Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part IX

NOAA - NHC and Various ^ | 29 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Katrina made landfall today at 6:10AM CDT, and she continues to drive northward into Mississippi and Alabama. Several local radar sites are down. Tornado and flash flood watches and warnings are widespread.

President Bush has declared major disaster areas, clearing the way for federal aid.

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

Wind Speed Data

Images:

Birmingham AL Radar

Mobile Long Range Radar Loop

Memphis Radar

Montgomery AL Long Range Radar

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

Other Resources:

Birmingham AL Weather
Meridian MS Weather (Radar down at this time)
Jackson MS Weather (Radar down at this time)

Hurricane Katrina NOLA Photos

Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII
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

[bayourant]

I know the feeling I am fighting it too, I didnt sleep at all last night

[flaglady47]

I know the feeling I am fighting it too, I didnt sleep at all last night

Try counting sheep (hehehe).

[bayourant]

To reapeat there is no 200 foot breach pouring the entire lake into nola they are talking about the 17 street canal that is being refered to as a levee. It does connect with the lake buts its not this mammoth hole on the levee thats widening by the second thats the reason the national guard wasnt frightened as the cnn guy

[justa-hairyape]

Actually, the floodwaters from the Midwest won't add much, as there are locks in place that allow the Mississippi to flow into the Atchafalaya River if necessary.

It may be too late now to do much good for New Orleans. They should have lowered the Mississippi before the Hurricane hit. The question now is 'how high will the flood levels eventually reach'.

[John Jamieson]

Sorry, I still don't understand. Where is water coming from and why?

[bayourant]

Now i getting confused that wasnt much of a clarification that the Corp gavelet me clarify with some other source but i am pretty sure its nots a open 200 ft hole that flooding all of nola us louisiana;s arent to swift but we smarter than that to wait to check on it at 7 in the morning. I think they are refering to the canal

[John Jamieson]

I would think the canal would be below the lake level and pumps would be used to pump water into the lake. No flow would go the other way???

[dandelion]

Check out http://www.nola.com - they have the story and they are VERY concerned...

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08.html#074994

"Levee breach floods Lakeview, Mid-City, Carrollton, Gentilly, City Park
By Doug MacCash
and James O’Byrne
Staff writers

A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north. The breach sent a churning sea of water coursing across Lakeview and into Mid-City, Carrollton, Gentilly, City Park and neighborhoods farther south and east."...

..."The effect of the breach was instantly devastating to residents who had survived the fiercest of Katrina’s winds and storm surge intact, only to be taken by surprise by the sudden deluge. And it added a vast swath of central New Orleans to those already flooded in eastern New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes."...

[RedStateWarrior]

Well.. the hospital VP on CNN stated that water was rushing down Canal Street as a result of this leak. So we can conclude that it's getting from the Lake into the city somehow.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Fox and Friends is on the air now, and (finally) covering the breach story.

[kingu]

The canal is below the lake level but above ground level and is where a lot of water gets dumped when they're trying to drain other parts of the city.. IE: the western portion of the city dumps into that canal, with the breach, the western portion can't pump without putting in more water into the eastern portion.

Effectively, half of the water pumped out of the western portion of the city since the hurricane started pouring rain down is now flowing into the eastern portion (downtown area). The Corps aren't in panic mode because they need the daylight to move heavy machinery through a town with thousands of fallen trees, downed power lines and other debris. At least this is my take on all of this - your mileage may vary.

[bayourant]

def it comes from the lake but its a manmade canal its going to cause flooding but thats relative. Its like when there is a headline that Nagin says 80% of nola under water. Well that doesnt mean you can just run all over nola in a boat. In most cases that could be a couple of feet at the most but still be classified asunderwater or flooded. We know this. that the french quarter does not require a boat neither does the cbd. Uptown is not requiring a boat alot of this is in the ninthh ward and nola east Thats alot but that doesnt comprise 80 percent of nola that is requiring boats to travel in

[John Jamieson]

I wonder if somebody screwed up?

BURK KLEINPETER, INC. (BKI ) was selected by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to prepare the preliminary and final plans for the construction of a new 850-CFS drainage pumping station designed to reduce flooding on Interstate 10 in New Orleans. The new pump station is designed to keep the interstate from flooding during even a 100-year flood event. The pumping station consists of three 72" vertical pumps and one 48" vertical pump. Flood waters are pumped over land through four steel pipes and across the levee into the 17th Street Canal.In order to collect the storm water and transport it to the pumping station, the existing subsurface drainage system was replaced with a new collection system. The new drainage system is made up of 2,000 linear feet of 84" concrete pipe and various trench drains and catch basins to intercept the storm water, as well as a new 1,200-foot long intake canal consisting of two 8.5-foot by 10-foot concrete box culverts.The approximate total construction cost was more than $18 million.

[John Jamieson]

See post 2453. Did someone try to put 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag?

[kingu]

Did someone try to put 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag?

Off subject, but I thought I'd note you can very clearly see these pipes and the pumping station on Google Earth (610/10 interchange).. Back on topic. Obviously, this is what the end result was. Looking at Google, I see a lot of huge trees next to the concrete clad earthen levee. I'd hazard a guess that those trees were blown over, the gap where the roots were (and the pulling of the roots) weakened the earth backing of the levee, and when they started pumping all the water into the canal, they created enough pressure to destroy it.

Just making a guess here, but that seems to me to be the likely scenario. Especially if the break turns out to be between 18th street and 14th street.

[Amelia]

I'd hazard a guess that those trees were blown over, the gap where the roots were (and the pulling of the roots) weakened the earth backing of the levee, and when they started pumping all the water into the canal, they created enough pressure to destroy it.

In Georgia, we're told not to have trees on earthen dams for just that reason.

[kingu]

They tell us the same thing in California, but we're also talking about a rather densely settled city and those trees are in backyards of homes. If this does indeed turn out to be the reason, I hope that they go through and deforest the entire levee system there.

Anyway, off to bed I go.

[don-o]

On WLW radio the announcer said his neighborhood fared well during the hurricane, but now the water is three feet and rising.

Said choppers constantly in the air plucking folks from roofs. Said that the bridge to Slidell had been completely under water during the surge and that part of it is gone.

Said that a water tower in Slidell is gone.

Hope someone can monitor this station, because they are taking phone calls and passing on real information.

[bwteim]

Had to get some sleep!
I agree, it is the unknowing that is probably the worst for most.

[LikeLight]

Listening to the Mayor late last night was amazing . . . he seems totally overwhelmed and helpless . . . like if you or I woke up and found out we were Mayor of New Orleans . . . we might be nice people, even fairly smart, but totally ill prepared to lead the city out of the biggest crisis ever . . . he seems like a passive observer, rather than a knowledgeable disaster manager . . . maybe he'd make a great neighbor, but he's in over his head . . .