I'm here now and i will post pictures as long as i can. My family left but i am here. I hope i make it thru the night.

saintsation said:

Are you on the 1st floor or higher?

TonyVanDam said:

are you there?

shausler said:

Still here. And the nightfall is early!

i know what hurricanes are all about. we've had our share of them in Bermuda. so far this year we've been lucky but my thoughts go out to the folks of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.
[Edited 8/28/05 14:34pm]

TonyVanDam said:

dude ,


hang in

shausler said:

This is REALLY BAD. Whoever here is from The Big Easy or around the area where Katrina is about to hit, please stay safe. I'm praying for all of you guys.

TonyVanDam said:

I am in New Orleans gentily area off Reed Blvd on the first floor of house. Is your cable out where u are? If i don't respond now i will later if i can.

saintsation said:

My cable modem is still on. My electrical power is still excellent!

But I must be honest with you, N.O. East is like a freaking dead trap; A poor choice of area to be taking video recording. And please don't get me started about the homeless people or the elderly that have to settle in the Superdome.

Which websites are giving the best updates on the storm?
[Edited 8/28/05 15:51pm]

Reincarnate said:

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

...and be afraid to watch!!!

TonyVanDam said:

Thankyou. Thankfully Britain doesn't have these regular severe hurricanes. I don't understand the difference between the categories but I get the gist that this one is expected to be really bad.

I'm thinking of you guys. I just want you to all stay safe.

x

Reincarnate said:

Category 5 hurricanes are THE worse. Believe this hype!

These kinds of storms are so powerful, the superstrong winds can flip small cars upside down!

TonyVanDam said:

Metairie is the first suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, located on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain between the cities of New Orleans

UNREAL!

My prayers are with you!

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

I'm not dead yet!

TonyVanDam said:

Nor will you be!

Here is a update:

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

BTW, we're under a tornado watch until 2:00 am CST.

run, don't walk, the hell out of there now

i'm praying for everyone in new orleans i have been watching the news faithfully since this morning when the evacuation was made mandatory. many Louisianans have made it here to Houston & Baytown and we will do whatever we can to help. our emergency crews in Houston are already heading to Louisiana to help. i hope everyone is safe tonight and tomorrow.

Shit, this doesnt look good at all.

bkw said:

Case in point:

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.

i love this city! so much history, so much music, so much food, so many loose women! J/K. me and a friend were talkin just yesterday about going down for the next jazz fest, i hope it's still there next may.

TonyVanDam said:

what part of the city u are in. I am stuck out here. Where are u cause u siound like u in a safe place. Six flags is right behind the trees off 610 where i am at and these things are going to fly like missiles and pontchatrain is over here behind these trees about 3 miles, the snakes, alligators, turtles are going to be around here tonight. tony van dam respond fast.

This is SO scary. My goodness. A little rain and that town is wet for a month.

saintsation said:

Metairie....N. Arnoult Rd. off Veterans Blvd.
[Edited 8/28/05 18:32pm]

TonyVanDam said:

this isn't looking good.

The main thing is for THIS hurricane to get the hell out of the Gulf Of Mexico already!

The longer it stay in THAT water, the bigger hellraiser it'll become.

And the storm surge is schedule to be at least 22 ft high!

Not good at all!