Listening to the news this morning about the devastation in NO...

[Missy M]

and Biloxi, etc. I am shocked by the total horror of it all. Yesterday morning when I was watching on TV all I kept hearing was Katrina was not as bad as first predicted and had lessened in intensity. How wrong could they be. This is so sad and depressing.

[Walt Starr]

1. They were NOT wrong. KAtrina was not as bad as she could have been

Believe me, NO dodged a bullet on this one. Had Katrina maintained strength and course, the Superdome would not have stood up.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Dodged a bullet?

80% of the city is under water and the 17th St Levee has just been breached. Water is rising in NO at about 1 foot per hour. The Twin Cities bridge is totally gone. Some areas already have 20' of water. There is a lot more to a hurricane then big wind and for the poor people of NOLA the real fun has just begun.

[LisaL]

14. NO didn't dodge a bullet, but Katrina still wasn't as bad as

it could have been, considering the eye of the storm didn't go exactly at NO.

[BeFree]

34. Katrina turned away from NO

..and hit Biloxi, to the east, head on. Had Katrina hit NO dead on NO would have been very much more blown away.

As it is, the main problem now is a man made problem. Man made the levies, the man made levies are leaking. The problem is water, now. The potential of major windstorm damage to NO was averted, yesterday.

The Biloxi area, which was hit head on, had never seen such a force as that unleashed on it by Katrina. Had that same force hit NO head on the levy issue NO is facing today would have been secondary.

It's a good thing the evacuees of NO got out when they did. There will be many more evacuating NO, it appears. The smaller numbers will be more managable.

At least, for Biloxi, the waters are receeding, but the windstorm damage and the storm surge damage have left little for some residents to return to.

My heart aches for all these people. However, they knew what happened could happen... and it did.

[Walt Starr]

17. Yep, and it's still not anywhere near as bad as the nightmare scenario

that barely missed NO.

Seriously, the damage is going to be huge and extremely costly. The loss of life is going to be nearly unbearable (I figure at the least hundreds of dead, potentially a few thousand throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama).

But all of that is nothing compared to what might have been. I am truly thankful for a last minute weakening and turn to the East. 80% of NO might be under water, some twenty feet deep, but the reality of a direct hit by KAtrina at full force would have been 100% under water, at least twenty feet deep. Tens of thousands would have died.

[Maru Kitteh]

18. I think what's upsetting people is yesterday MSM acted like Katrina was no

big deal after all and giving many a false sense of security or hope and now the reality of it all is literally coming to light. Now they can get good pictures, and of course it's not really a disaster until they can get good pictures. :sarcasm:

[Walt Starr]

19. What's worse is teh fact that there could still be more levee breaks

I expect there may be a break on the Mississippi side.

These things weaken as the water levels remain high, especially as old as these are in NO. Remember the Mississippi floods in the midwest from a few years back?

The biggest difference between this and the nightmare scenario is this is a slower rising of water.

Oh yeah, and the winds aren't there when you have to leave your shelter due to rising flood waters.

[GumboYaYa]

24. Fortunately, the Mississippi has lots of room to expand right now.

It was fairly low right before the storm. It also, ususally recedes pretty quickly after these storms just because of its sheer volume.

Unfortunately, Ponchatrain levees breaching is really all it takes to submerge the city. I have heard almost nothing about efforts to fix the levee at the 17th street canal.

I have several friends who live near there whose homes have to be completely submerged by now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. How do you repair a breach in the levee that is almost two blocks long?

[GumboYaYa]

32. that is a very good question.

I am sick with worry. I haven't lived in NO for several years, but I will always be a New Orleanian (or yat as we call ourselves). I have to continually choke back tears as I watch this unfold.

[Walt Starr]

35. When they pump the water out of the city

they pump it into Ponchatrain, so before they can begin getting the flood waters out of the bowl, the levee must be repaired, but they're having a tough time repairing the levee because of all the water.

This is worst than a Catch-22 and is more of a Catch-33.

[GumboYaYa]

40. They are going to try to drop some 3,000 pound sand bags on the

breech using helicopters. Pray that this works.

[Walt Starr]

41. They've got to stop the levee break before they can pump out the water!

I'm very hopeful the sandbag/helicopter solution works!

[steve2470]

6. check this out

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/katrina.ssf?/hurricane/katrina/stories/083005catastrophic.html

[Double T]

20. "NOT wrong"?? Are we talking about the difference between......

total devastation versus complete annihilation.

[Walt Starr]

36. It is more of devestation vs. COMPLETE annihiliation

iuncluding the Superdome.

Look at what happened to the Superdome, and that was only under Cat 3 winds.

Had the thing maintained strength and course and the annihiliation would have been complete. Tens of thousands would be dead.

As it is, the utter devestation is horrific. The nightmare scenario didn't materialize, thankfully, but it should serve as a wakeup call. Water pumps from 1913 and inadequate levee systems must go. Cutting the budget for preparing the city by Bush and the Republican Congress should be thrown into their faces daily.

[lonestarnot]

21. And that would have been a total fucking nightmare.

but not taking away from the catastrophic damage and human suffering that we are going to see in the coming days. Just horrific! so sad:cry:

[Walt Starr]

37. Absolutely, we'd be talking far worse than the horrific devestation today

What we have right now is a catastrophe.

It's nightmarish to think that the current scenario is "dodging the bullet" and that it could have been far, far worse!

[Horse with no Name]

22. The difference is that the city was totally devasted as opposed to

being annilihated.

There is a difference.
Good point.

[Walt Starr]

38. Yep, and the Superdome evacuees survived

as opposed to not surviving.

[Jacobin]

31. That is utter and complete bullshit

It's happening RIGHT NOW.

Instead of a horror movie quickie flood, you've got levee's softening and giving way and the parts of the city that weren't flooded are starting to get flooded.

EIGHTY PERCENT of New Orleans is under water.

I have an apartment in the Quarter. I spend a lot of time in New Orleans.

Believe me. The news idiots don't have a fucking clue as to how bad this is because they decided that "it wasn't very bad" was going to be the lead story......reminds me of fucking Mission Accomplished

[Walt Starr]

39. You aren't readin what I write

It's devestation. I do not deny that. What I am pointing out is, the nightmare scenario would have been so much worse.

Thankfully, the storm weakened and turned East. Had that not happened, I am 100% confident the casualty rates for those seeking shelter in the Superdome would have been horrific and on the lines of greater than 90%.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. The same thing happened when Andrew hit FL

All the reporters were saying the storm wasn't that bad, bla, bla, bla. They had no clue what was going on just to the south of them.

We are seeing the same thing here. Oh gee, people can walked around the French Quarter so the storm must not have been so bad. Unfortunately the water is now rising in the French Quarter too.

It will be days and weeks before we really understand the scope of this terrible disaster.

[Strelnikov_]

15. Yep. One Of The Bloggers At Oil Drum Commented On This Yesterday

And I was thinking the same thing.

The talking heads could not see much damage where they were, just after the storm passed. So, gee, must not have been that bad.

Monkeys with word processors.

[Nightwing]

3. NBC interview with MS Governor

Total devastation from Katrina, estimates 50 to 80 dead in one county, bodies floating in water, SAR ongoing. But Katrina wasnt so bad??? Tell that to the 50 to 80 dead.

[rodeodance]

5. Haily Barbour is having his 15 minutes of fame!

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. Wait until the TV news catches up with Slidell, Lacombe (St Tammany)

Everything I am reading indicates that the worst damage in NO is north and east of the lake. This area was inaccessible yesterday. Yet this was the area where the eye hit.

Take a look at the weather forum on wwltv.com There is a sticky on the threads for various parishes. Read the thread for St. Tammany Parish. There were storm surges and tornados. There was a building full of senior citizens near Slidell hospital that was NOT evacuated. The hospital itself is damaged and patients have been evacuated to Lacombe. I am really really worried about those elderly folks.

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. Last night (around 8 PM) on CNN, a reporter was in a helicopter and

said she could see "dozens of bodies" floating...Then, quickly, they went back to the studio and reports from Anderson Cooper earlier in the day. :shrug:

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. They haven't scratched the surface

Anderson Cooper is a pretty boy.

[Nikki Stone 1]

9. See this thread for St Tammany damage

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4505249

[Nikki Stone 1]

11. kicking to place this thread above the looting crap

No need to encourage cable news ignorance

[Nikki Stone 1]

12. ditto

:kick:

[Window]

13. Agree.

Kick!

[Nikki Stone 1]

42. Thanks

Some things are important. A debate based on a media created issue is NOT.

[Window]

43. Y/W

Amen to that and another kick!

[intheflow]

16. Koppel acknowledged this on Nightline last night.

He said (paraphrasing), "In the news media, we seem to go through three phases every time a big storm hits: it's going to be bad so get out; it's not as bad as we thought; and finally, it's much worse than we thought."

The media knows what it does.

[ripple]

23. Did anyone hear the reporter on CNN

Actually crying as she described the worsening situation in NO? A lot of people are trapped and the water keeps rising. There were people screaming and dogs yelping last night, but they had to end the recue when nightfall hit, because the boats simply couldn't maneuver. She described some other pretty grisly stuff, but I don't want to give everyone else nightmares, too. It sounds like the death toll is going to go way up in NO. :cry:

God, I hope they can get the pumps working soon.

[GumboYaYa]

25. That was a devastating interview, When I heard that

I realized that things in the city are much worse than we are being told right now.

Unfortunately, until they fix the levee breach at the 17th street canal, the pumps will be no good. They use that canal to pump the water out of the city and into the lake. So long as the levee is breached there you are just pumping water in a big circle.

[ripple]

26. Can they repair it with the water that high?

I agree, things are much worse than we are seeing. I definitely didn't get the impression that the reporter was attempting to sensationalize anything. She was obviously pretty broken up.

[GumboYaYa]

29. It is difficult, but possible if they can get big trucks

to the breech. They have the equipment to do it, but that may be underwater now too. I have heard very little about this issue and to me it is one of the most critical of all right now.

[ripple]

33. This is horrifying

It sounds like even the best-case scenario is going to be too late for a lot of people. I'm surprised they didn't see this coming last night, when people were out and about in the Quarter. Maybe they knew it might happen, but there was no way to transport people out, due to the damage.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. Jeanne Meserve was the reporter...she'll have a tough time dealing....

...with all that she saw and heard.

Very emotional and gut-wrenching reporting.

[Beaverhausen]

44. was that Jeanne Meserve?

She sounded very upset. It freaked me out...the thing she said about the dog especially. :cry:

[CitrusLib]

30. Katrina is making Frances and Jeanne look like thunderstorms.

And going through the two of them last year sucked. As bad as they were, I think most of us on the Space and Treasure Coasts are feeling pretty lucky right now. The thing that's keeping me going is the memory of all the trucks rolling in with help on board. Returning home from evacuation both times, I was passed by trucks from damn near all 50 states. Everyone was so helpful and they all busted ass to clean up and make repairs. As much as we bitch about our fellow citizens, I know there were probably plenty of people who voted for Bush who knocked themselves out to help us return to a semblence of normalcy. Our country has a way of coming together when tragedy strikes. Americans irregardless of ideology will put a shirt around someone cold or a bottle of water in a thirsty person's hand. Hang on LA, MS and AL. The trucks are coming.


:patriot: