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.