Are you affected by hurricane Katrina? New Orleans (The Big Easy) due for a bash?

[Marc]

My gal-pal's son called yesterday afternoon all freaked out. He moved to New Orleans just a couple weeks ago - He'll be starting graduate school (mathematics) in a couple weeks. (Well, considering hurricane Katrina, now that's a maybe). Anyway, to keep things cheap (?) he got a place on the trolly line so he didn't take his car.

I had sorta watched hurricane Katrina form and cross Florida but a hurricane 'attack' on New Orleans never crossed my mind...

The cell phone calls started yesterday afternoon so I guess he was watching local news, or hearing 'by the grape vine', that there was a storm a' brewin'. There was an interesting late afternoon and evening series of cell phone calls between Tracey and her son as she and I sat here watching several movies.

Around 9 PM Sat evening (now last night) he left town with a few people from his apartment complex. He didn't really know any of them having just moved into the complex recently, but understood it was time to leave town.... Attempts to get a room at the New Orleans Raddison to 'ride out the storm' failed. Rooms booked for over 200 miles around New Orleans. I said drive north to Cincinnati (essentially home) which is about a 14 hour drive. They went west towards Texas.

Heard this AM, about 8, that he was still in LA (they left last night around 9ish) headed for Texas. This morning about 10 am Gal Pal headed home to feed the dogs and visit with her mother so I don't have the current situation as to where her son is, but -- WoW! Looks like a BIGGIE!!

So.... Anyone else here have friends / relatives there, or are otherwise affected by hurricane Katrina?

*************

3.30PM EDT Update - Kid is in Texas headed to Houston or Austin to fly back to Cincinnati. If New Orleans Bourbon Street district goes under water, he will probably loose everything he has. Having just recently moved in, he hadn't gotten renters insurance yet...

 

[Laura M]

Obviously I'm not down there...but this is a biggie. My aunt was in Lauderdale for Andrew which hit Homestead. They evac'd and came back to trees down everywhere. Sustained 160 MPH winds aren't going to leave alot standing.

I just got back from Austin - dropped my son off at college - UT - Longhorns.
(being a Buckeye will make college football season tough!)

At any rate - if he need a place to ride it out - Austin is awesome. Seems a little farther than necessary tho.

I have a friend whose bro' is down there, so I should get an update tomorrow. He doesn't usually leave, but may have this time.

 

[Marc]

It's closing in on New Orleans. Tracey's kid made it to Texas. Now it's a waiting game for the next several hours. Looks like we'll get some rain and winds from it here in the Cincinnati area this week.

Looks like it has come down to a category 4 hurricane from category 5.

 

[gpainter]

We are all affected by her. They were saying that with the offshore rigs and the fact that 1/3 of the oil that comes to the US comes thru the Gulf that prices of gas could increase 10 - 30 cents before weeks end. I just pray that everyone is safe in the coastal areas. My wife's sister lives about 150 miles from the Gulf and are used to the rains and tornadic activities associated with landfall. We were stuck at their house (actually a trailer, they were building a house nearby and rented a trailer while they built)during a small one in mid 1995 talking about sleeping with one eye open.

 

[Laura M]

Looks like it stayed a little east - although I heard the Orleans pumping stations are down - as predicted in this article. Could it possible get this bad?

BY MATT CRENSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS



When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans today, it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.


Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.


That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 160 m.p.h. and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.


"We could witness the total destruction of New Orleans as we know it," Ivor van Heerden, director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said as he ticked off the threats New Orleans faces from the ground, ocean and sky.


Emergency officials say they fear that nearly 287 years of history could be destroyed in hours. The newly homeless could be stranded for weeks outside the city as emergency authorities attempt to pump out the water.


The nightmare scenario gets worse: sewers could back up, spreading disease like malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, West Nile Virus and dengue fever, all of which pay calls at one of the nation's biggest and oldest ports. Coffins could pop out of the shallow ground. And toxic chemicals could join the mix if petrochemical plants to the west break up.


The center's latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. Estimates predict that 60% to 80% of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless. "We're talking about in essence having ... a refugee camp of a million people," van Heerden said.


Aside from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Miami in 1992, forecasters have no experience with Category 5 hurricanes hitting densely populated areas.


"Hurricanes rarely sustain such extreme winds for much time. However, we see no obvious large-scale effects to cause a substantial weakening" of Katrina, National Hurricane Center meteorologist Richard Pasch said.


A Category 5 hurricane causes 500 to 1,000 times the damage of a Category 1 storm, scientists say, because the power of a storm increases exponentially as wind speeds grow.


Experts have warned about New Orleans' vulnerability for years, chiefly because Louisiana has lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands over the past seven decades. The vast patchwork of swamps and bayous south of the city serves as a buffer, partially absorbing the surge of water that a hurricane pushes ashore.


Experts have also warned that the ring of high levees around New Orleans, designed to protect the city from Mississippi River floodwaters, will only make things worse in a powerful hurricane. Even if the levees hold against an expected 28-foot storm surge, water will pour over their tops and begin filling the city as if it were a sinking canoe.


The water will be almost impossible to remove, considering the pumps will be swamped and shut down. Some of the city's pumps sit in houses made in the 1890s, said Stevan Spencer, the Orleans Levee District's chief engineer.


In a few days, van Heerden predicts, emergency management officials will be wondering how to handle a giant stagnant pond contaminated with building debris, coffins, sewage and other hazardous materials: "We're talking about an incredible environmental disaster."

 

[Laura M]

In addition, I hope it stays south - looks like we may get rain too. We took 10 inches in the basement from Francis last year. Our little town got 6 inches in an hour and the creek we were on couldn't keep up. A few miles away it wasn't as bad - our district was the only one closed. At any rate - I guess we are considered in the 100 year flood plain - so I figured we were good for 99 more years. We've been here 14 and never saw anything close to last year. To think our innocent babbling brook that usually looks so calming could turning into a raging river!

 

[Baldrick]

Just a quick note from the UK to say that we're all keeping up to date with current events in your part of the world via the BBC and other media. Sadly, we are hearing news of fatalities - my sincere condolences go to the bereaved.

I'm sure I speak for everyone over here when I offer my best wishes and support for everyone who has been affected.

 

[Laura M]

Path

Looks like it will hit Marc and then me with a ton of rain. Anyone else in the current path?

The footage is incredible.

 

[Jim Wynne]

Looks like it will hit Marc and then me with a ton of rain. Anyone else in the current path?

The footage is incredible.

The attachment (from weather.com) shows Katrina's projected path as of early this morning. It'll pass well to the south and east of where I live in Southeast Wisconsin. Ironically, our area is in the midst of a severe drought and could use a good soaking.

 

[Kwilson]

rains

Laura,

It will hit me about an hour before you, I'm in Buffalo. Hopefully it won't be too bad. My heart goes out to everyone that has been affected by this storm. With that said, I will take a snowstorm over a hurricane, tornado or earthquake any day.

KW