Posted on 09/14/2004 11:35:13 PM PDT by RWR8189
Residents fleeing deluge that could sink low-lying city
NEW ORLEANS - More than 1.2 million people in metropolitan New Orleans were warned to get out Tuesday as 140-mph Hurricane Ivan churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening to submerge the below-sea-level city during what could be the most disastrous storm to hit in nearly 40 years.
Residents streamed inland in bumper-to-bumper traffic in an agonizingly slow exodus amid dire warnings that Ivan could overwhelm New Orleans with up to 20 feet of filthy, chemical-polluted water. About three-quarters of a million more people along the coast in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama also were told to evacuate.
Walter Maestri, an emergency manager in New Orleans, America's most vulnerable metropolitan area, has 10,000 body bags ready in case a major hurricane hits. As Hurricane Ivan's expected path shifted uncomfortably close to the low-lying urban soup bowl, Maestri said Tuesday he might need a lot more.
If a strong Category 4 storm such as Ivan made a direct hit, he warned, 50,000 people could drown, and the city could cease to exist.
"This could be The One," Maestri said. "You're talking about the potential loss of a major metropolitan area."
Forecasters said Ivan, blamed for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean, could reach 160 mph and strengthen to Category 5, the highest level, by the time it blows ashore as early as Thursday somewhere along the Gulf Coast.
"Hopefully the house will still be here when we get back," said Tara Chandra, a doctor at Tulane University in New Orleans who packed up his car, moved plants indoors and tried to book a Houston hotel room. Chandra said he wanted to ride out the storm, but his wife wanted to evacuate: "All the news reports are kind of freaking her out."
Houston-area emergency officials were keeping an eye on Ivan's path and have made preliminary plans should the hurricane continue to turn west.
Galveston County emergency management officials Tuesday discussed the potential for landfall there.
High tides are always a concern for Galveston County residents, and more so for those living in low-lying areas such as on the Bolivar Peninsula and West Galveston Island, the emergency management office said Tuesday. The county will continue to watch the storm and the potential for higher than normal tides to decide whether to evacuate those areas.
With hurricane-force winds extending 105 miles from its center, Ivan could cause significant damage no matter where it strikes. Officials ordered or strongly urged an estimated 1.9 million people in four states to flee to higher ground.
"I beg people on the coast: Do not ride this storm out," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said, urging people in other parts of the state to open their homes to relatives, friends and co-workers.
Late Tuesday, Ivan was centered about 325 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving north-northwest at 10 mph.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami posted a hurricane warning for a 300-mile swath from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans and Grand Isle in Louisiana. Forecasters said Ivan could bring a coastal storm surge of 10 to 16 feet.
About an hour away from New Orleans in Baton Rouge, I-10 West was filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Highway rest stops, convenience stores and gas stations were filled with people fleeing the storm. Some evacuees were worried about their homes being flooded and what they would find when they returned.
New Orleans, the nation's largest city below sea level, is particularly vulnerable to flooding, and Mayor Ray Nagin was among the first to urge residents to get out while they can. The city's Louis Armstrong Airport was closed Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, off western Mexico, forecasters were watching Hurricane Javier, a Category 4 storm on a northwest course out to sea. Forecasters said it was possible the storm could make a sharp turn toward the southern Baja California peninsula.
My parents are going to a reunion there in about 2 1/2 weeks. Will be interesting to see what happens.
My parents are going to a reunion there in about 2 1/2 weeks. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Cemetary graves start floating? What happens?
Save the WW II museum!
Hopefully Ivan will continue to drift westward and avoid a direct assault on N.O.
See post above. Drifting westward will only make things worse.
I am praying for our merciful Heavenly Father to weaken this storm, as there is nowhere good for it to hit.
In New Orleans the deceased are buried above-ground in mausoleums.
The biggest concern aside from flooding, or so I've been hearing, is contamination from flooded chemical plants. Floodwaters could reach twenty feet; the city could be covered in water and sewage.
KINGSTON, JAMAICA - Jamaica's prime minister urged his country to pray Thursday as the Category 4 hurricane Ivan headed toward the island nation after killing 23 people elsewhere in the Caribbean. "We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Let us pray for God's care."
Forecasters say the course of the storm has changed, veering away from the densely-populated capital, Kingston, towards the western coast.
Jamaica is starting to assess the damage to life and property on the island. There's some relief that Hurricane Ivan's course changed in the final moments, keeping the harshest winds offshore.
We need some serious praying here.
Please stay safe.
I wondered about that.
like this...
http://www.uwec.edu/Geography/Ivogeler/w188/no9.gif
(this shows the above ground tombs)
Northward. Westward would make it worse. Staying west of the hurricane is the best news so far.
I really hope this storm is kind to New Orleans. It's fascinating, weird, mysterious and intoxicating, and the food is incredible.
I've wanted to go there someday to see the WW II museum that Ambrose put together. Hope the huricane weakens.....
thanks.
Monitor this buoy:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42040
It's 64 nm South of Dauphin Island, AL. Currently Winds are
30kts, gusting to 39 from 080 True. Wave heights are 20.3 ft. It's pushing a lot of seawater right into the New Orleans area. Try
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/WestGulf_inset.shtml
for additional sites in the area.
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