I want to apologize to everyone for my attitude. I saw a Doctor today for counsel. He seems to believe I am in the grieving process and got a little stuck in the anger phase. That feels right, so I'm thinking he knows what he's talking about. He says I haven't worked my way through the loss of a house on the coast, and alot of damage to friends, family, etc. It takes time and until I can work through some of this, I need to take time off.
A very dear friend has volunteered to be my volunteer and fill my role so noone gets let down. She has training and will do well. I'm not quiting, just taking a few steps back until I deal with my own issues. That way, everyone will get the best possible care.
Thank you for being here for me, putting up with me and giving me a chance to vent. It started a healing process for which I'll always be grateful to you all.
Nagin warned Sunday morning in issuing his evacuation order that seawater pushed by the storm's winds was expected to top the city's complex levee system, pouring water into the city's many low-lying areas -- something that hasn't happened since Betsy. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said models predicted water could be as deep as 20 feet in places, totally inundating some neighborhoods.
Yet they say they had no idea it would be this bad.
GROUND ZERO -
Superdome becomes last resort for thousands unable to leave
New Orleans braces for nightmare of the Big One
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
August 29, 2005
Author: Gordon Russell
Staff writer
Estimated printed pages: 5
As a ferocious Hurricane Katrina drew a bead on their precariously sited city and suburbs, metropolitan New Orleans residents prayed for salvation and scrambled to prepare their homes for a storm with the power to level the city and flood whole neighborhoods, struggling to get themselves, their loved ones and their neighbors to safety.
Some residents might have been predicting a close call, along the lines of last year's Hurricane Ivan, which threatened the city but then spared it serious damage. Katrina, by contrast, stubbornly hewed to the track predicted by hurricane forecasters Friday, one that aimed it straight at the Crescent City.
On Sunday at 4 p.m., National Hurricane Center Meteorologist Chris Lauer said Katrina was still on track to hit the New Orleans area as a devastating Category 5 hurricane as its eye comes ashore this morning. A computer model estimate of storm surge conducted by the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center Sunday afternoon indicates that even without waves, a Category 5 storm would flood most of eastern New Orleans, the 9th Ward, Mid-City, much of downtown and areas in St. Tammany close to Lake Pontchartrain. Kenner also will see severe flooding entering from St. Charles Parish. Areas outside the levee protection system are particularly vulnerable.
Given those factors, levees in the New Orleans area likely will be topped.
Direct hit
New Orleans has not been directly hit by a major hurricane since Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, in 1965. Although levees have been improved since then, Louisiana has lost hundreds of square miles of wetlands and barrier islands, making New Orleans, most of which lies below sea level, far more vulnerable to a devastating storm.
High-rise office and apartment buildings were likely to sway dangerously, "a few to the point of total collapse," the service said.
The National Weather Service also warned that "blown debris will create additional destruction. Persons, pets and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck."
It was impossible to get a clear sense of how many people decided to ride out the storm. City streets were eerily quiet in most areas as businesses shut down and residents cleared out. While neutral grounds around the city were full of parked cars by early afternoon, most streets were nearly devoid of traffic, though the occasional pedestrian or bicyclist could be seen.
In a somewhat surreal morning news conference, Mayor Ray Nagin issued an emergency order giving state and local authorities the right to commandeer private buildings and vehicles -- including boats -- as they see fit. The mayor did not say which buildings might be seized for public use, but said that if the Superdome became too full, additional buildings might be needed for shelter.
Nagin also said the city has 30 boats at its disposal, but could need far more, depending on the water level in the city after the storm.
After the storm
While officials were mostly concerned about preparing for the storm's impact, there already was discussion of its aftermath.
Dan Packer, CEO of Entergy New Orleans, said extra crews from other areas Entergy serves already are in the area, ready to begin repairs to what the company expects will be devastating storm damage.
The storm "may destroy the electrical distribution system in New Orleans and a good part of southeast Louisiana," he said. Packer said it may take weeks or months to rebuild the system.
Like Packer, the weather service warned of likely devastating power outages that could last for weeks, with power poles down and transformers destroyed. Most trees, the service predicted, would be snapped or uprooted; the heartiest, if they survive, would be stripped of all leaves.
The service also warned of devastation to buildings.
"At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure," the service warned. "All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed."
As the city prepared to go into the bunker Sunday, airlines shut down their operations at Louis Armstrong International Airport and a Carnival cruise ship scheduled to end a one-week voyage in New Orleans was diverted to Galveston, Texas.
Officials in Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. Tammany parishes called for mandatory evacuations of all or portions of these parishes.
Even Jefferson Parish, considered a more affluent and mobile community than New Orleans, opened three shelters of last resort Sunday afternoon at Bonnabel High School in Kenner, Stella Worley Middle School in Westwego and Truman Middle School in Marrero.
Jefferson also used public transportation to pick up residents and take them to the shelters.
"Let's hope and pray," said parish President Aaron Broussard at an afternoon news conference from the West Bank Emergency Operations Center.
Although the newly developed contraflow plan was executed much more smoothly than in last year's debut, motorists still complained of slow going.
A Dome divided
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of less fortunate Orleanians, many of whom lack access to cars, hustled to the Superdome, the "shelter of last resort" that was opened to the public by city officials Sunday at noon. Nagin, who imposed a 6 p.m. curfew, warned residents not to expect comfortable conditions inside the Dome, saying power outages could last for days.
The Dome was set up as a divided safe haven, with one side of the facility for the disabled and medically ill, where food and water and emergency personnel were plentiful, officials said. For the masses of residents, however, there was the other side, where all that was provided was a concrete stadium built for athletes and spectators.
While conditions in the Dome were far from ideal, many locals waiting in the long line that circled Poydras Street were not complaining that their city had no more to offer them.
"It's a safe haven," said Lee Andrews, 47, who accompanied his wife, Stephanie, and her sister and her sister's five children. "You can't expect to have everything."
Elsewhere around the city, for a few foolhardy souls -- the number was hard to gauge, but it appeared relatively small -- getting safe meant locking the doors and hoping that the vicious winds and high waters Katrina was expected to bring wouldn't prove fatal.
Among them was Dan Fuller, a74-year-old artist that lives in his studio in Mid-City. Sunday afternoon, Fuller was rolling a suitcase down Canal Street, returning from an unsuccessful stint of hitchhiking at the intersection of Interstate 10 and City Park Avenue.
"I thought I would hitchhike and just count on people's generosity, but I can't say if they were generous or not -- all their cars were full," he said.
Nagin warned Sunday morning in issuing his evacuation order that seawater pushed by the storm's winds was expected to top the city's complex levee system, pouring water into the city's many low-lying areas -- something that hasn't happened since Betsy. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said models predicted water could be as deep as 20 feet in places, totally inundating some neighborhoods.
Such a doomsday scenario could result in thousands of deaths, depending on factors ranging from the storm's intensity when it hits the city and the number of people who evacuated.
At Memorial Hospital, employees streamed into the facility with cats and dogs and pillow in tow, taking advantage of the stout Napoleon Avenue institution's long-standing practice of providing a hurricane refuge to its workers and their pets.
Even as the window for evacuation began to slam shut, some Orleanians were making the decision to get out.
As an RTA bus prepared to take another load of residents to the Dome, a family of nine pulled up in a faded blue Ford pickup, with Eddie Mason driving. The back was packed with children along with clothes, blankets and other essentials.
"I think we'll be there three or four days," Mason said. "But then again, I think we might be spared. I really do. I just keep thinking it can't be as bad as they been saying it's going to be."
You take care of yourself. Your anger is understandable in a situation like this. I am glad you are getting some help right now. My prayers.