New Orleans

[bubba]

NO is a wreck. Apartment complex collapsed, hospital is trying to figure out if the can or should evacuate. Watching CNN. They got hit by a huge wall of water in the storm surge and the flooding and damage are unbelievable.

[Dreadbelly]

NO is a wreck. Apartment complex collapsed, hospital is trying to figure out if the can or should evacuate. Watching CNN. They got hit by a huge wall of water in the storm surge and the flooding and damage are unbelievable.

So there are high rise collapses confirmed on tv like they have been saying on the radio?

They keep playing these horrible static filled cell phone calls on the radio from people actually in NO and it sounds like all kinds of hell is breaking loose. Floating balls of fire, buildings collapsing, jets of flame from natural gas mains shooting up in to the air, people on the roof of their homes screaming for help, people in melee fighting over higher ground and a safe spot... The calls are nuts. People are also saying the area around the Superdome is rapidly flooding and that there are still all those people inside. Catch any of this on the TV Bubba?

[Dreadbelly]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines

A lot of news links on that page.

Some of the video is unbearable to watch, even for those of us with hardened hearts.

People with camera phones have shot a lot of footage, and some of it is now starting to show up on the net on servers capable of dealing with the deluge of hits as millions of people tune in to watch.

I really don't know what to say, and I usually have something to say for just about everything.

The radio is saying that the floodwaters and the receding waters from other places that will wash down the Mississippi are only going to make the NO problem worse.

Todd, I will say one very sincere prayer for your family, and for everybody else down round those parts.

[macsim]

One thing seems to be certain - the aftermath is turning out to be much worse than the actual storm. At least one levee did break and I saw at least one house burning (CNN & Fox). Fox reports "dozens" dead but no actual numbers. Gulfport and Biloxi seem to have taken pretty hard hits. The weird thing is, the weather looks great now. It's clear and sunny above, totally devastated below. We're having tornado watches all over NC today, especially in Central NC which is pretty far removed from the path of the storm. None in my county yet but we do have them in the county next to us. This is a far-reaching thing. Looks like it's now 25 miles south of Clarksville, TN where I have a friend. Winds are still at 35 mph and it sounds like they could get 8 inches of rain along the pathway. What a mess. Pray not only for those affected but for those who are entrusted with putting it all back together again.

[Dreadbelly]

Families driven from New Orleans by the impending storm struggled to get back to their houses yesterday, only to find their way blocked by floodwaters covering much of the city's surrounding suburbs.

"It looks to me like the whole damn city is under water," one rescue worker told the Guardian, standing by a flooded freeway close to the city limits.

"That should be flowing the other way," said another, pointing to the 17th Street canal. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said there had been reports of more than 20 buildings collapsing in the city, while offshore at least two oil rigs were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. The weather knocked out power to about 1.3 million people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and analysts estimated the damage could top $26bn (£14.4bn).

Taken from here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/...558868,00.html

I saw on tv one of those oil rigs. It's been washed ashore, and it has crashed in to a bridge. There is oil everywhere. God only knows how many gallons of oil are flooding Mobile, Gulfport, and NO. It's everywhere.

[bubba]

Yup Dread, alot of stuff has been on TV this morning. What makes me sick is before the flooding looting was rampant. The vermin were near emptying homes in evacuated areas pushing shopping carts full of loot. I hope they all drowned in the flood. At this point there are still people trapped in their homes unable to get out that rescue workers haven't gotten to yet.

[Dreadbelly]

Yup Dread, alot of stuff has been on TV this morning. What makes me sick is before the flooding looting was rampant. The vermin were near emptying homes in evacuated areas pushing shopping carts full of loot. I hope they all drowned in the flood. At this point there are still people trapped in their homes unable to get out that rescue workers haven't gotten to yet.

Cell phone callers on the radio say the same thing about looters. A lot of folk killing each other. Vigilante justice. Mayor did declare martial law, and said all civil rights are suspended. I guess this means that looters can be shot on sight by National Guard and whatever police force still functions.

Sounds like NO is about to be declared an environmental disaster. Oil everywhere. Toxic sludge. Sewage spewing out everywhere.

Sobering.

[Dreadbelly]

Floating balls of pissed off fire ants. Ravenous aligators are actually in the streets, and there are an untold number of snakes everywhere.

The Superdome is flooded with 3 feet of water, and it is feared that the water levels will keep on rising.

In many areas, the water is toxic. Boiling pools of acid.

Not a whole lot of info here, but there are some updates. http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

It's stupid to keep bringing people to the Superdome as it is flooding. At least three feet of water and it's rising, but they are still evacuating people to this location. Somebody mind telling me what sort of genius thought of that idea? What are they going to do, keep moving people inside to the higher levels? What are they going to do, cart people in by the boatload and dock with uper level balconies?

Seriously, that makes no sense to me. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.