Floodwater inundates New Orleans after hurricane ("shark cruising city")

[many a good man]

By Erwin Seba

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Floodwaters engulfed much of New Orleans on Tuesday as officials feared a steep death toll and planned to evacuate thousands remaining in shelters after the historic city's defenses were breached by Hurricane Katrina.

With water from nearby Lake Pontchartrain rising throughout the city of 500,000 people after an overnight break in at least two protective levees, rescuers plucked people from roofs, bodies were seen floating in the streets and the famous French Quarter was threatened.

"We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet (7 meters). Both airports are underwater," Mayor Ray Nagin said in a radio interview.

...

"Natural dangers emerged, too. Authorities reported spotting a 3-foot (0.9-meter) shark cruising the city."

More at link: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20050830/ts_nm/weather_katrina_neworleans_dc_3

[dave29]

1. I was just about to ask if this was a possibility

ughh.

Atleast the MSM will report Shark Attacks

[never cry wolf]

5. Won't be only sharks

Alligators, water mocassins, etc. will all be cruising through town.

[Blaq Dem]

40. That was no shark! That was a bunch of greedy oil companies...

...who can wait to gouge us hard working Americans for our money! They smell the fresh scent of profiteering. Cost of gas has already surpassed the $3 mark in some areas.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. SHARK ATTACK!!!

That will take the attention off all the poor people harmed by the lack of a federal plan to evacuate!

[yardwork]

3. Got that right. Alligators, snakes, fire ants, sharks.....

anything to distract people from the FACTS that people are DEAD.

[Submariner]

4. I'd bet my paycheck

there is a screenwriter drafting a hurricane disaster screenplay NOW, and that shark will triple in size in the movie.

[KatyaR]

18. Starring Bruce Willis . . .

we were talking about this at work today. This whole thing just seems like a really bad Bruce Willis movie.

[Ayesha]

24. No, Kevin Kostner

Waterworld :(

[kodi]

38. Nope, Snake Plisskin, Escape From New Orleans

.

[Solly Mack]

6. He's just checking out his new real estate

I'd imagine he won't be the last critter they spot tooling about

[SteppingRazor]

7. A three foot shark?

Ah, c'mon! Is that necessary? If you werre passing by in a boat, you could haul a three-foot shark out of the water and throttle it with your bare hands!

[xultar]

11. I'm not for killing the wild life.

[SteppingRazor]

13. Neither am I. My point is...

This is nothing. I mean, why even report the little guy? It's just "OOOO -- SCARY SHARK!" sensationalistic bullshit.

[TheWraith]

41. It would be a lot less funny if it bit a foot off one of the refugees.

Three feet doesn't sound like much, but those little fuckers bite hard. A three footer could take off a kid's arm or leg.

Besides which, given how incredibly septic that water is, ANYTHING that keeps people from walking through it is a good thing. I'd support airdropping water moccasins if it kept people out of the damn water.

[reprobate]

34. Only after you found it's neck.

[NYC]

8. I heard venomous snakes are likely to be in the water as well.

Two men reporting from Orlando (dispossessed from Louisiana) were saying that the snakes head for high ground (as do people) wind up caught in the flood, and are edgy, to say the least. They were warning people to keep away from snakes, and to stay out of the water entirely, if possible.

[tmooses]

9. They make everything so fucking Hollywood. "shark cruising the city"

makes it seem like some monster killer white shark is looking for victims to pick off. The shark is probably just trying to find a way to get back to the gulf and wondering where all these buildings came from.

[NYC]

10. The hurricane displaced animals and insects

as well as people. Terrible consequences for all.

[xultar]

12. Shark? More than likely a small dolphin.

[many a good man]

14. Canaries in the coal mine?

If they start finding sharks belly-up that means the water is too contaminated for rescuers.

[LongTomH]

15. Drop a few Republicans in the water!

The sharks will take off in terror - animals can sense evil!

[DIKB]

16. ROFL n/t

:rofl:

[sickinohio]

17. Good thinkin!!

:applause: :rofl:

[u4ic]

29. Repukes are shark porn

[SoCalDem]

19. The shark was probably driven in from the surge

and is trying to figure out how to get back to sea

[screembloodymurder]

20. Will NO become the first city abandoned due to global warming?

In fifty years, this kind of disaster could become commonplace. As city after city is flooded (or nuked), will we have the resources to pour money and materials into one lost cause after another? Should NO be rebuilt and who should pay? What about the barrier islands? I don't like the idea of subsidizing the insurance companies so rich people can live at the beach.

[mopinko]

30. i think you are right

NO will be the poster child. what a shame.

[Psephos]

35. You are seriously misinformed about global warming's effects on storms

No offense intended. Mixing science and politics is bad juju.

The conjecture that global warming drives hurricanes is a junk-science myth that keeps growing because at first glance it seems reasonable. However, there is no evidence in either historical records or computer models to suggest any but the smallest effects on big tropical storms. (This may or may not be true for temperate-zone storms, but that's another discussion.)

Hurricanes come in cycles correlated with a multi-decade swing in Atlantic heat content. This cycle has been going on since before there were human beings. The causes have more to do with ocean currents and feedback effects in ocean-atmosphere coupling than with anything else.

Hurricanes are huge heat engines driven by tropical water temperatures. Those waters are going to get warm regardless of other effects not because of trapped atmospheric heat but because the sun shines straight down on them. They are going to release that heat through well-established convection cells that rise at the equator. These tropical waters maintain thermal equilibrium with surprising efficiency.

The influence of global warming is minor at the equator; tropical sea surface temperatures rise barely, even in the direst global warming predictions. The so-called Atlantic Oscillation is really what's behind the uptick in hurricanes the last few years. This oscillation has been studied for a long time. Take a look at the historical record and you will see, for example, that the 1930s and early 40s brought powerful storms; the 1950s and early 60s were relatively quiet.

El Nino follows a shorter, but similarly ocean-based, thermal cycle in the Pacific.

The best consensus estimate is that by 2080, global warming will contribute about 5% to the overall power of some tropical storms. This small addition is insignificant compared to the decadal swings that happen in both the Pacific and the Atlantic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/national/30cycle.html?ei=5065&en=9e0e24b0c5ee1d90&ex=1125979200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/science_policy_general/000318chris_landsea_leaves.html

Peace.

[philarq]

21. Remember the Killer Bees movie where they had to use the Superdome

To kill all the bees? this is what this is sounding like---

[donheld]

22. Doesn't a shark need salt water?

:shrug:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. The lake that is draining into NO is brackish water

The surge water would have been salty as well. I guess it's provided enough salinity to sustain him?

[FightinNewDem]

33. Lake Ponchartrain

Technically speaking Lake Ponchartrain isn't a lake, it's an estuary, with a fairly high level of salinity.

Same holds true for Lake Borgne and Lake Catherine, which are also involved in this whole mess.

[Ladyhawk]

23. Bull sharks can live in salt or fresh water, but I'm not sure how

well they can tolerate toxicity. Anyone know?

What little I know about keeping aquarium fish is they (especially salt water fish) can't stand much in the way of temperature or salinity changes. Due to its vastness, the ocean changes very slowly. Salt water fish aren't used to vast differences.

A three-foot shark isn't much danger, but the big bulls are very aggressive--the number 1 man-eater.

[AlCzervik]

26. A bullshark lived in a fresh water lake in the early 1900's for almost 2

weeks. There is a book "Close to shore" about this shark roving the northeastern shore, it was terrifying.

The chances of west nile and many other awful things associated with stagnant water are also terrifying to think about.

[Ladyhawk]

27. Yeah. A lot of folks suspect bull sharks were responsible for the

famous shark attacks in the rivers of New Jersey in the early 1900's. I can't remember the exact date, but it's an interesting read if you google it. A white shark was blamed, but white sharks can't live in fresh water.

In Africa, the shark is called the "Zambezi" after a river there that is full of them. They swim right along side the hippos. If the hippos don't kill you, the sharks or Nile crocs will. :) I'm guessing not too many Africans in those areas know how to swim. :D

[AlCzervik]

28. yup, thats what the book is about and a very good read

and they did blame it on a white until they finally figured it was a bull. One of the phrases from the book has stayed with me--The great-white, the bull and the tiger, the holy trinity of apex predators. Still gives me the heebejeebies today.

[Ladyhawk]

31. Tiger sharks have the most damaging teeth...yikes!

I have trouble identifying bulls from pics. The only identifying feature I can really hang onto is that the large ones are very robust. They have a triangular dorsal, rounded snout, small eyes, but a lot of sharks look similar. :shrug: I guess I'll know if one bites me. :)

[LeftyMom]

32. Sharks are difficult to poison

I actually kinda expected this- baby bulls grow and feed in the Missisippi. They tolerate muddy waters and both hyposalinity and hypersalinity well so the lake water wouldn't keep them out. The decaying bodies, rotting food, dead pets, etc in the water will attract them, as will the sounds of struggling humans (or pets.)

When poisoned (hard to do, they generally tolerate toxins much better than humand in the same water) they don't die quickly.

[anitar1]

36. Having lived in the South at one time, my worry

would be the water moccasins. They are very aggressive and dangerous.

[LeftyMom]

37. I wouldn't know a thing about those

but those floating rafts of fire ants freak me out. :scared:

[NYC]

39. Floating rafts?

That would scare the hell out of anyone. I heard the fire ants would survive. Have they been reported in New Orleans yet?