Katrina reaches catagory 5

[KenpoEMT]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/28/D8C92FA80.html

Conceding that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport, the city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome

Nagin also dispatched police and firefighters to rouse people out with sirens and bullhorns, and even gave them the authority to commandeer vehicles to aid in the evacuation. "This is very serious, of the highest nature," the mayor said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems

"We're not evacuating," said 57-year-old Julie Paul. "None of us have any place to go. We're counting on the Superdome. That's our lifesaver."

The 70,000-seat Superdome, the home of football's Saints, opened at daybreak Sunday, giving first priority to frail, elderly people on walkers, some with oxygen tanks. They were told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last up to five days. By afternoon, people with bags of belongings lined up outside hoping to get in.

Sasha Gayer tried to get an Amtrak train out of town but couldn't. So she walked back to the French Quarter, buying supplies on the way, and then stopped at one of the few bars open on Bourbon Street. "This is how you know it's a serious hurricane," she said. "You can't find a slice of white bread in the city, but you can still buy beer."

But the evacuation was slow going. Highways in Louisiana and Mississippi were jammed as people headed away from Katrina's expected landfall. All lanes were limited to northbound traffic on Interstates 55 and 59, and westbound on I-10.

His wife, wearing a Bourbon Street T-shirt with a lewd message, interjected: "I just don't want to die in this shirt."

 

[KenpoEMT]

while i agree with your frustrations, the military isn't going to act until asked to do so. the help must be requested from the state, and won't be done until all other evac resources have been exhausted.

That's what I was really asking. Why hasn't the order been given? All the Pres. has to do is give the order to render full assistance to the city and surrounding areas.

as for using c-130s and the like to evac civilian personnel, these aircraft just aren't "civilian friendly". although there are a number of applicable aircraft that can be used. it really isn't a plausible idea.

Yeah, I jumped out of them (5 jump chump). They are not civilian friendly in the least bit, but it is better than dying.

now using commercial planes, that would be a better idea. would it happen, probably not. too much liability in saving lives to make it worth their while.

Yep.

 

[KenpoEMT]

You know, in the eye of this hurricane, birds are trapped, the sun is shining, and everything is calm. In the walls of the eye, the winds are the strongest. The packs a double whammy when it comes to hurricanes. Both sides of the eye wall pack equal winds, but in opposite directions.
...
Even if it doesn't strengthen, the eye is still predicted to pass over New Orleans.

Yeah, the damage is going to be teremendous. New Orleans is going to get shredded. There is no hope that many people will not die.

I didn't even know that there was a hurricane coming until I read your post earlier today. Had my nose buried in various text books. Maybe I ought to check the news every now and then.

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/

A storm surge of 20 to 25 feet or more is possible along and to the east of Katrina's landfall point Monday. On top of the water rise, pounding waves of 20 to 40 feet will produce catastrophic damage at coastal locations.

Effects from Katrina will not be confined to coastal areas. Once Hurricane Katrina makes landfall, it will progress inland Monday into Tuesday with a trail of flooding rains and damaging winds across Mississippi and Alabama and then into Tennessee. Torrential, flooding rainfall is possible with the remnants of Katrina well inland, possibly into the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and the Northeast later this week

Ohio Valley? Great Lakes? What a monsterous storm...
Anyone ever watched the movie, "Day After Tomarrow"?

 

[MisterMike]

Most hurricaines cause rain up in the Northeast. This isn't anything new.

Global warming the cause? I don't think so. It was a butterfly over in Japan...

Is this type of damage covered under any "Act of God" insurance clauses? Funny it chose New Orleans...

 

[KenpoEMT]

Most hurricaines cause rain up in the Northeast. This isn't anything new.

Rain, yes, but flooding? That is torential.

Global warming the cause? I don't think so. It was a butterfly over in Japan...

Ahhhh, a little chaos theory... :rofl: Your probably right!

Is this type of damage covered under any "Act of God" insurance clauses? Funny it chose New Orleans...

I was watching CNN earlier, and they were interviewing a PR Rep from one of the major insurance companies. She said that unless the homeowner thought to purchase flood insurance in addition to their homeowners insurance they would not be covered for any water damages...and that is the damage that everyone is most worried about.

She also said that flood insurance was not available to homes on the coastline, so they are just screwed.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

Dear God, let the center of this storm miss New Orleans. I had no idea until a few hours ago how bad this situation really is. It may very well eclipse the Attack on America and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in terms of loss of life and cost to the country.

I agree with previous posters. It is not blame time, it is EVACUATION TIME. I pray for the safety of my countrymen in Louisianna.

 

[Tgace]

Most hurricanes that come up the Gulf cause rain up here. I believe there is the possibility of floods in our known flood zones. I dont expect Erie to engulf the city over this....

Still wouldnt want to be in the Big Easy right now.

 

[bignick]

As far as military goes, my buddy is stationed at Ft. Polk a few hours north of New Orleans, I believe. Sounds like they're all packed up and ready to go. Just waiting for the orders basically.

He said that they were expecting four stories of water and the possibility of toxins being released and making parts of the city uninhabitable for a long time.

It's a very sobering testament to the power of Nature that we may wake up tomorrow or the next day and New Orleans could, for all intents and purposes...be gone....

 

[Tgace]

Ahhh..Fort Polk.

I spent 3 weeks at fort Polk for JRTC and all I got was this lousy tattoo.

 

[arnisador]

That was an unambiguous warning from the NWS.

Let's hope it weakens before landfall.

 

[Makalakumu]

The hurricane is tracking a little east. This is good for the Big Easy. The west winds are bad, but at least the storm surge from the ocean will be less. Of course, the west winds could push lake Ponchatrain and Ol Miss over their banks. We'll just have to see.

btw - probing causation is not blaming. If "blame" exists at all in this case in regards to global warming, we all share it.

 

[arnisador]

Some horrifying reports of people trapped by the rising waters. One thinks that modern homes are so very safe, and they are...but...

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/29/D8C9R7R81.html

On Jackson Square, two massive oak trees outside the 278-year-old St. Louis Cathedral came out by the roots, ripping out a 30-foot section of ornamental iron fence and straddling a marble statue of Jesus Christ, snapping off the thumb and forefinger of his outstretched hand.

Eeegh...I don't really think that I am one who sees signs from the heavens everywhere I look, but...Eeegh...

But it was plenty bad, in New Orleans and elsewhere along the coast, where scores people had to be rescued from rooftops and attics as the floodwaters rose around them.

"Some of them, it was their last night on Earth," Terry Ebbert, chief of homeland security for New Orleans, said of people who ignored orders to evacuate the city of 480,000 over the weekend. "That's a hard way to learn a lesson." "We pray that the loss of life is very limited, but we fear that is not the case," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.

Katrina knocked out power to more than three-quarters of a million people from Louisiana to the Florida's Panhandle, and authorities said it could be two months before electricity is restored to everyone. Ten major hospitals in New Orleans were running on emergency backup power.

The federal government began rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas, along with doctors, nurses and first-aid supplies. The Pentagon sent experts to help with search-and-rescue operations.

In nearby coastal St. Bernard Parish, Katrina's storm surge swamped an estimated 40,000 homes. In a particularly low-lying neighborhood on the south shore of Lake Ponchartain, a levee along a canal gave way and forced dozens of residents to flee or scramble to the roofs when water rose to their gutters.

Across a street that had turned into a river bobbing with garbage cans, trash and old tires, a woman leaned from the second-story window of a brick home and pleaded to be rescued.

"There are three kids in here," the woman said. "Can you help us?"

Blanco said 200 people have been rescued in boats from rooftops, attics and other locations around the New Orleans area, a scene playing out in Mississippi as well. In some cases, rescuers are sawing through roofs to get to people in attics, and other stranded residents "are swimming to our boats," the governor said. Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, Mississippi was subjected to both Katrina's harshest winds and highest recorded storm surges _ 22 feet. The storm pushed water up to the second floor of homes, flooded floating casinos, uprooted hundreds of trees and flung sailboats across a highway.

"Let me tell you something, folks: I've been out there. It's complete devastation," said Gulfport, Miss., Fire Chief Pat Sullivan

In some cases, debris was stacked 4 to 5 feet, covering cars. Houses were washed from their foundations

"There are lots of homes through here worth a million dollars. At least they were yesterday,"

But the doomsday vision of hurricane waters spilling over levees and swamping the city in a toxic soup of refinery chemicals, sewage and human bodies never materialized.

Forecasters said New Orleans _ which has not been hit directly by a major storm since Category 3 Hurricane Betsy struck in 1965 _ got lucky again

 

[Makalakumu]

The levees are breaking in New Orleans. Parts of the city are now covered by up to 20 feet of water.

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050830/2005-08-30T203001Z_01_HO481242_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-WEATHER-KATRINA-DC.html

"The devastation is greater than our worst fears," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco told a news conference. "It's totally overwhelming."
An overnight breach in New Orleans' protective levee system allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to flood most of the city.

In the Mississippi coastal city of Biloxi, hundreds may have been killed after being trapped in their homes when a 30-foot (9 meter) storm surge came ashore, a city spokesman said. Cadaver dogs were being brought in to help find the dead.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reported bodies floating in the city's floodwaters.

Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by the storm surge, which swept as far as a mile inland in parts of Mississippi.

In New Orleans, "We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet," Nagin told television station WWL. "Both airports are under water."

The local hospital appealed for more doctors and nurses to treat the wounded. Hancock County emergency workers went from house to house and put black paint on those where people died, CNN said. They planned to return later to pick up the bodies but did not have enough refrigerated trucks.

"It was like our tsunami," Creel said.

Special Forces boat crews were dispatched to conduct search and rescue operations in flooded communities.

Perhaps the news report about Katrina not doing as much damage as expected was a bit premature...

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/30/MTFH92570_2005-08-30_18-04-50_SCH065073.html

The downtown hospital was surrounded by 6 feet of water and considering evacuating its 1,000 patients

By Tuesday, however, the full impact was clear as the water rose and overwhelmed pumps, part of an elaborate system of walls, canals and other devices built to protect the city from just such a disaster.


Fears grew about pollution, with the water believed to be carrying sewage, spilled fuel and other pollutants from residential and commercial districts inundated in the flood.

Reporters said there was waist-high water round the Superdome, the huge covered football stadium near downtown New Orleans that had been used as an emergency evacuation center for thousands of residents.

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050830/us_nm/utilities_katrina_outages_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 2.7 million electricity customers were still without power on Tuesday after Hurricane Katrina pummeled the U.S. Gulf Coast and moved into the Tennessee Valley.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050830/D8CAB5KO1.html

Nevertheless, it was clear the death toll would rise sharply, with one survivor after another telling of friends and loved ones who floated off or disappeared as the floodwaters rose around them.
"I talked with paramedics that are on the scene and the devastation is so great that they won't quit counting (bodies) for a while," said Mark Williams, operations supervisor for American Medicial Response, which operated ambulances along the Mississippi coast.

The rising water forced one New Orleans hospital to move patients to the Superdome

Canal Street was literally a canal. Water lapped at the edge of the French Quarter. Clumps of red ants floated in the gasoline-fouled waters downtown.

At the Superdome, someone died after plunging from an upper level of the stadium, Ebbert said. He said the person probably jumped.

"The water got higher and higher," she said, breaking into tears. "It pushed all the doors open and we swam out. We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current. It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim."

Mike Spencer of Gulfport made the mistake of trying to ride out the storm in his house. He told NBC that he used his grandson's little surfboard to make his way around the house as the water rose around him. Finally, he said, "as the house just filled up with water, it forced me into the attic, and then I ended up kicking out the wall and climbing up to a tree because the houses around me were just disappearing." He said he wrapped himself around a tree branch and waited four or five hours.

 

[KenpoEMT]

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/

Apparently law enforcement officials and firefighters are joining in the looting.

...big-screen TVs for everyone.

 

[arnisador]

Looting, sadly, is to be expected...but hopefully not by LEOs.