http://news.yahoo.com/s/a..._big_one_1

When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans on Monday, it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.


Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.

That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 165 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.

"All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.

The center's latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. In the French Quarter, the water could reach 20 feet, easily submerging the district's iconic cast-iron balconies and bars.

Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless.

"We're talking about in essence having — in the continental United States — having a refugee camp of a million people," van Heerden said.

Aside from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Miami in 1992, forecasters have no experience with Category 5 hurricanes hitting densely populated areas.

"Hurricanes rarely sustain such extreme winds for much time. However we see no obvious large-scale effects to cause a substantial weakening the system and it is expected that the hurricane will be of Category 4 or 5 intensity when it reaches the coast," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Richard Pasch said.

As they raced to put meteorological instruments in Katrina's path Sunday, wind engineers had little idea what their equipment would record.

"We haven't seen something this big since we started the program," said Kurt Gurley, a University of Florida engineering professor. He works for the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, which is in its seventh year of making detailed measurements of hurricane wind conditions using a set of mobile weather stations.

Experts have warned about New Orleans' vulnerability for years, chiefly because Louisiana has lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands in the past seven decades. The vast patchwork of swamps and bayous south of the city serves as a buffer, partially absorbing the surge of water that a hurricane pushes ashore.

Experts have also warned that the ring of high levees around New Orleans, designed to protect the city from floodwaters coming down the Mississippi, will only make things worse in a powerful hurricane. Katrina is expected to push a 28-foot storm surge against the levees. Even if they hold, water will pour over their tops and begin filling the city as if it were a sinking canoe.

After the storm passes, the water will have nowhere to go.

In a few days, van Heerden predicts, emergency management officials are going to be wondering how to handle a giant stagnant pond contaminated with building debris, coffins, sewage and other hazardous materials.

"We're talking about an incredible environmental disaster," van Heerden said.

He puts much of the blame for New Orleans' dire situation on the very levee system that is designed to protect southern Louisiana from Mississippi River floods.

Before the levees were built, the river would top its banks during floods and wash through a maze of bayous and swamps, dropping fine-grained silt that nourished plants and kept the land just above sea level.

The levees "have literally starved our wetlands to death" by directing all of that precious silt out into the Gulf of Mexico, van Heerden said.

It has been 40 years since New Orleans faced a hurricane even comparable to Katrina. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, submerged some parts of the city to a depth of seven feet.

Since then, the Big Easy has had nothing but near misses. In 1998, Hurricane Georges headed straight for New Orleans, then swerved at the last minute to strike Mississippi and Alabama. Hurricane Lili blew herself out at the mouth of the Mississippi in 2002. And last year's Hurricane Ivan obligingly curved to the east as it came ashore, barely grazing a grateful city.
[Edited 8/28/05 17:47pm]

Its what everyone has dreaded.. and its now here


lets just hope the town still exists after this...

Update:


Name: Hurricane Katrina
Location: About 130 Miles South of The Mouth Of The Mississippi River.
Lat/Long: 27.2N, 89.1W
Max Winds: 160 mph
Category: 5
Heading: North-Northwest
Speed: 11 mph
Pressure: 26.70 inches
[Edited 8/28/05 18:29pm]

Please use this thread to post about the hurricane. Making this a sticky.

Links to other Katrina threads:

http://www.prince.org/msg/100/158511
http://www.prince.org/msg/100/158543
http://www.prince.org/msg/100/158527

I will any others that appear.

luv4u said:

You're good at this sticky stuff!

As long as I still have power, I'll keep everyone in the org posted.

Here's another update:

Name: Hurricane Katrina
Location: About 130 Miles South of The Mouth Of The Mississippi River.
Lat/Long: 27.2N, 89.1W
Max Winds: 160 mph
Category: 5
Heading: North-Northwest
Speed: 11 mph
Pressure: 26.70 inc


...and on THAT note, we can kiss those riverboat casinos good-bye.
[Edited 8/28/05 19:44pm]

Katrina is real slow.

TonyVanDam said:

I hope Saintastion is ok!!!

paisleypark4 said:

I also hope Saintastion keeps me posted by orgnotes.

paisleypark4 said:

Good luck New Orleans. We're hoping for you in Pensacola.

It's 1:40am in my area.

And my electrical power is STILL here.

So far, so good.

But the Causeway Bridge is now closed. No way out for anyone now.

And I can't sleep yet.

Stay tune!

Tony and Saintastion PLEASE stay safe. My prayers are with you and anyone else here who lives or has family out in the areas affected by Katrina.

purplecam said:

Yahweh willing, I'll be here. I'm not dead yet!

http://www.wdsu.com/weath...etail.html

160 MPH Winds, 28-Foot Surge Bear Down On New Orleans

Three Die During Evacuations!!!

NEW ORLEANS -- Rain was coming down in Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast early Monday morning as powerful Hurricane Katrina made its way toward land with 160 mph sustained winds and a 28-foot storm surge.

More than a foot of rain could fall, as well. The hurricane warning for the huge storm extends from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida border.

Thousands were fleeing New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast or making preparations to ride the Category 5 storm out, and at least three people were killed while evacuating.

Mandatory evacuations have been issued for New Orleans -- much of which sits below sea level -- and parts of southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as Katrina churns toward the coast.

Experts said a direct hit on New Orleans by Katrina could result in a worst-case scenario they've warned about for years. One million people could lose their homes.

New Orleans, one of America's most charming cities, could be converted into a giant cesspool laced with toxic chemicals and raw sewage. Even coffins from the city's legendary cemeteries could be released by floodwaters.

With winds clocked at 160 mph, forecasters fear Katrina is the storm that the people of New Orleans long worried could hit.

Katrina could produce storm surge flooding of up to 28 feet, tornadoes and as much as 15 inches of rain. In light of that danger, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he expected the city's levee system to fail, and also expected power to go down.

Computer simulations indicate vast sections of the city could be under water up to 30 feet deep. That would leave thousands -- perhaps 1 million -- homeless.

Experts have warned of New Orleans' vulnerability for years. Louisiana has lost more than 1 million acres of coastal wetlands in the last seven decades. The swamps and bayous had served as a storm buffer.

Storm's Vital Statistics

At midnight CDT, the center of Hurricane Katrina was located near latitude 27.9 north, longitude 89.5 west, or about 90 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 150 miles south-southeast of New Orleans.

Katrina is moving toward the north-northwest near 10 mph.

On the forecast track, the center of the hurricane will be very near the northern Gulf Coast Monday morning. However, conditions are already deteriorating along portions of the central and northeastern Gulf Coast, and will continue to worsen through the night.

Hurricane force winds extend 105 miles from the center of the hurricane, and tropical storm force winds extend outward 230 miles, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The weather in the Gulf of Mexico halted some oil production, pushing crude prices over $70 a barrel.

'A Once-In-A-Lifetime Event'

Nagin, who issued a mandatory evacuation order Sunday morning, called the hurricane "a once-in-a-lifetime event."

Only three Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States since record-keeping began.

The last was 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which leveled parts of South Florida, killed 43 people and caused $31 billion in damage. The other two were the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys and killed 600 people and Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969, killing 256.

Hotels are exempt from the New Orleans evacuation order. Acknowledging that large numbers of people -- many of them stranded tourists -- would be unable to leave, the city also set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the 77,000-seat Louisiana Superdome.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Interstate 10 leading away from the city was choked with traffic. She urged motorists to find alternative routes out of the city.

Blanco said President George W. Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.

The president has already declared states of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi to accelerate the emergency response to the storm. He joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency in urging everyone to obey evacuation orders.

Officials in Washington are sending water, food and other supplies to staging centers in the Southeast. FEMA is coordinating efforts by other federal agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Transportation and Energy departments.

Mississippi Braces

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has declared a state of emergency and officials there have issued mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas.

Residents all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast are trying to evacuate as the National Weather Service warns that Mississippi could be hit by record flooding.

Major routes north from the coast and New Orleans are open, but some areas are clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

An official at the Mississippi Collesium, which is being used as a shelter, told Jackson, Miss., television station WAPT that the facility was full. Along with people, it had provided sanctuary for hundreds of pets.

Casinos along normally busy U.S. 90 are closed and workers are trying to move sensitive equipment to secure areas off the beach.

Schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

"The latest model based on the forecast track would have 60 mph winds as far north as Lexington, across to Kemper County, and over into almost the Arkansas border," said Jim Butch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Miss.

Butch said 60 mph winds have the potential to "blow down trees, power lines, damage mobile homes and damage roofs of houses."

He said conditions could be much worse on the coast.

In neighboring Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley has issued a state of emergency and ordered a mandatory evacuation for two coastal counties.

Texas Takes Refugees

Some of the thousands fleeing Katrina have gone west into Texas.

A Texas state official says Interstate 10 from the Louisiana line to Houston is a "river of headlights." He said traffic is moving 25 to 55 mph on a road where the speed limit is 70.

Shelters are open in southeast Texas for those who can't find accommodations elsewhere. In Orange, Texas, the local Red Cross chapter has put up over 90 people at a Baptist church.

Spokeswoman Janie Johnson said the people she has seen are "tired and they're worried." She says they've "been on the road all day, and they don't know what they're going home to."

In Beaumont, Texas, Red Cross volunteer John Bergeron said they'll keep their shelter open as long as needed.

3 Die While Fleeing Storm

An official with the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office said three residents of a New Orleans nursing home fleeing Hurricane Katrina aboard a school bus died Sunday during an evacuation to a Baton Rouge church.

The names, ages and sexes of the dead were not available.

Don Moreau, chief of operations, said the coroner's office responded to a call from emergency medical technicians to a Baptist church, which was the destination for the bus of nursing home patients. Once there, Moreau said one person was dead inside the church and another was found dead inside the bus.

He said the person in the bus appeared to have been dead for some time.

Moreau said the others on the bus, 21 people, were transported to Earl K. Long Hospital, where a third nursing home resident later died.

The coroner's office has not determined a cause of death for any of the three. However, Moreau said many people on the bus were suffering from dehydration.

It is not known how long the bus was on the road, but many other travelers reported drive times from the New Orleans area to Baton Rouge of several hours.

Battered Florida

Katrina first churned ashore in south Florida with 80 mph winds Thursday night before dumping 15 inches of rain or more as it crossed the peninsula. At least nine people were killed, and losses are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dozens of families in Miami-Dade County were flooded out of their homes. The hurricane center described it as a "significant heavy rainfall event."

Katrina then took an unexpected dive south after making landfall between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach as a Category 1 hurricane -- and it didn't weaken much.

"Normally, when a hurricane is on shore for five or six hours, the wind speed is cut in half. However, that has not happened with Katrina," a meteorologist said.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asked for federal disaster assistance for Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where some residents said they were caught off-guard by the gathering storm.

He is also urging Panhandle residents to monitor the storm and make necessary preparations.

Katrina was the second hurricane to hit the state this year -- Dennis hit the Panhandle last month -- and the sixth since Aug. 13, 2004.

Tropical Storm Lee?

Tropical Depression 13 is forming in the Atlantic, about 965 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

The depression, located at latitude 15.4 north, longitude 46.8 west, is moving toward the west-northwest at about 13 mph.

The system has sustained winds of near 30 mph.

If Tropical Depression 13 strengthens into a tropical storm, it will be called Lee.
[Edited 8/28/05 23:56pm]

I've been paying close attention and am deeply worried about this storm. It's one of my country's greatest cities and it could be completely destroyed within the next 24 hours. I've heard up to 60,000 casualties are possible. I'm fearing the worst and praying for the best. And as soon as this is all over, I'm going to immediately join in the relief effort.

GangstaFam said:

New Orleans (well, The Dirty South in general) could use all the help & answer prayers we can get.

Some radio stations are losing their signals!!!

This is NOT good!

TonyVanDam said:

I think people need to seriously get off their butts and help out any way they can once the coast is clear.

GangstaFam said:

I agree with you Gangsta. This is a tremendously disturbing situation. Maybe we can all post here as we discover what help is needed and how we are responding. Are you planning to travel there if necessary?

I'm worried about this storm as well. I know of someone who lives in the New Orleans area, and I pray that she and her two children will make it through the storm okay.

Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall In La.

POSTED: 7:09 am EDT August 29, 2005
UPDATED: 7:09 am EDT August 29, 2005

NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore early Monday and charged toward this low-lying city with 145-mph winds and the threat of a catastrophic storm surge.

Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city.

Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at about 5 a.m. It was moving northward at 15 mph.

Katrina's fury was quickly felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of professional football's Saints, which became the shelter of last resort Sunday for about 9,000 of the area's poor, homeless and frail.

Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and is not strong enough to run the air conditioning.

Katrina, which weakened slightly overnight to a strong Category 4 storm, turned slightly eastward before hitting land, which would put the western eyewall _ the weaker side of the strongest winds _ over New Orleans.

"It's not as bad as the eastern side. It'll be plenty bad enough," said Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Mayor Ray Nagin said he believed 80 percent of the city's 480,000 residents had heeded an unprecedented mandatory evacuation as Katrina threatened to become the most powerful storm ever to slam the city.

"It's capable of causing catastrophic damage," said National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield. "Even well-built structures will have tremendous damage. Of course, what we're really worried about is the loss of lives.

"New Orleans may never be the same."

Crude oil futures spiked to more than $70 a barrel in Singapore for the first time Monday as Katrina targeted an area crucial to the country's energy infrastructure, but the price had slipped back to $68.95 by midday in Europe. The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity.

Terry Ebbert, New Orleans director of homeland security, said more than 4,000 National Guardsmen were mobilizing in Memphis and will help police New Orleans streets.

The head of Jefferson Parish, which includes major suburbs and juts all the way to the storm-vulnerable coast, said some residents who stayed would be fortunate to survive.

"I'm expecting that some people who are die-hards will die hard," said parish council President Aaron Broussard.

The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Don Moreau, of the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office, said the cause was likely dehydration.

Katrina, which cut across Florida last week, had intensified into a colossal Category 5 over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico, reaching top winds of 175 mph before weakening as it neared the coast.

The storm held a potential surge of 18 to 28 feet that would easily top New Orleans' hurricane protection levees, as well as bigger waves and as much as 15 inches of rain.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida line. Tornado warnings were posted for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that's up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and dependent on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry from the Mississippi River on one side, Lake Pontchartrain on the other.

The fear is that flooding could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, as well as waste from ruined septic systems.

Nagin said he expected the pumping system to fail during the height of the storm. The mayor said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was standing by to get the system running, but water levels must fall first.

"We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

Major highways in New Orleans cleared out late Sunday after more than 24 hours of jammed traffic as people headed inland. At the peak of the evacuation, 18,000 people an hour were streaming out of southeastern Louisiana, state police said.

On inland highways in Louisiana and Mississippi, heavy traffic remained the rule into the night as the last evacuees tried to reach safety. In Orange, Texas, Janie Johnson of the American Red Cross described it as a "river of headlights."

In Washington, D.C., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it has been advised that the Waterford nuclear plant about 20 miles west of New Orleans has been shut down as a precautionary measure.

New Orleans has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Evacuation orders also were posted all along the Mississippi coast, and the area's casinos, built on barges, were closed early Saturday. Bands of wind-whipped rain increased Sunday night and roads in some low areas were beginning to flood.

"Hopefully it will take a turn and we'll be spared the brunt of it, but it just don't look like that," said James Bosco, who was packing up a final few items from his beachfront apartment in Gulfport. "I just hope everybody makes it all right. We can always rebuild."

Alabama officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying coastal areas. Mobile Mayor Michael C. Dow said flooding could be worse than the 9-foot surge that soaked downtown during Hurricane Georges in 1998. Residents of several barrier islands in the western Florida Panhandle were also urged to evacuate.

Katrina hit the southern tip of Florida as a much weaker storm Thursday and was blamed for nine deaths. It left miles of streets and homes flooded and knocked out power to about 1.45 million customers. It was the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in just over a year.

___

Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Holbrook Mohr, Brett Martel and Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Just saw on the news that reports from the Superdome where about 9000 people have sought shelter that part of the roof has blown off and the rain is coming down into one part of the stands there.
For now they are able to move people to another part of the stadium but the whole place is filled with a mist.

CarrieMpls said:

What news station affiliate was that? NBC, ABC, CBS.etc?

I'd like to find the story. Thanks!!!

Katrina may cost insurers $25 billion
Forecaster says storm could be most expensive to hit U.S.


Updated: 9:56 a.m. ET Aug. 29, 2005
NEW YORK - Hurricane Katrina may cost insurers as much as $25 billion, which would make the hurricane the most expensive to hit the United States, a storm modeler said.

Eqecat Inc. of Oakland, California had on Sunday forecast that losses could top $30 billion but reduced it because the storm weakened slightly and tracked farther east than forecast, a spokesman for the company said. The firm now expects minimum insured losses of $12.5 billion.

A $25 billion payout would make Katrina more expensive than Hurricane Andrew, the costliest U.S. hurricane ever, according to the Insurance Information Institute. It often takes days or weeks after a major storm to assess damage

I'm assuming we're not going to hear from saint and TonyVanDam for quite a while (days?) if the power's down. If anyone hears from them, will they post here? I know a lot of us are really concerned and want to hear they're safe

Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, on east side of city, under 5 to 6 feet of water after pumps fail, mayor says. Details soon.

so, who all has been refreshing CNN.com religiously today?

this is a scary storm...

endorphin74 said:

I've been watching Fox religiously since I got up this morning. We have a choice of CNN and Fox here in Britain, which is good - I'm feeling well-informed although I wish I knew what areas orgers are in as I don't really understand the geography of the region and where that means people are located.

I moved to NC in 96, shortly after Fran, so I have yet to weather a serious storm (counting my blessings). The hurricanes that hit NC haven't quite made it inland to create damage in Raleigh-Durham. After leaving the Midwest to here, the tornadoes that hit there have nothing on this stuff. It's some scary shit.

I'm just hoping the N.O. doesn't end up as a Tsunami like newscasters say. I mean coffins, waste floating in the water in essentially a big bowl which is the city?

And I found that there may be three more hurricanes to come after this one.

Let me hope that I did not just jinx myself with the previous statement that I've never been thru a severe one.

I have not been this scared in a while. I live in Jackson, MS and this is the worste I have seen in my area in my lifetime. The governor just made a speech and said that Biloxi is almost completely destroyed. The storm was supposed to weaken and move east but it hasn't seemed to move east yet. It is headed straight through Mississippi and on it's way to Jackson. The news is expecting winds up to 60 and 70 miles per hour in Jackson.

There are several huge pine trees in my back yard and a huge oak tree in my neighbor's yard that has grown over into my yard and over my house. We expect the power to go out later and are prepared for that. However, I'm scared these trees can't take these winds. The local news has taken over the television channels on all four networks since last night. If it gets worse tonight, I am going to the coliseum.