[voletti]

good news that.

Bravo, Army corps of engineers! My dad retired from the engineers corps in 2001. :-)

[nicmarlo]

Good news!!

[Paul C. Jesup]

I don't want to sound negative, and I am glad the levee is closed. But after several days, the clay foundations on the town side of the levee have been soaked thoroughly. It is possible parts of the levee will brust open as water is trying to be pumped out of New Orleans.

[dfwgator]

Bush's Fault!

[RoseofTexas]

WTH!! According to the MSMwhoresnaysayers this was going to take MONTHS!!

It's the ROVVVVVEE I tell you!

[Moonmad27]

A friend from New Orleans told me this afternoon that his family's house was right by the 17th St Canal. I hope - despite the odds - that there's something left of it.

[shield]

I guess it's good...all the damage is already done in N.O.

[patriciaruth]

In another article on this NOLA website you find:

Nagin singled out Gov. Kathleen Blanco for criticism,
saying that the governor had asked for 24 hours to
think over a decision when time was a luxury that no
one, especially refugees, had.
“When the president and the governor got here, I said,
'Mr. President, Madame Governor, you two have to get
in synch. If you don't, more people are going to die.”
Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin
said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he
had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full
day to decide.
“It would have been great if we could have walked off
Air Force One and told the world we had it all worked
out,” Nagin said. “It didn't happen, and more people
died.”

[topher]

The contractors that were shot at earlier in the day were on the way to this levee to launch barges. That was the battle where New Orleans police killed 5 New Orleans terrorists.

Now they can work on pumping some of the water out... I hope they are floating (via barge) in a number of pumps to start getting the water out...

[strongbow]

I saw live video not 30 minutes ago and they were still working on this. The newsreader said that they had only 30% restored and by my view that seems pretty accurate. What's up here?

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I have a general question I have not seen addressed. Can all this toxic water simply be pumped out into either Lake Ponchatrain or the Mississippi without doing something to purify it first, or do they simply pump away and hope it does not do any kind of damage?

[jveritas]

Great news.

[devane617]

Been wondering about repair progress. Dosen't get mentioned much on TV.

[Finalapproach29er]

My Aunt lives 2 blocks from the Lake levee (she was pulled by C.G.) She said it ruptured when it was hit by a barge!

The barge was trying to fix a bridge.

It's not Bush's fault!!

[Not A Snowbird]

What about the other breach?

[NonValueAdded]

"Buses were running (regular routes) to other places," he said. "If you own a bus company and had that many buses available, you would be out of business."

Yeah, Doc, that or a school system.

[plain talk]

My brother finally got into Harahan via River Road. Lots of tree damage but no flooding in Harahan area where he lives. No flooding even in the street. His neighbor across the street stayed during the hurricane and a tree came smashing down into his house and he had to ride out the peak of the hurricane outside holding on to whatever he could grab.

My brother said those in Harahan have til Wed to get their things and then they will not allow anyone back for 2 weeks or so. Those already there can stay but must stay inside their homes or they would be arrested. One reason for this (besides security) is for the utility companies to come in and blitz the repair work. They estimated Jefferson parish, i.e. Metairie, Kenner, Harahan would take 6-8 weeks but with a massive blitz effort and with no locals to get in the way they hope to repair the power in 2 weeks. I think this cleanup may go faster than expected - at least in many areas of N.O. Some areas may be out for months but others may be up and working much sooner than we are hearing. We'll see.

He also took the Huey P. Long bridge over to Harvey. Some areas flooded that normally flood. But for the most part the West Bank area he saw did not flood as levees held.

He saw lots of NG and firepower everywhere. Water and MREs were being made available at several stations including on West bank which we don't hear about. Those people are in a different situation. Those that stayed are sitting in the homes, many still intact, without power but have no civilization. I looked at some satellite photos of the West Bank and the West Bank Expressway is completely dead. No one is driving because there's nowhere to drive to.

[RippleFire]

bump

[F-117A]

NPR Q&A: An Update on Efforts to Drain New Orleans

[Arizona Carolyn]

Wait... didn't Mary Landrieu say they weren't working to close the breech, that the people there Friday were only there for a Bush Photo-op?