here is the latest:
Senator: Slidell area likely hardest hit by Katrina
Capitol news bureau
Much of Slidell is under water and likely sustained the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina, tate Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, said Tuesday at 1 p.m.
Calling the devastation “total”, Schedler said, only slabs remain where dozens of houses were blown down and several feet of water remain in the Slidell Memorial Hospital on Gause Boulevard as well as throughout the old town area off U.S. 11.
Slidell is a suburban community of about 25,000 people northeast of New Orleans near where Interstates 10, 12 and 59 intersect in St. Tammany Parish.
Schedler was interviewed after being briefed at the state Office of Emergency Preparedness. He said he could not return to his district.
“Slidell is as bad as New Orleans east and some other areas in St. Bernard Parish,” Schedler said. “It’s a problem that will be with us for months and years.”
State Police Troop L evacuated its Slidell headquarters during the storm, set up a temporary command in a fire department, then had to flee that center, he said.
Ah God. Have mercy. We came through Slidell just two weeks ago, indeed we came down all of I-10 from Fort Walton Beach, Fl. Such lovely places, such friendly people...
God have mercy.
Fast moving thread, so I may not have time to post this later, it's early but I'll go ahead and do it now.
From Sunday morning onward, there was no power on earth to prevent New Orleans from taking a worst case scenario hit. But this goes well beyond the city of New Orleans. It goes well beyond Biloxi and Mobile and Gulf Shores.
This probably goes beyond Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
The news agencies are putting together their evening broadcasts as I type this, and if you don't already have your headspace wrapped around the fact that this event is something that most all of America will be dealing with even ten years from now, you are in for a rude awakening.
I urge preparing yourself, for these broadcasts, and for other developments over the next couple of days, because your attitude, and the attitudes of all the people around you will be a big factor in how we meet this challenge.
We lost a lot of people, we are going to lose more. We are all going to lose a lot of money, and it's going to take a nationwide effort to even begin to address what has happened here.
I'm thinking along the lies of some of Churchill's comments during the London blitz.
Stiff upper lips, we're going to need them. If you're in a position to offer strength to others, do so. If you're not, get there.