V-Flyer

This one is looking real bad. Turned into a cat 5 hurricane. The forecaster reckon that if it follows the track it seems to be doing downtown New Orleans will be under 20 FEET of water
Click for link


{preiffer - edited to clean up link}

It looks just a tad scary when you take a look at this link. By the way, does anyone know if/how it affected VS MIA flights?

Just been watching the CNN report. This looks mighty serious.

New Orleans is, on average, 6ft under sea level. The water level is expected to reach up to 28ft above sea level at current projections. -6ft + 28ft spells a disaster for the city.

I can only hope Hurricane Katrina either changes direction or looses intensity - and also hope those in the area have had enough warning to get out.

Pete

They had a guy on who was saying that many of the deaths last time were not due to the winds, rains or flooding, the people made it to the higher ground, but............................
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So did the poisenous snakes, who had to get away from the salt water![:0][:0][:0]

There's been a mandatory evacuation notice posted and apparently this hurricane is the 4th most powerful atlantic hurricane in recorded history![:0]

Reading CNN they say a cat 5 has never hit New Orleans directly, there's a chap forecasting that waves in the lake could pummel the levees down leaving flood water, mixed with chemicals and oil from the refineries along the river, upto 28 ft high throughout the old city.

Could be devastating but we'll know in a few hours, since it's forecast to hit at 1100 GMT.

We may moan about our weather but thank god we don't have to suffer what the people of Florida do.

Just watched an update on KRON4 news over here. New Orleans residents are (understandably) in a severe state of panic.

According to Nola.com, there have already been casualties, due to the evacuation itself: three died in a nursing home.

They've also published a surge map, showing the potential effects of the flooding on this page. Scary stuff.

Katrina has dropped to a cat 4 (just) with max sustained winds of 155mph which is small comfort. They have also reduced to height of the expected storm surge so hopefully the earlier estimates of up to 28 feet will not happen.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people in Katrina's path esp those who with homes and businesses in the Big Easy and the 100,000 or so who have remained behind.


Here are some other useful links

FEMA
USCG
NOAA Storm Tracker
NOAA Tidesonline Storm Tide Map & Graphs
Louisiana Homeland Security

It's really unbelievable to think that we were only there in May listening to our guide talking about the scenario of a large hurricane hitting. Little did we think that it would be so soon.

Good luck NO - our prayers are with you.

Phil (Buffy)

They are reporting that [part of the NO superdome roof has been blown off and water is pouring in. This is the main evac centre for the city with 20,000+ people in it

Good news is that the levies are holding

Originally posted by AlanA
Good news is that the levies are holding

Apparently not - news on Fox saying that the Lake Pontchartrain Levee has been breached [:(] Katrina d/graded to Cat 3 and it looks like Mississippi is going to bear the brunt of it all [:(]

Like Phil, I was only in N'Awlins earlier this year - really hard to believe what's happening in the area. Thoughts & prayers for all concerned.

Cheers

Michael

Hurricane track has been pretty consistent northerly at 89.6W passing to the east. Winds currently blowing from the north, sustained at near 125mph with higher gusts, not what they want if there has been a breach of the Lake Pontchartrain Levee. Shame because apart from that it was beginning to look like they had had another lucky escape.

JESUS! what a mess!
The Mayor of New Orleans has ordered an evacuation of the city, as 80% of the city is underwater, there is no power, no sanitary services, no water to drink, nothing to eat, its a hell of a mess.
Just watching on FOX people being rescued by the National Guard off roofs of flooded houses. Biloxi is in a worse situation!

The picture is still very confusing, some reports say that 200ft of the Lake Pontchartrain Levee has been breach, ITV said this morning it was 300ft.

They say areas that escaped the flooding early on like the French quarter and the adjacent area around the Superdrome are nao starting to flood, many pumping stations still ooo and others unable to cope.

Death toll likely to be in the hundreds and property damage upwards of $26 billion.

It certainly seems like Gulfport / Biloxi area was the worst hit.

Our continued thoughts and prayers to all affected.

Barry

Well there are 2 breaks in the levees,water is rising in the city at approx. 1 inch every 5 mins,it's expected to stop rising by mid afternoon thursday !

From the reports we are getting here,they are figuring it will take approx 3 months to pump the water out after the levees have been plugged,meaning that for now and the near future New Orleans will be a ghost town [:(]

What has been interesting is the way in which this disaster is being veiwed.
SKY and FOX are full of stories, BBC & ITV seem to have small reports, but are more interested in other things. (From my point of view, I must add, other people will disagree I am sure)
I would say as far as I can see, its on a scale of the Tsunami earlier on this year, but I have yet (and I may have missed it) to see any appeals in the press/web sites etc...
Is it that we think the USA can handle it without support?
I have been watching people in NO, who, for two days have been sitting in 30oC heat without food and water, with no shelter and it looks like the disaster services have been overwhelmed and cannot get any support to them.

terrible times...

Originally posted by AlanA
I would say as far as I can see, its on a scale of the Tsunami earlier on this year

Terrible times indeed. However if you are referring to the Tsunami at the end of 2004, I would hope that the death figures in the US don't amount to anywhere near to the 100,000+ killed by the Tsunami.

BC

God BC I really do hope not!
but they are already saying that in NO itself there could be more than 1,000 dead, some cities they have no communications with at all, the death toll is unknown at the moment.

Just the latest im hearing..approx 30k troops have moved into the area,they are there to assist in getting people out of the city and also to secure it.

the US navy is moving ships into the port of NO to aid in the removal of people.

The Astro Dome in Houston is being used as a shelter,approx 50 k people are being bused there..

the airport is open only to certain flights(guessing military etc)

it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out,I can't think of a time when a major city has been evacuated and left empty.
To give you an idea,we are talking about a city with a population of more than Southampton and Portsmouth being evacuated in one day.

So while there were deaths (some people would not leave)it is amazing to me that so many people were saved.

Also Yahoo has opened up some message boards in the last couple of hours.
http://boards.news.yahoo.com/boards/

I just took a look and there are people offering strangers places to live and stay until they can return [y]

In this messed up world we live in where people will kill eachother over the most petty crap,it's heart warming to see this type of responce.

http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?action=l& ... d=37138446

some of the posts are nice .

This is a disaster but it is nowhere near the scale of the Tsunami (the residents also had a tad more warning). Mind you those sort of things don't stop the press - remember the latest London bombings being referred to as "our own 9-11".

Compare and contrast the reaction of people offering places to stay with the lowlife who are seeing this tragedy as an opportunity to line their own pockets.

In London we had the disreputable Hotel and Taxi operators who charged people a premium. In NO we have the looters who bring shame on their city and are seriously diverting resources (police etc.) from rescuing people and saving lives. I'm not talking about people who are just stealing food - we are talking sporting and electrical goods too.

Phil (Buffy)

Seems the situation is going down hill very quickly
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050901/ap_ ... uation_hk1

Originally posted by jetwet1
Seems the situation is going down hill very quickly
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050901/ap_ ... uation_hk1

Yeah, talk about stupid, a bunch of a**holes just ruined the lives of thousands even more.

Breaking (sort of) News: A series of blasts has reportedly rocked the New Orleans waterfront. No idea what the cause of the blasts is right now.

Google Maps has now added sattelite images of the New Orleans area from 31st August for comparison.

Available here.

Phil (Buffy)