Best wishes & luck to any New Orleans members...

brianleahy · #1 August 28th, 2005, 05:26 PM

Hopefully you're not reading this from your home town...

At the risk of being indelicate, hurricane Katrina has the potential to do almost unimaginable damage to New Orleans. This could be a natural disaster of historic dimensions.

Here's hoping it doesn't pan out that way, and to all members in Katrina's path, my best wishes.

**fryke** · #2 August 29th, 2005, 01:47 PM

As far as I've heard, New Orleans wasn't actually hit that hard. At least not as hard as expected... I hope it's not just other cities that get the big hits now...?

delsoljb32 · #3 August 29th, 2005, 03:31 PM

the effects of these things are very widespread. my hometown (150+ miles away from New Orleans) is getting some very damaging wind and flooding. not to mention, just under a year ago my town was battered by hurricane Ivan: Your MacOSX on-the-scene Hurricane Reporter Guy!

good luck to all in nawlins' and Biloxi, MS (the hardest hit thus far); i know what you are going through!

nixgeek · #4 August 29th, 2005, 09:12 PM

My prayers go out to the people in New Orleans and everywhere else in the path of Katrina. We here down in Miami had it at a Category 1, and even at that level it did considerable damage. NO ONE expected Katrina to make the dip to the south. Since we've gone through her, I have been saying that Katrina was a Category 1 storm with high ambitions of being a Cat 4....and now she's a Cat 5. We lost power on Thursday night and didn't get it back until Saturday afternoon. Imagine trying to sleep in 90 degree weather at night with no power in a bedroom with your 4 year old and 1 year old. For us, that was the toughest night ever. But that's nothing compared to what people are experiencing with Katrina now. It's terrifying for me to even think about it. Again, my prayers go out to everyone being affected by her now.

Thankfully, the only damage was to our gate, but others had trees on their houses and vehicles. I mean, who would have thought that a Category ONE storm would have caused six deaths? All I know is that I am NEVER going to take a Cat 1 hurricane for granted.

brianleahy · #5 August 29th, 2005, 10:32 PM

It does sound like the damage in New Orleans wasn't as bad as the worst case scenarios some were predicting (all levees collapsing, streets under 20 feet of water, etc.) Still, it hasn't been any picnic. Once again, to everyone in Katrina's path (and wake) good luck, best wishes, and may the force be with you...

nixgeek · #6 August 29th, 2005, 11:13 PM

I have just seen images on the news of what New Orleans and surrounding areas affected by Katrina went through. Oh my God....

It looked like something out of a movie. Everything inundated, even a courthouse that looked like an island as well as a hotel building that looked like a bomb blew out all of the windows.

Makes me once again realize how lucky we were despite what we went though here in Florida. God willing the fatalities are minimal.

brianleahy · #7 August 30th, 2005, 10:51 PM

The storm has come and gone, but things continue to deteriorate in New Orleans. It's starting to look to me like they may get every bit the disaster that was predicted, just over the course of several days, rather than all at once.

Two levees have been breached http://www.weathernet5.com/weather/4...ntheside=story

One surrounds a canal running through town, and connecting to Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently even under dry conditions, the water level in the canal can be above street level. Now with the lake swollen from hurricane rains, water is pouring through the breach and into the streets. The Army has been dropping huge sandbags into the gap to try and seal the breach:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/na...rtner=homepage

...but so far no luck. The pumps are starting to fail, and with the canal just emptying back into the streets, there's almost nowhere for them to pump the water INTO.

Mississippi took the most direct hit from the hurricane, and Katrina reportedly drove a 30 foot storm surge inland. The destruction there is also horrible - however unlike New Orleans, at least there the natural drainage will gradually draw some of the flood water away, instead of drawing more in!!

In Alabama, a 13,000 ton mobile oil platform was blown into Mobile Bay where it crashed into a huge and heavily used suspension bridge. The bridge is closed until the platform can be removed and the bridge inspected for damage.

http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMV/2005aug0301.html

It's an incredible mess.

**mdnky** · #8 August 30th, 2005, 11:40 PM

The governor has ordered the remaining residents of the Big Easy evacuated. The aftermath is much worse than the actual event it seems. They had a thing on the radio this afternoon about a bunch of people who tried to get back into the city this morning...got stranded by rising water on a bridge or elevated roadway.

Sad to see...the French Quarter seems to have survived the storm relatively well, but the flooding (if it continues) will probably damage it pretty bad.