Katrina
 

My God, I read everything that has happened with this hurricane and I can't believe it. They say 80 people may have died. Really scary stuff.

Today it's already up here in NJ area.

You should read my weather report. We could get up to 4 inches of rain. The way the wind is positioned, we could get tornados. Then tomorrow if it gets hot, the storms could get even worse because Katrina will clash with a cold front...

VERY dramatic. We don't get 4 inches or rain or tornados around here but this weather report was like 6 paragraphs of how we could have really dangerous weather. Kinda scary.....

The news just said....
 

30 people were killed in one apartment complex alone in Biloxi when 32 foot storm surge slammed into their apartments...The officials are saying it will take at least 1 month to have electric back on in N'Orleans and that the damage was more "exponentially worse than they expected".

The water is still rising in N'Orleans and they expect it to get even worse before it gets better.

Yikes. No good :(

I don't know if anyone saw Aaron Brown last night when he talked with Jeanne Meserve. She talked about nightfall and how they could hear people yelling for help and there was nothing they could do to help them. She was crying.
Then I saw the guy in Mississippi this morning whose house split in half and couldn't hold on to his wife. That interview was haunting.

Apparently, the levee at Lake Ponchartrain has been breached.

Take care out there Janet. :wavey:

Lets make sure and be thankful for everyday we have. :angel:

Prayers
 

It's awful!
 

I feel so bad for the people down there. Everything is detroyed. They've lost everything & don't know what to do. I couldn't sleep the night/morning that the hurricane hit b/c I knew some people weren't going to make it. Some people just didn't take it seriously or they couldn't leave b/c they were too sick, old, too poor, etc. I hope to God that no hurricane ever hits us. I don't know where we'd go or what we'd do.

I'm going to write a check to the American Red Cross. It's the least I can do.

Lee :distress:

Martial law declared in New Orleans:
http://www.wdsu.com/index.html

Photo of levee breach:

Damn, Martial Law. they probably need it. that really sucks that people would take advantage of someone else's misfortune like that. :(

MSNBC has been showing video of all the floating casinos in Biloxi. They're huge buildings built on barges that of course broke free when the storm surge came and floated inland. They showed one casino-barge that came to rest on top of a several-story Holiday Inn and crushed it to the ground. :distress:

My prediction is the count will reach 500 or more. I base that on the unconfirmed reports of bodies seen floating in the water and the horrific mistake of Mississippi for not making the residents of their Gulf Coast evacuate - entire small towns are said to be just gone and something like 40% of the residents of that area in general were said to have remained there to ride it out.

Here is one account from CNN:

One man in Biloxi told CNN affiliate WKRG-TV he believed his wife was killed after she was ripped from his grasp when their home split in half.

"I held her hand as tight as I could," the unidentified man said. "She told me, 'You can't hold me.' She told me to take care of the kids and the grandkids ... we ain't got nowhere to go. I'm lost. That's all I had."

They are dropping sandbags into it, I think as we speak and the local pumping station is back on line. That is a good thing, but time is not on the side of the human here as that water is now contaminated and highly dangerous.

Yup - they just showed video of NO, and you could see the swirls of gasoline floating on the water, probably leaking from flooded cars. People could also smell it.

I haven't heard about the people in the Superdome tho - are they still in there, or did they move them elsewhere? They're saying there's now 3 feet of water surrounding the stadium. :shrug:

Well, it is not just the gasoline, which interestingly may be a saving factor becuase it will kill bacteria and cholera. People and other animals are surely dead in that water and that water also contains human waste from the waterlogged waste treatment plants - that and the at least 91 degree weather will make that water a toxic dump. Sacry Sacry!!!!

I know
 

Yeah - I'm just more worried about the gas because there are several fires burning out of control. And since they're still pulling people out of the flooded neighborhoods, having everything above the floodwaters on fire would surely doom everyone still waiting to get to be rescued. But you're right - it's a nasty soup any way you look at it.

And I just saw pics of Gulfport, MS. I was so horrifying I can't even describe it.

Well, the coffins are from the above ground mausoleums and most likely contain bodies decomposed past the point of a bio hazard - thought that is still gross.

Several things, like one of the yacht clubs, have burned already.

Dear God - show us the way back.

Oh yeah - I heard a replay of that. I cried all the way through it.

The other thing about it that really got me was all the dogs she said she heard yelping and crying for their owners.

Their cameraman worked with a broken foot since 9am yesterday morning. If you get a chance to see Jeanne Meserve's report, check it out. It was some of the most honest, heartfelt reporting I have heard in a long time. She should win an award.

Well...some of it may be about pure survival.

They are still there and the situation is deteriorating. The toilets don't flush, the garbage is piling up, etc.

I think that is a small fraction. I have been through many of these and personally seen people stealing tv's etc., not food. Interestingly, the last time the SuperDome has refugees, many robbed the place blind. I think though, that this bad element is a very small percentage of the total population.

No kidding. :(

I saw people stealing diapers. I don't think I would be too quick to judge anyone stealing diapers or food in this situation.

I am not - I am just saying my experience has taught me that the people staling diapers and food are the main people stealing. Moreover, if they can get to the store to steal, they can most likely get to a shelter that has those things. Meals are being given out in the Dome :shrug:

[QUOTE=strandinthewind]I am not - I am just saying my experience has taught me that the people staling diapers and food are the main people stealing. Moreover, if they can get to the store to steal, they can most likely get to a shelter that has those things. Meals are being given out in the Dome :shrug:[/QUOI agree with you on this one, but man it gets tough there.

[QUOTE=DavidMn]I have sat with my father in front of our house - each of us with shotguns - watching looters walk down the street. It is sad to think people like that exist when the law enforcement needs to be concentrating on helping people. I mean if the bad looters would take that energy and put it to cleaning up this crap in a few days, the work would go better and they would likely be paid for it.

[QUOTE=strandinthewind]DOes this martial law thing that they declared in New Orleans mean that they can shoot looters on sight or how does that work?

The Dome is being evacuated darling.

Really? when did they start that? is it too hot in there now?

Streaming audio and video here: http://www.wdsu.com/index.html

New Olreans under water, George plays guitar:

Thank you for sharing that. :D

I did not read it was being evacuated as much as they are allowing the people in it to go outside on the miles of ramps and into the parking garages.

EDIT - I could not see anything in that link to indicate that - but there was an article as of 6:29 a.m. this morning that said the people in the dome were allowed to go outside to escape the smell.

Is the roof failing?

as of 2:29 p.m. - people were being brought there:

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Conditions are far from ideal at the Louisiana Superdome, but for the new arrivals, it's better than what they left behind.

Rescuers are continuing to bring survivors from Hurricane Katrina to the huge sports arena, where the air conditioning is out and the bathrooms are filthy. And there are two holes in the roof, caused by the storm.

There are more than 10,000 people in the arena.

Officials had earlier reported two deaths at the Superdome, and now, they report that someone died Tuesday after plunging from an upper level of the stadium. They say the person probably jumped.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/4916024/detail.html

[QUOTE=DavidMn]I am unsure. Most likely, the police are too busy trying to save people and property. But, if they see it, they will stop it - though I am unsure how because I am unsure if the jails are 1. accessible and 2. above water.

I'm not surprised that he's fretting a G chord 1 fret too high!