Katrina Live Thread, Part XI

Various ^ | 30 August 2005 | Various

[NautiNurse]

The situation in New Orleans continues to deteriorate due to rising water levels and desperation. Search and rescue continues via boat and air. Authorities have announced the goal to evacuate all the remaining residents of NOLA. The New Orleans Mayor has reported numerous gas leaks throughout the city. Sporadic fires occurring. Attempts to evacuate hundreds of hospital patients from Charity Hospital and Tulane Medical Center are in process. Patients are being transported to other hospitals as far away as Florida.

The Army Corps of Engineers is at the NOLA levee breaks with current plans to drop 3000 lb sand bags in an effort to stop the flow of water. NOLA hospital evacuations continue for thousands of patients. Reports indicate all evacuees are being taken to the SuperDome, which is now surrounded by water. The generators at the Dome are now in jeopardy. The Governor of Louisiana has called for a day of prayer tomorrow...

Elsewhere, search and rescue continue in Mississippi and Alabama. Biloxi reports indicate catastrophic damage.

Links to various news and local government websites:

WLOX TV Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagula has link to locate family and friends (very slow load)

2theAdvocate - Baton Rouge Includes Slidell, St. John Parish, St. Bernard Parish updates, and other locations.

NOLA.com

Inside Houma Today needing boats, volunteers, lists gas station openings, water, etc.

WALA Channel 4 Mobile, AL Includes links to distribution centers, Emergency Ops, etc.

Sun-Herald Gulfport MS Includes link to town by town reports

Gulfport News via Topix.net

WAFB Baton Rouge

Mobile Register via al.com

Mississippi updates via Jackson Ledger

Lafayette LA Daily Advertiser

Pensacola News Journal

St Bernard Local Government

Streaming Video:
WWL-TV (via KHOU/Houston): http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/bi/video/makeadplaylist.pl?title=beloint_khou&live=yes

WKRG/Mobile: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518

WDSU/New Orleans via WAPL/Jackson: mms://a842.l1291238841.c12912.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/842/12912/v0001/reflector:38841

All are Windows Media Player links.

Related FR Threads:

FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread

Discussion Thread - Hurricane Katrina - What Went Wrong?!?

Post Hurricane Katrina IMAGES Here

Looting Begins In New Orleans

Martial Law Declared in New Orleans

Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.

www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.

Previous Threads:

Katrina Live Thread, Part X
Katrina Live Thread, Part IX
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

[kingu]

Blow LP dam to drain most of the city.

Umm.. What LP dam are you talking about? The lake free flows into the ocean - I've checked the sat images - there's no dam between the lake and the ocean. If you're talking about the barriers between the city and the lake, the lake is presently above 'sea level' and is the major cause of the flooding in New Orleans at the moment.

[kingu]

Current 5.11 feet about 4 feet increase from gulf surge going over the dam backwards. Blow the dam and LP goes to 0.

That was the last reading on Aug 28th when the gage was broken.. The COE said in a press conference last night that it is presently 'unknown' as to the exact height of the lake because they have no gages to read the level since all of them were lost in the hurricane.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Plan for coping with levee break: patch, then pump***..................."It's a flood wall embedded in the earthen embankment," he said. "It began to stress [Monday] and ... cantilevered out of the levee." Then the dirt around it washed out and collapsed.

The rushing water tore 4 to 6 feet into the embankment, then cascaded the remaining 10 to 15 feet to the street, said Jeffrey Jensen, flood control program manager for the corps at its Washington headquarters.

Engineers hope the water gushing through the levee will slow or stop once the water in Lake Pontchartrain recedes to pre-storm levels and below the level of the breach.

"It's not subsiding as much as we'd hoped," Jensen said.

The Corps' plan to dump rocks or containers of sand into the gap from the air is a variation on what Stockton described as the standard procedure for mending a levee.

"You typically go in and start dumping large rocks or boulders to slow the flow of water down, which will slow the amount of erosion taking place," he said.

Smaller rocks, gravel and sand can then be poured in to seal the break. Sometimes a temporary ring levee is built outside the breach, often on higher ground where access is easier and the water flow slower.

Access to a levee break can be a problem. Some levees are designed to support truck traffic, but not this one. Barges are better if they can be moved close enough without being drawn into the gap.

"We're working on whether we can get a barge up there," Hecker said. "That's difficult due to the relatively narrow width of the canal."

Once the leak is plugged, the corps will turn to pumping.

The city's 22 drainage pumps can't do it fast enough on their own, so the Corps is prepared to bring in high-volume portable pumps to assist if the Federal Emergency Management Agency calls for them.

It would take "days or weeks" to drain the floodwater to a point where the city's pumping stations could operate again, Stockton said. Some pockets of water could remain for months.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of homes and businesses are steeping in seawater, sewage and other waste. ...............***

[John Jamieson]

I can't find any control structure. Maybe the lake just does it own thing.

[backhoe]

It would take "days or weeks" to drain the floodwater to a point where the city's pumping stations could operate again, Stockton said.

A couple of quotes I found on other posts sum it up well:

"The 'Big Easy' is now the 'Big Nasty.' "
... It's like The Day After Tomorrow, Dawn of the Dead, and Escape From L.A. all rolled into one...

[John Jamieson]

You're probably right. I couldn't find the "dam" either.

Sorry

[Rebelbase]

Found this: It shows the back corner (green line) being open marsh. The protective wall(more like a fill bulkhead) outlined in red/pink is there to keep tidal surges out of the lake. I'm guessing the flooded areas to the south of the lake are what is backing up the flow.

This area by nature drains very, very slowly. I don't know that blowing the bulkhead would speed up the process that much faster but it would definitely lead to more disaster later on when storm surges could enter the lake unimpeded over a wider swath than they can now.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-206/geology/sepontchartrain.html

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Facing impossible challenges in times like this, bring stories of heroes and acts of kindness that pull us together and remind us what it means to be Americans.

[John Jamieson]

It would be easy to fix after it's removed and the levels equalize. Good find. I'll study it some more.

I assume black line is concrete or steel?

[backhoe]

Facing impossible challenges in times like this, bring stories of heroes and acts of kindness that pull us together and remind us what it means to be Americans.

Cincy, despite all the bad news, I have faith in America, and Americans-- we'll sort this stuff out, and deal with it.

We take care of our own.

[Trust but Verify]

Ok, what's taking so long?

[John Jamieson]

Looks to me like it still could widened quickly and repaired later.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Eric Schweinsberg hits a golf ball he found while looking at the destroyed homes and businesses along Market Street in Pass Christian, Miss. AJC photo

[Right_in_Virginia]

Just wondering: Has Jim Cantore from TWC been heard from?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Advice for choosing a charity

GULFPORT , Miss - Elvin Duckworth, left, Jonathan Harvey, center, and Leonard Harvey paddle a row boat through a flooded street.

MOSS POINT, Miss Residents make their way to safety through flood waters that swept through low lying areas.

• For information about what roads are passable in Louisiana, you can call the State Police Road Closure Hot Line at 1-800-469-4828 or click on ww.ohsep.louisiana.gov/ evacinfo/rdclosureindex.htm.

• To find out about conditions in your home parish, you can find a listing of homeland security and emergency preparedness offices and telephone numbers at www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/Parish/parishoepnumbers.htm.

Houston area help

[cajungirl]

My husband thinks the scale is at the wrong place and the minus 10 should be 0. We really don't know

[cajungirl]

The Mississippi doesn't have dams exactly. Its normal direction of flow would not be what it is if there had not been active projects to keep it from changing its flow which it has done at times. If the Miss had been left to its devices and nature, it would be exiting into the gulf at Morgan City {or at least that is what I was taught}. Left to nature and no levees the miss would periodically flood miles around with rich soil.

But I think the current NO situation is not due to the Mississippi unless we are not being told.

But the short answer is the Miss is flowing now as it has done,,,the spillways are for overflow if the Miss threatens to flood via levee breakage. They were used sometime in the last 10 or 12 years,,we all drove down to see the spillway opened and it was impressive.

[GOP_Proud]

Can someone post a good live stream link for Katrina coverage? I'm cubicle bound today. I keep looking for the links from the first page of the threads but nothing is showing up.

Thanks

[Abby4116]

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad

[mhking]

WWL-TV: http://www.khou.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad

WDSU-TV: http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx

WPMI-TV: http://www.wpmi.com/mediacenter/default.aspx?videoId=113739

WKRG-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518

WTOK-TV (follow the link on the home page): http://www.wtok.com/

WJTV-TV: mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95563

Gulf Coast Storm Network (radio): http://www.stormalert.net/main.html#