Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII

NOAA - NHC ^ | 28 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on the North Central Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans metro area. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin conceded that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport. At this hour, people are still filing into the Superdome after security screening for weapons and contraband. National Guard have brought in 360,000 MRE (meals ready to eat) to feed the estimated 30,000 storm refugees in the Superdome.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track
Navy Storm Track
Katrina Track Forecast Archive Nice loop of each NHC forecast track for both three and five day
Forecast Models
Alternate Hurricane Models via Skeetobite
Bouy Data Louisiana/Mississippi
Buoy Data Florida

Images:

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Experimental Radar Subject to delays and outages - and well worth the wait

Mobile Long Range Radar Loop

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Radar

Ft. Polk, LA Long Range Radar Loop

Northwest Florida Long Range Radar

Storm Floater IR Loop
Storm Floater Still & Loop Options
Color Enhanced IR Loop

Other Resources:

Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12

Hurricane Wind Risk Very informative tables showing inland wind potential by hurricane strength and forward motion
Central Florida Hurricane Center
New Orleans Web Cams Loads of web cam sites here. The sites have been very slow due to high traffic
New Orleans Music Online Couldn't resist--love that jazz
Golden Triangle Weather Page Nice Beaumont weather site with lots of tracks and graphics
Hurricane City
Crown Weather Tropical Website Offers a variety of storm info, with some nice track graphics

Live streaming:

Fully-linked version of the live feeds (just in case a few people don't want to first open up WMP to cut-and-paste) -

WWL-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wwltv
WVTM-TV/DT Birmingham (WMP) - mms://a1256.l1289835255.c12898.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/

1256/12898/v0001/reflector:35255
WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38202.asx
Hurricane City (Real Player) - http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram
ABCNews Now (Real Player) - http://reallive.stream.aol.com/ramgen/redundant/abc/now_hi.rm
WKRG-TV/DT

Mobile (WMP) - mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast

.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518 WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans via WESH-TV/DT Orlando - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

[rogue yam]

Here are a couple of answers:

First, why on earth would anybody build a city BELOW sea level?

New Orleans is located where it is because of the desire to have a port near the mouth of a very important river. All of the land in this area is very low-lying. To locate the port further up-river was impractical in the era of sailing vessels.

Finally, what the hell are levees and how did they come about?

Levees are earthen dams that separate water from dry land. They are built by human beings to control flooding. Like every other human creation, they have a capacity. When that capacity is exceeded, they fail. Yes, you can walk on them.

It also occurs to me that NO must be a city filled with homeless and the poor.

N.O. is extraordinarily poor. I once saw it listed as the third-poorest American city (over a certain size) after Detroit and Laredo, Texas. N.O. has far more rich people than either of these two, which gives you an idea of how many dirt-poor people there are (and how small the middle class is) in N.O.

[NautiNurse]

The best news is that it will be dawn in just a few hours. Much easier to address any emergencies during the daylight hours.

[Ellesu]

True, rain here, but that's it so far.

[NautiNurse]

Do you have any family members who stayed in NO?

[newzjunkey]

Well if you're going to be asking the rest of America to pay for it with billions in tax dollars, I think some deep and careful consideration has to be given to a cost/benefit analysis irrespective of the whims of emotional attachments. Let Louisiana float bonds to rebuild its "crown jewel" but that won't happen. Already at the press conferences the politicians have whined about the need to get the rest of America to rebuild its wetlands to help protect it from future storm surges.

It won't be the same place no matter how it is rebuilt if such rebuilding is needed.

[FreedomPoster]

But coming ashore at dawn is good, from the standpoint that it minimizes the effect of solar heating pumping up the storm.

[Earthdweller]

My goodness....1,982 replies. Looks like not many can sleep from worrying about all the folks down there. Have you been up all night covering this?

[colorado tanker]

There everything is BUSH'S FAULT isn't it????

3000 years ago people might have thought a hurricane was the result of sinful behavior. Now, it's the result of offending the god of global warming. Yep, we've come a long way.

[newzjunkey]

You didn't leave??

[Ellesu]

No, they all got out early. Which is the most important thing. It's just a city, but when it's your grandparent's home, other relatives, it is upsetting to know when they go back they may only have a slab. However they live in Metarie, so we will just have to wait and see how extensive damage is.

[NautiNurse]

It's a lot easier to deal with storm fears during daylight. There is absolutely nothing worse than the roar of a hurricane in complete darkness.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Re: "And why is New Orleans below sea level? The city is a "bowl" as I understand it."

New Orleans was not originally below sea level, it was right on the river... However as time went by and levees were built, this caused the Mississippi to run deeper and faster so as the levees grew in height, New Orleans began to sink somewhat... They call it subsidence (sp?), I believe... AS water is taken out, the land sinks...

My Dad was also the Project Manager on the Lynchburg pump substation and system (Across from the Battleship Texas SW of Houston) in the early 1970s when he passed away. Houston has subsidence (sp?) problems...

[Ellesu]

No, I'm in Baton Rouge.

[kingu]

I heard or read something earlier in the night that said due to settling some of the levee walls are only 10ft. high in some places.

The mayor of NO said that on WWL earlier today during an interview.

[NautiNurse]

The crews from all over the nation are just up the road to assist as soon as the storm is over. Let's just focus on the next few hours.

[newzjunkey]

Never mind my unhinged questioning at <"http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1472563/posts?page=1960#1960">1960 I've been at this computer too long. I need to get some food in me before I lose it.

Will be back. Great work so far!

[colorado tanker]

New Orleans is one of the great American places.

This news makes me profoundly sad.

[Ellesu]

True. Thanks.

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks... I couldn't remember where I had heard it, but it stuck with me cause it was quite a shocking thing. With all the theorizing on what could happen if a storm like this were to hit New Orleans it's a real shame they didn't build up the levee system over the last half-a-century or so...