Yes! I see it! Maybe it's Aslan and Franklin? If it were the Virgin Mary, it would be for sale on eBay.
Posted on 08/28/2005 3:53:54 PM PDT by BJungNan
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation Sunday for all of New Orleans, a city sitting below sea level with 485,000 inhabitants, as Hurricane Katrina bore down with wind revving up to nearly 175 mph and threats of a massive storm surge.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave before the eye of the storm strikes land sometime Monday morning, the city set up 10 places of last resort including the Superdome.
``This is a once in a lifetime event,'' Mayor Ray Nagin said. ``The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly.''
The mayor said a direct hit by Katrina's storm surge would likely top the levees that protect the city from the surrounding water of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out even during normal times, and the hurricane threatened electricity that runs the pumps.
``We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared,'' Nagin said.
President Bush urged people living in the path of Katrina to take the storm extremely seriously and follow orders to evacuate to higher ground. A day after declaring an emergency for Louisiana, Bush declared an emergency for the state of Mississippi and pledged federal support.
``We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities,'' Bush told reporters on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
mandatory last 18 hours, voluntary 24 hours before that.
NO has had many, many false alarms in the last 50 years, and they are reluctant to force the city evacuated until they are at least semi-sure.
Already, there are stupid people saying they are gonna stay, cause they have heard this all before.
It is easy to sharpshoot decisions, isn't it?
Yeah...and I heard that Bush actually had to call them to ask for a mandatory evacuation.
Nothing to worry about. If Katrina does create a catastrophe in New Orleans, the MSM will say it's Bush's fault that the evacuation was not done quickly enough.
More like 24 hours before landfall.
Still, I think the emergency prep will seem like a joke in a couple of days. In Florida, facing muchg less severe storms,the interstates have been converted to one way on both sides of the median.
N.O. has no plans to evacuate the poor. In Florida, that's not such a big deal, since many structures are strong enough to serve as shelters. In a city that's likely to be under water, shelters aren't enough.
Yes! I see it! Maybe it's Aslan and Franklin? If it were the Virgin Mary, it would be for sale on eBay.
I doubt the plight of tourists was the #1 problem in the Mayor's mind the last few days ~ here he is facing the total destruction of his city in a disaster of Biblical proportions, and some tourist forgot to hitch a ride.
I can't put a name to the face, but the nose has been punched by a lefty. I just pray for those in the path.
In any case, mandatory or not, with the most powerful hurricane in history bearing down on the city, only fools would argue about whether they needed to leave town!
The levees keeps water OUT of N.O.. If it fails, the water goes into N.O., not out of it.
You can't pump the levees, they bar the ocean from going into the city.
I expect the first mass Darwin Award to be given out over the next week.
I wonder what the media would be saying if Mayor Nagin had been a Republican...
No doubt!
Hope that all in New Orleans came through this ok.
But the place does need a bath.
Effects of the storm -- any hydrolic engineers out there who can comment on whether or not this storm will re-route the Mississippi down the Atchafalaya \ Old River? According a documentary that I saw recently, the only reason that the Mississippi still runs through New Orleans is that the Corps of Engrs has been preventing flow since the 1950s from going down the shorter path of the Atchafalaya.
I realize that not everyone keeps up with the news/weather the way I do but once Katrina entered the Gulf its time to change travel plans to that part of the world.....
I think you're right. Aslan and Benjamin are in the eye of the storm. Do you think there is some hidden message there?
Thanks, I knew the city was below level. I was just wondering if you could have lowered the levee and pumped out to the ocean.
Actually, the ordered mandatory evacuations today about 11:30 a.m.
After Bush told the LA governor to do it.
And they closed that at 4 p.m. today.
Levees are big ol' hills. You must have been thinking of the sumps, canals and sluices.
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