Posted on 08/30/2005 4:17:24 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
NEW ORLEANS - The historic city of New Orleans was steadily filling with water from nearby Lake Ponchartrain today after its defenses were breached by the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina.
Water began rising in the streets this morning after a levee broke along a canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain, and many of the pumps relied upon by New Orleans -- built below sea level -- have failed.
Officials planned to use helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags into the breach, but rising floodwaters were threatening the French Quarter, residents were plucked from the roofs of their homes, bodies were seen floating in the streets and rescuers searched the city in boats and helicopters.
Portions of the Interstate 10 high-rise bridge over the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain east of New Orleans have collapsed. Another bridge, the causeway running across the middle of the lake, has structural damage, and engineers are inspecting U.S. 11, which also crosses the lake, to determine if it is structurally sound.
"We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet. Both airports are underwater,'' Mayor Ray Nagin told a radio interviewer.
New Orleans, a city that usually throbs with the life of its carnivals and the sound of jazz and blues, was in a "state of devastation,'' Nagin said.
Much of New Orleans, a city of some 500,000, lies in a bowl below sea level, bounded by the lake and the Mississippi River, which curves along the south of the city before discharging in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We always were afraid the bowl that is New Orleans would fill quickly,'' Walter Maestri, emergency management coordinator for Jefferson Parish, said in a radio interview.
"The water is rising so fast I cannot begin to describe how quickly it's rising,'' Tulane University Medical Center Vice President Karen Troyer-Caraway told CNN. "We have whitecaps on Canal Street, the water is moving so fast.''
The downtown hospital was surrounded by 6 feet of water and considering evacuating its 1,000 patients.
The New Orleans VA Medical Center began to evacuate this morning after the floodwaters disrupted its generators, endangering patients on ventilators.
"The devastation is greater than our worst fears,'' Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said in a news conference. "It's totally overwhelming.''
Weather experts had predicted the city would be quickly overwhelmed by the impact of Katrina, which tore across the coast on Monday, but initially damage appeared less than catastrophic.
By today, however, the full impact was clear as the water rose and overwhelmed pumps, part of an elaborate system of walls, canals and other devices built to protect the city from just such a disaster.
Fears grew about pollution, with the water believed to be carrying sewage, spilled fuel and other pollutants from residential and commercial districts inundated in the flood.
Reporters said there was waist-high water round the Superdome, the huge covered football stadium near downtown New Orleans that had been used as an emergency evacuation center for thousands of residents.
Local television showed people and dogs sitting on rooftops, the houses below them invisible in brackish water. A hand was visible through a window in a house surrounded by chest-high water.
One man was seen using an ice chest as a flotation device. Another clung to metal scaffolding to escape the deluge, which ironically occurred in sunshine and blue skies today.
No deaths were officially confirmed, but Nagin said bodies were seen floating.
State Sen. Ann Duplessis, who owns a home in eastern New Orleans, said she had reports from neighbors in the gated Eastover subdivision of bodies floating in the floodwaters.
Officials went on television to urge people not to try to return to their homes yet. "You need to get used to where you're at right now because this may take us some time.'' said U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal.
"There will be neighborhoods where people just can't get back into their homes for weeks, if not months," said Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Even if they wanted to, New Orleans residents would have a difficult time just getting back to their hometown.
Much of Interstate 10 is closed on either side of New Orleans. Some sections of Lake Ponchartrain's I-10 twin span — a lifeline between the south and north shores of the lake — are missing; others have shifted position but are still standing.
"We know that the I-10 twin span has blown over, is no longer with us," said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
"This will be the story for some time to come,"said Lt. Lawrence J. McLeary, spokesman for the Louisiana State Police.
Many roads and highways south and north of New Orleans are either flooded and impassable or have been closed by state police to keep people from entering damaged areas until emergency workers can rescue stranded residents and other crews can make damage assessments.
Blanco said 700 people had been rescued so far, but she said it was still too early to count the casualties.
"We have no counts whatsoever," she said, "but we know many lives have been lost."
I sure don't know the mayor from Adam. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt. It may be that the guy was simply exhausted. To prepare for a disaster of Katrina's scale is not a 8 hour a day task. You can bet he was working with other agencies both within and outside of the city to plan and coordinate responses around the clock.
Emergency management can only go so far. In the end people still have to take action to save themselves, their family and their homes. The city can not do it for them. All the city can do is issue evacuation orders, provide shelters, help special needs citizens and launch search and rescue in the aftermath.
I'm sorry that your relatives have had to go through this. I have no idea how to contact them. Just about every possible modern convenience or necessity is unavailable in the aftermath of such a devastating hurricane. You may have to wait for them to call you from a public pay telephone.
I remember back in 1970 after Hurricane Celia, the electricity was out for about 10 days, and the phones were out for a comparable period. Even with a generator to provide electricity there was no point in trying to watch TV, because all the TV stations were off the air. When my family went to Port Aransas to check on our condo, we had to use the ferry, because the southern route from Corpus Christi was not passable due to bridges being out. Once on the island we could not leave till we had typhoid shots. That hurricane had incredible winds. The annemometer at Corpus Christi Interantional Airport recorded 180 mph winds before it blew apart. It was estimated we had winds over 200 mph. There was tremendous wind damage, but fortunately no excessive storm surge as it hit during low tide. Ever since Hurricane Celia, I have vowed never to stay during a hurricane again.
Take care, and lem'me know when you make contact. If there is anything I can do for her, don't hesitate.
The fact that bodies in New Orleans are entombed and not buried will also add to the toxic mix. It may also be difficult for recovery workers to distinguish between those who died in the storm and those less recent dead. This was a problem after Camille.
There is a very big potential for an epidemic. I hope the public health sector is prepared.
I'm not going to eat you. I was interested to find out that NO was not below sea level when it was first built. It has been sinking. I think that made me feel better about it's beginnings.
And therein lies the problem.....Heads should roll.
Thanks for the heads up and the information.
"It's just a very bad location to put a city."
It's a bad location the way the low ground level is now to rebuild a NEW city. The right kind of innovative engineering over the next twenty years could redesign the grounds and barriers and not have it so crammed full of structures.
The last good location for a large population along the Mississippi River
is probably Baton Rouge
.......
What ever works, make it workable.
""The devastation is greater than our worst fears,'' Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said in a news conference. "It's totally overwhelming.''
Another liberal leader! Must be related to a Klinton or Kennedy. What a weak person. It is totally overwhelming? What an a$$hole! How freekin motivating. Why not call for Auntie Em?
And now you get to see the fine voters of N.O. at work looting and shooting police officers. You get what you ask for!!!
Take the a$$hole governor with him. What a pathetic pair!!!!!!!
Oh, she's "heartbroken", too. That's what you get from Dem women.
Cry me a river...never mind.
I can't say; environmental engineering isn't my forte. I design things that move dirt, not things made of it. :)
you wrote:
"Take the a$$hole governor with him. What a pathetic pair!!!!!!!"
I watched her "performance" on Larry King tonight..good grief..she tried to blame the AIRLINES for not moving people out of NO!! She has to be a liberal nutter! AGAIN..IF THE LA DEMS CAN BUS PEOPLE BY THE THOUSANDS TO THE POLLS ON ELECTION DAY>>WHY THE HELL COULD THEY NOT BUS THEM OUT TO SAVE THEIR LIVES ON SATURDAY WHEN A CAT 5 HURRICANE WAS BARRELLING TOWARDS THE BIG EASY?
I watched report tonight where many of these folks in NO said they were told buses were coming for them and they NEVER CAME!!
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