How Much Water?
Pictures continue to tell the story. Satellite “before/after” shots of key landmarks in New Orleans.
Liquid Gold
Whatchoo Talkin’ ‘Bout?
Headlines and Commentary for 08.31.05
Mayor: Katrina May Have Killed Thousands – Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans, the mayor said Wednesday — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation’s deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. “We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: “Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.”
What more can be said about this tragedy? The survival stories, the rescue attempts, the struggles. Mindbloggling.
Bush Views Katrina Devastation From Plane – President Bush flew over areas of the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricane Katrina after holding a video conference Wednesday with top aides to discuss federal relief efforts. “It’s totally wiped out,” he told aides at one point during the hastily-arranged inspection flight. As he flew home to Washington, Bush prepared to meet with a White House task force on recovery efforts and make remarks later in the Rose Garden.
Bush’s statement is due at 5PM EDT. I expect we’ll see him on the ground in the affected areas soon.
Katrina Refugees Will Go to Astrodome – At least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina’s refugees, a majority of them at the New Orleans Superdome, will travel in a bus convoy to Houston and will be sheltered at the Astrodome, which hasn’t been used for professional sporting events in years. Evacuees with special problems already have been evacuated to hospitals in other Louisiana cities, but the 23,000 people now confined to the stuffy, smelly Superdome, as well as some other refugees will go to Houston, about 350 miles away. The marathon bus convoy should take two days, officials said.
I can’t even imagine the logistical issues involved in evacuating and transporting 25,000 people.
Officials Helpless Against Looters – With law officers and National Guardsmen focused on saving lives, looters around the city spent another day brazenly ransacking stores for food, clothing, appliances — and guns. Thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break the glass of a pharmacy. The crowd stormed the store, carrying out so much ice, water and food that it dropped from their arms as they ran. The street was littered with packages of ramen noodles and other items. Officials tried to balance security needs with saving lives. “We’re multitasking right now,” said New Orleans Police Capt. Marlon Defillo. “Rescue, recovery, stabilization of looting, we’re trying to feed the hungry.”
If you’re a law enforcement officer in New Orleans today, you have the toughest job in the world. These men and women will suffer for the rest of their lives from the psychological effects of what they’ve seen and experienced over the past few days.
Bush Releases Oil From Petroleum Reserve – The Bush administration agreed Wednesday to release oil from emergency stockpiles to help Gulf Coast refiners hobbled by a loss of shipments due to Hurricane Katrina. The administration also moved to temporarily ease some pollution standards on gasoline and diesel fuel to avert shortages.
A good move. This will keep refineries in operation which is extremely important. Don’t expect a savings at the pump though.
769 Dead, 307 Hurt in Iraq Bridge Stampede – Trampled, crushed against barricades or plunging into the Tigris River, more than 700 Shiite pilgrims died Wednesday when a procession across a Baghdad bridge was engulfed in panic over rumors that a suicide bomber was at large. Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. It was the single biggest confirmed loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Dr. Swadi Karim of the Health Ministry operations section said 769 were killed and 307 injured.
An act of terrorism without bombs, planes, guns or WMD. An amazing loss of life that’s hard to comprehend.
And finally…
Spanish paint town red in tomato fight – Tens of thousands of people armed with 100 tonnes of plum tomatoes took part in the “Tomatina” on Wednesday, joyously splattering each other in the Spanish town of Bunol. The town hall, which lies just inland from Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, spent 24,960 euros on the fruit and dumped it the streets for the chanting masses.
Look for a demonstration soon by the ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Tomatoes’.
The Big View
Just released by the USGS Landsat project, satellite images of New Orleans with flooding visible in large sections of the city.
This image was acquired on the morning of August 30th, 2005, right after a levy broke; the flood waters continue to rise. The most detailed view of this image is the high resolution version.
Useful resources on Katrina
Here’s a republish of the most relevant lists of links I provide in this post.
Help Storm Victims: American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | FEMA | Catholic Charities | Salvation Army | Getting Help After the Storm | Cash Donations Sought for Katrina Victims | Additional List of Katrina Disaster Relief Agencies |
News: | Coverage from MSNBC WDSU Nola.com Al.com USA Today | ABC News Coverage |
Weather/Webcams: New Orleans | Mobile | FL Panhandle |
Web Coverage: WWL-TV 4, New Orleans | AccuWeather | Weather.com | Hurricane Katrina (Wikipedia) | How Hurricanes Form (Flash Animation) |
Live Audio: WTIX-AM 690, New Orleans | WPMI-AM 710, Mobile | Streaming radio stations across the U.S. |
News Aggregators: NewsNow coverage of Katrina | Topix.net search of “Katrina” articles | Google news search of “Katrina” | Yahoo news search “katrina” | AOL news search “katrina” | MSN News search “katrina” |
Articles, Photos, Links Tagged “Katrina”: Technorati | del.icio.us/tag/katrina | Flickr “katrina” cluster |
Blog Coverage: WKRG-TV 5, Mobile storm watch blog | WPMI-TV 15, Mobile weather blog | WMBB-TV 13 storm blog | Central Florida Hurricane Center | CapitalWeather.com | Hurricanetrack.com | Moreweather.com | WeatherBlog | Report for WeatherBug Backyard | Katrinacane’s Friends | Daniel Rubin | DeadlyKatrina.com | Katrina Live Blogging | Josh Britton | Storm Track Blog | Storm Digest Blog | BBC “Reporter’s Log” |
Official Louisiana Government Communications: CITY Office of Emergency Preparedness | Latest Info from the Office of the LA State Police | Louisiana State Office of Emergency Preparedness | Conventions and Meetings Status | Status of the Airport, Airlines and Cruise Lines | Status of New Orleans Hotels | Official Weather Sites and Local TV News Sites | Status of Citywide Transportation | Status of the Convention Center, Louisiana Superdome, and N.O. Arena | Evacuation Routes | Emergency Preparation | School Closures | Lock, Bridge Closures |
Keep Trying
I’m hearing that websites of relief agencies, especially the American Red Cross, are becoming difficult to access due to overloaded web traffic. While that’s probably a good thing (they need all the donations they can get), it’s also an excuse for not giving. If you can’t get through, keep trying throughout the day, or give them a call at 1-800-HELP-NOW.
Whereabouts Unknown
It’s one thing to marvel at the destruction caused by nature. The pictures are awesome, incredible, unbelievable. And then, there are the other pictures. Seemingly normal pictures of people, captured by a camera in a happy moment, a special occasion, a celebration. But these images of joyous, smiling people have been published on the web because they can’t be found. They’re missing. Vanished. Swept away by Hurricane Katrina.
Slidell Louisiana, near Military road. Please help with location of the Logothety’s. The four circled in the pic (Mandie, Richard, Darlene, and Logo) were in Slidell near Military road during Katrina. I spoke with them at 8:30 am on Monday 29th before the storm and haven’t spoken with them since. They were at Rob and Erma’s house (not sure of their last names) with the Taylor Family. With the extensive damage to Slidell I am concerned about their safety.
An entire family. Nowhere to be found. Where are they tonight?
The pleas for help, for information, for a sighting…go on, and on.
“Looking for my brother Jim”
“My son-in-law Chris”
“I’m looking for my sister”
If you are in the affected areas and you recognize the family above, remember seeing all of them, or even one of them, please go to the Missing Persons Board and let them know.
If you are looking for someone…in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida…don’t give up. Keep searching.
Related:
— Wandering Refugees
— Goodbye Big Easy
Worth Another Mention
Help Storm Victims
American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW | FEMA | Catholic Charities | Salvation Army | Getting Help After the Storm | Cash Donations Sought for Katrina Victims | Additional List of Katrina Disaster Relief Agencies |
Outage
We’re back after being offline for almost an hour. I’m assuming there was an issue with Hosting Matters, the company a lot of bloggers use for web hosting services.
Hopefully, that’s the end of that.
MORE: Denial of Service Attack?
Just When You Think It Can’t Get Any Worse
The water is rising in New Orleans.
- New Orleans emergency shelters being evacuated
- About 200 critically ill patients being airlifted to safety
- New Orleans mayor: Bodies being pushed to the side
- Mississippi flooding up to six miles inland
- This is our tsunami,” Biloxi Mayor
- 1.7 million customers without power
Related: Delusional, Dysfunctional, Divisive, and Defiant