the Superdome? if not then keep your head down and pray. i have a feeling there will be a lot of people in the big easy that wont be going home for a while. thots and prayers with all of you in the gulf states.

[Platypus]

Hopes and prayers for the safety of everyone in that area, especially Jo & family.

[geeksRus]

Urgent Weather Message from NWS New Orleans

WWUS74 KLIX 281550NPWLIXURGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005


DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

HURRICANE KATRINAA MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969. MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. ATLEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED.


CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATEADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...


AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...


BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEWCROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEARHURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE..


.ARECERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTUREOUTSIDE!LAZ038-040-050-056>070-282100-ASSUMPTION-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

[jofultner]

I will be sure to let everyone know if we made out okay when ever it is possible.We appreciate all prayers for us and our neighbors.It is safer next to the river than the lake(ponchatrain),maps indicate we may be above flood waters as opposed to everything else toward lake under 5 feet and above water.Hope to be in touch real soon,Jo.

[andiol]

I lived 20 years in St. Bernard Parish (Violet) and moved to PR 4 years ago and Thank God for not living there now. There is only I picture published of the area and reports from emergency personnel state that its is the Only picture that can be published. He paints a gory picture of houses totally under water, corpses and alligators floating everywhere. In other words total destruction and devastation. New Orleans fared slightly better but the main access from the East, The twin spans bridge has been totally destroyed, the high rise has suffered from a collision with a barge and it is feared that it suffered structural damage and is intransitable.

Lets keep everyone there in our thoughts and prayers and those that can please help with anything else. God knows the region will need help from all of us

Angel.

[TripleRLtd]

Lets keep everyone there in our thoughts and prayers and those that can please help with anything else. God knows the region will need help from all of us

Angel.

Amen Angel. The surge and flooding is always the worst part. This is now an environmental disater of huge proportions. Gulf Port and Biloxi were creamed as well with much loss of life.
The island I live on had no such problems like toxic water floating around for days if not weeks. We also had no such thing as one full day of knowing what was coming. Why don't people listen??
Too sad...

[TripleRLtd]

And now the looting is going on bigtime!!

Looting Takes Place in View of La. Police

NEW ORLEANS - With much of the city flooded by Hurricane Katrina, looters floated garbage cans filled with clothing and jewelry down the street in a dash to grab what they could. In some cases, looting on Tuesday took place in full view of police and National Guard troops.
At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers.





One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store.

"No," the man shouted, "that's EVERYBODY'S store."


Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and insulation as National Guard lumbered by.

Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold.

"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he said.

A man walked down Canal Street with a pallet of food on his head. His wife, who refused to give her name, insisted they weren't stealing from the nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket. "It's about survival right now," she said as she held a plastic bag full of purloined items. "We got to feed our children. I've got eight grandchildren to feed."

At a drug store on Canal Street just outside the French Quarter, two police officers with pump shotguns stood guard as workers from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel across the street loaded large laundry bins full of medications, snack foods and bottled water.

"This is for the sick," Officer Jeff Jacob said. "We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law."

Another office, D.J. Butler, told the crowd standing around that they would be out of the way as soon as they got the necessities.

"I'm not saying you're welcome to it," the officer said. "This is the situation we're in. We have to make the best of it."

The looting was taking place in full view of passing National Guard trucks and police cruisers.

One man with an armload of clothes even asked a policeman, "can I borrow your car?"

Some in the crowd splashed into the waist-deep water like giddy children at the beach.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050830/...atrina_looting
WOW!!

I don't know what most people would do in this particular circumstance, and I understand the food and meds and water being taken, but jeans and jewelry???

[confus-ed]

And now the looting is going on bigtime!!

Hi Trip, only posting on hurricane stories now ? I'd have thought you'd have had enough of them !?!

.. but yeah the looting stories caught my eye too, sadly predictable I think.

This hurricane is already getting called the most expensive in history (in terms of clean up costs) & I guess the looting will only represent a tiny fraction of the overall clean up cost, but I can't help shaking my head either at folks desire to profit whilst in the middle of a disater zone !

[TripleRLtd]

Hi Trip, only posting on hurricane stories now ? I'd have thought you'd have had enough of them !?!

Ha. Close, but also events, etc where I have a "need" to speak out. Remember "Live 8"? The London bombings? Now this. Yes, hurricanes are a particular "sore spot" for me. I am still recovering from a year ago. I remember the emotional trauma quite well. At first you're exhilirated at just being alive and having experienced natures fury. Then depression slowly creeps in. The emotional ups and downs are akin to a roller coaster ride...without the fun.
But last year, other than the wind and rain and initial destruction, was NOTHING like this. This is sooo bad. This big one actually hit a major city. One BELOW sea level. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.
I am watching and following this quite a bit...perhaps too much. After all, last year I had no electric for almost a month, so everything that happened after 2pm on 13 August, was pretty much a blank for me.

[confus-ed]

..This is sooo bad..One BELOW sea level. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen. ..

Indeed as you say, & why they tried to evacuate it completely, so to illustrate that :-


Hurricane clean-up 'will take years' - & other stories are forcasting a death toll in the thousands now , this link has images which make the true nature of the destruction clear.

[TripleRLtd]

I'm sitting here in one of the most miserable moments of my recent memory. At least since 9/11 and/or 7/7.
I am litterally downtrodden and depressed over what is happening in this country at this particular moment in time. To say I saw it coming would be an understatement. Somehow I knew that all it would take would be a hit on a major city...ANY major city in the western world. A natural disaster of epic proportions. Not in SE Asia or some other God forsaken place in this world...but right here in America. And so, now the blame game begins.

Katrina crossed SW Florida last weekend and dumped more rain than anywhere else. BUT, it was only a Cat 1 at that moment in time. There are still people down here w/o electricity....but they have their lives.
For several days warnings were issued to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. The hurricane had turned into a monster!! And it was coming. AND, it would take a miracle to not do some major damage if it did not hit N.O. or other cities. It looked like a given that it would hit N.O over the weekend...hence the evacuation orders. Unprecedented btw. People remained anyway. Some like our own forum member who thought they could tough it out. Some with no means for evacuation, be it monetary or otherwise. So, the storm hit and broke the levees. The worst that could have happened has now happened. So, what do we do???
We look for something or someone to blame.
There is a reason something like this event is called a "naturall" disaster!!! It was NOT man made. Many insurance companies call these sort of events "acts of God". Whaterver you may call it, it was NOT man made. But it did happen. Why blame anyone?
Simply put, the blame now is on the emergency response, or lack thereof. THREE days later literally thousands are still stranded, without water and food, and dying!! A monumental collapse of planning can be put to blame...if any blame can be handed out. Finally a worst case scenario came to be. WORST CASE!! Who was prepared??? Obviously no one. At least not how they (WE) should have been prepared.
Who's to blame?
What the hell is the difference??? The time is now to help...NOT bitch and moan and bring polictics into the equation Things will be sorted out later. YES, there was a lack of preperation and communication by FEMA, and the National Guard and the Louisiana government. That is quiet obvious at this point. There should be no arguing that fact, and heads will roll...eventually.
That being said, at this moment in time, emotions are running rampant. Broadcasters on location are questioning Democratic and/or Republican Congress members and other government figures as I type, letting their emotions rule their news reporting duties.WHY IS THERE NO HELP HERE RIGHT NOW??? I can't blame them to tell the truth. But...
...to blame anyone is absolutely wrong. NOONE expected, right or wrong, something as catastrophic as this. This was one disaster followed by even more disaster . Is that an excuse? Yes. I've been listening to excuses from the PR machine that is the FEMA director all day. Does that mean he doesn't wish things could be different? You're DAMN RIGHT he and everyone wishes things could be different!!! EVERYONE knows they blew it big time with this one...going all the way back to the founding and settling of New Orleans and the delta in the first place. Why build a city below sea level and NOT be aware of the potential catastophe waiting to happen? Sort of like the San Andreas fault with San Fran and LA, etc.... When the big one comes, will we be prepared for that??? The obvious answere is no.
Now we have everyone, especially the political sort, coming out of the woodwork and blaming Bush and his administration. HUH???
We have others blaming the racial and cultural divide and making this a racial issue.
We have wrbby and Techs at TOS angry at the current federal government and trying to change people into Democrats because of the wrath of Hurrican Katrina and its aftermath.
I must say that at this time in my life I am embarrassed to be a human being. Not embarrassed at being an American, or a democrat or republican, but ashamed of being a human being.
I am ashamed and disappointed by everyone. That is why I moved to an island.
Things will only get worse, too. There is too much hatred in this world, and this only proves it. The blame game doesn't accomplish anything when all is said and done. It only creates more friction, anger, and animosity.
And, when millions of people not of a political ilk are doing ALL they can to actuall help instead of talk, I would think that that is really what matters.

Instead, let's all try to put the word out on something like this:

http://www.nola.com/forums/homesavailable/

These are mostly people who care!!! As we should ALL be doing at a time like this. Anyone can bitch and moan and call others with blame. In fact, that is done all the time. Can this be a different time? A humane time?
Please? It's really important for this country...for humanity....for all the survivors. THEY are not thinking politics right now...they are worried about survival.
How about us?

[jofultner]

Well tough it out we did.The storm snapped huge trees which we will post later but the 13 days of no electric or water in this heat is a beast at night.And the moquisto are deadly.We would have never dreamed this nightmare could have happened.Even though we were told it could and would one day.Now we are inside Jefferson Parish and can not leave because we will not be allowed back in.So you find fema sights on the inside for water,ice andM.R.E.food(rations).This has been a real trip,to say the least.Now my friends that stayed in the city are in my prayers,please pray with me for my friends in the city,Jo