Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans

[Toonpack 9390]

This looks like it's going to be REALLY bad

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9113550/

 

We REALLY have screwed up the weather, maybe now the US govt will take Global Warming and the environment seriously.

 

I've got a number of friends in Florida and they're all talking about moving, they're seriously SICK of the Hurricane season which is getting longer and busier every year

[Guest Sima]

Hurricane set to lash New Orleans

 

Girl sheltering in the Superdome stadium

 

See the hurricane

New Orleans is bracing itself as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the US surges towards the city.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the low-lying southern city, or taken shelter on higher ground.

 

Although the storm has been downgraded from category five to four, sustained winds were still reaching 155mph (250km/h) as it reached the coast.

 

Rain has started to seep through the roof of the Superdome stadium in New Orleans, where many have sought refuge.

 

"This is starting to get nervous," a reporter inside the stadium told a local radio station. "There's a lot of strange sounds. There is no open sky, but there is water seeping into the Superdome."

 

Hurricane Katrina swept ashore over Grand Isle at about 0600 (1000 GMT).

 

Click here to see Katrina's predicted course

 

Experts suggest that coastal Mississippi may bear the brunt of the storm.

 

But the National Hurricane Center warned the Louisiana city would be pounded throughout Monday - and the potential storm surge could still swamp the city.

 

"It's capable of causing catastrophic damage," Director Max Mayfield warned.

 

"New Orleans may never be the same."

 

'Nervous'

 

Correspondents in the city say winds are building as walls of water run down the skyscrapers like waterfalls.

 

 

I hope I have a home to return to

Alex Bush

Mandeville, US

 

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Mayor Ray Nagin has said he believed 80% of the city's 485,000 residents have heeded his order for a mandatory evacuation of the city - which sits some 6ft (2m) below sea level.

 

Those unable or unwilling to leave are huddled in shelters, as emergency vehicles patrol deserted streets.

 

Officials warn that the post-hurricane surge could topple the barriers that protect the city and its historic French Quarter.

 

 

Traffic flows north in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

 

In pictures: Hurricane nears

 

There are fears the city's defences could be overwhelmed by floodwaters - inundating New Orleans with chemicals from refineries, and human waste from damaged septic systems.

 

"We are facing the storm that most of us have feared," Mayor Nagin said. "This is a once in a lifetime event."

 

"Please Pray for New Orleans," read a hand-painted sign in the city.

 

The evacuation claimed three lives, when three nursing home residents died after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church.

 

States of emergency

 

The neighbouring states of Mississippi and Alabama have also told residents in coastal areas to leave their homes.

 

US President George W Bush has issued a state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, freeing the path for federal aid.

 

The storm, which formed in the Bahamas, lashed South Florida on Thursday, killing nine people, uprooting trees, downing power lines and causing extensive flooding.

 

Katrina is the sixth hurricane to hit the Florida coastline since last August.

 

If Katrina strengthens again, it could be only the fourth category five storm to hit the US since record-keeping began.

 

The last to strike the Louisiana area was Hurricane Camille in 1969, which killed more than 250 people.

[Rob W 0]

hurricanes are a bastard - nothing you can do really

 

tho i think tornado s are more frightening - seems more PERSONAL

[Guest Sima]

That one in Birmingham a few weeks back was nuts

[BlueStar 0]

We REALLY have screwed up the weather, maybe now the US govt will take Global Warming and the environment seriously.

21019[/snapback]

 

Trying to tell the American in the street that global warming is happening is like trying to convince an evangelical christian that Jesus was just some guy. To them, there's no proof of it whatsoever. It's just a liberal communist conspiracy to try and disrupt American business. We're in the middle of a gap between ice ages, and temperatures fluctuate all the time.

 

You know why they name them after women - cos when they come they're warm and wet, and when they go, they take your house.

Edited August 29, 2005 by BlueStar

[Greg 6]

It has affected us here in Guatemala this one, not bad as we are mile and miles from the centre of it when it passed over the ocean but right on the ourskirts and it pissed it down for nearly a week!

[Rob W 0]

That one in Birmingham a few weeks back was nuts

21414[/snapback]

 

 

If you see one coming

 

1. try an get into a cellar or underground

 

2 if no cellar get into a room or cupboard without any windows - its flying glass that kills most people

 

3. if the shit really hits the fan get your arms around something fixed to the floor (E g washbasin) and hang on..........................

 

DO NOT go out and have a look - you're likely to get your neighbours roof in the teeth................

[Guest Sima]

 

From the BBC

 

Rescuers are racing to reach survivors in the southern US hit by Hurricane Katrina - one of the most devastating storms in the country's history.

 

"You're going to be looking at hundreds dead along the coast," said an official in the badly-hit state of Mississippi.

 

Helicopters and boats are being used to reach people stranded on rooftops in areas under floodwater.

 

A BBC correspondent says panic has gripped New Orleans, with flood waters rising and vital supplies running out.

 

Heavily-armed police have been trying to impose a form of martial law to stem outbreaks of looting, the BBC's Alastair Leithead reports from the Louisiana city.

 

Most of low-lying New Orleans is under water and according to the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, the waters have continued to rise because efforts to plug breaches in an embankment protecting the city have failed.

 

Tens of thousands have been taken to the Superdome stadium and other temporary shelters.

 

But Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said they would have to be moved to safer areas, away from rising waters.

 

"Many people are being rescued and are brought to the Superdome, so the dome population is growing," she said.

 

"They do not have the facilities to accommodate people who are there, particularly those with medical needs."

 

She urged residents to spend Wednesday in prayer and assured them the crisis would eventually be overcome.

 

'Dead bodies'

 

New Orleans' mayor told a local TV station that up to 80% of the low-lying city was submerged, in some cases by waters 6m (20ft) deep.

 

Helicopters operated by the National Guard are to be used to drop sandbags to repair holes in a wall built to protect the city from neighbouring Lake Pontchartrain.

 

Amid the chaos, looters have been raiding stores for goods.

 

One man carrying a pile of jeans was asked if he was salvaging goods from his own store.

 

According to the Associated Press news agency, he replied: "No, that's everybody's store."

 

The exact number of people killed so far remains unknown, as rescue teams struggle to reach the worst-hit areas.

 

Harrison County in Mississippi bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina as it slammed into local towns Biloxi and Gulfport before heading inland.

 

Mississippi media earlier recorded a death toll of 54 for the state.

 

Thirty people are said to have died in one block of flats in Biloxi which was hit by a 9m (30ft) "storm surge".

 

The town's actual death toll may be "in the hundreds", municipal spokesman Vincent Creel said.

 

Soaring cost

 

In New Orleans, an unknown number of bodies were seen floating in the flood waters.

 

Mayor Nagin said rescuers were not even attempting to deal with the dead bodies.

 

"They're just pushing them on the side," he told the Associated Press news agency.

 

The US Red Cross has mobilised thousands of volunteers for its biggest-ever natural disaster effort and federal emergency teams are being dispatched to affected areas.

 

Damage estimates of more than $25bn suggest it could be the US insurance industry's most expensive natural disaster ever.

 

The price of crude oil on the international market hit a new record at $70.85 a barrel due to the vulnerability of oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

President George W Bush has called on Americans to donate to the Red Cross or other organisations to help while his priority was "saving lives".

 

The president is interrupting his holiday to return to Washington two days earlier than planned, the White House said.

 

$25bn, jesus. This has to be one of the worst on recent record.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I watched a report a couple of days ago where the attitude seemed to be that the hurricane would hit but it wasn't going to be a major disaster. How wrong they were, terrible footage coming through.

[Guest alex]

I can remember a tv programme a few years ago about how a hurricane hitting New Orleans could be so disastrous due to most of it being below sea level.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I can remember a tv programme a few years ago about how a hurricane hitting New Orleans could be so disastrous due to most of it being below sea level.

24138[/snapback]

 

Aye, the flooding was the major worry for them. They had built flood defences and were confident they would hold, but this has been far greater than anticipated. The Mississippi is one bastard of a river to burst it's banks.

[NJS 4378]

I have sympathy for people whose lives are just about ruined but I can't help feeling they should step back and take a hint at the same time - New Orleans is mostly BELOW sea level and surrounded by barriers which proved inadequate - I'm not saying they should dismantle the city and rebuild but surely future planning has to take these things into account especially if they are becoming more frequent.

 

Its like seeing places like York flooded year after year - take the bloody hint.

 

 

I saw a programme on Monday about Holland's sea defences - they've built barriers on the basis of "50 year" storms - thats the kind of think thats needed everywhere now.

[Rob W 0]

Like LA & San Francisoc on a major fault or Naples right under Vesuvius you mean.........................

 

people never think it will happen to them.......................