At 6PM CDT, August 27^th all indications are that Hurricane Katrina will strike the City of New Orleans and its immediate environs within the next 48 hours.  For the communities along the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, the projected storm surge with the current track is estimated will top 14-to-18 feet exclusive of wave action.

No matter what, electrical service and communications will be interrupted in the area for days on end - that is already a given even with a near-miss.  If the absolute very 'worst-case' projections really do come to pass in the Crescent City - a huge community that is essentially a 'bowl' for the most part several feet below sealevel - then I paraphrase Rudolph Giuliani when I say , 'the number of casualties will be more than any of us of can bear'.

We are now faced with a Category 4 - maybe Category 5 -  hurricane, so regardless of strength and proximity of impact it may be a long time before you all will see the signature below ...

[glb]El Pescador[/glb]  Ever Again

I'll be watching the television for news.

Rad

May your god be with you.  Katrina just upgraded to a 5; mandatory evacuation of New Orleans ordered!

Good Luck

Thorin -

Same here on this side of Lake Pontchartrain south of Interstate 12 where I live.  Battening down, but not certain I will run.  I spent 33 years in a profession where we were the last to take shelter from hurricanes in coastal Louisiana and the first back in to perform Search & Rescue in the aftermath - 'smoke in the nostrils of the old broken-down firehorse' and all that.  Really would hate to miss the 'show'.

All of my loved ones - except the two rat terriers - are either in other states or on high ground to the north.  Sure looks like Katrina has me in her crosshairs, and she certainly looks to be either the Perfect Storm or the Storm of the Century - nay, Storm of the Millenium - for those poor folks living down in the 'bowl-below-sealevel called the  Big Easy'.  They will be at DefCon 1 by nightfall.  No matter how much water we get here on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, it will drain off in 18-to-36 hours no matter what.  Down there, it could be weeks or months if their 105+ year-old pumps are permanently disabled - they run on an electrical standard from the nineteenth century and there are no ways to restore them to service in a timely fashion.

BTW, do you like bluegrass music?

EP

I am an old hippie from Maine - used to take my dad's GMC pick-up and go to many a blue grass festival.  Short answer - yes

Good luck and use your head - hate to see the dogs hurt  ;)

thorin wrote on Aug 28^th, 2005 at 4:16pm:

"... used to take my dad's GMC pick-up and go to many a blue grass festival..."

Was kinda hoping the bluegrass CDs I sent to Texas made it all the way home ::)

The structure on the highest ground in our community is the railroad station.  Early this afternoon, a local firefighter pointed out to me that that there is a mark 15 feet above ground level marking a storm surge attained in the 1940s.  That water level would overtop the crown of my roof, so I will be gone by sunset.

EP

We are waiting for word. You okay? The house? The internet connection?

Hi Rad, have you looked up the map of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain south of interstate 12 ? They got hit hard from the NE side . My guess is that the winds were blowing away from the northshore and the flooding shouldn't be so bad in that area. On the southside of Lake Pontchartrain a dam gave way and NO is under water. no power , no drinking water no nothing in the whole area. But I am only guessing.

The only railroad on the northside of Lake Pontchartrain I could find
runs throu Slidell - and the news from there is bad: "People posting messages on a weather forum in New Orleans say central Slidell is underwater."---
"State police say the farthest East you can go is Baton Rouge. No one is being allowed in any of the communities surrounding New Orleans."
link:http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL082905ross.86c6840.html

watch slideshows at
http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/breakingnews/slideshow/083005_dmnkatrina/7.html

Tonight, I am a refugee in the home of an old friend on the eastern edge of Baton Rouge where I will sleep on the floor in air-conditioned comfort.  Civilization begins to rapidly degrade eastward from the Amite River not to resume until you reach the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.  An analogy is that I am luxuriating with a shower and a hot meal in Kuwait while back home awaits the very worst conditions of a slum in Baghdad, i.e., no electricity, no water nor sewage provision, no garbage nor trash collection, no mail delivery, no wired telehone nor cellular service, no cable TV nor broadband Internet service, no police patrols nor response, and no manned fire stations over most if the area with no way to summon emergency services of any kind, and - most distressing - no commerce of any kind so far.  You can get donated cases of bottled water and MREs at a couple of deserted shopping centers if you are lucky.

My few remaining neighbors back home - those valiant few - are sitting in the dark sweating while nervously fingering their repeating shotguns and Magnum revolvers wondering if tonight will be the occasion for the return of the looters who have already struck roughly half the houses on my street.   After having observed a total failure of government at every level for days on end - nay, seemingly days without end - any citizen of the USA, or any other nation in the world for that matter, who opposes the notion of decent Americans enjoying a reasonable Right to Keep and Bear Arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment reveals himself as an utter fool and will only receive contempt from me for I have seen the proverbial Elephant.

Out there, we are strictly on our own without any timely communication for a citizen seeking emergency services extending beyond the sound of his own voice - with the exception of signaling with gunfire, I suppose.  Forget any notion of even filing a police report for there are neither law enforcement patrols nor fire protection services that can be summoned at any time of day.  Should the goblins turn to arson as they so frequently do during episodes of widespread lawlessness, we will be in a jam sure enough.

Just as I predicted, electrical service and communications have been interrupted in the area - but it will be for many, many weeks rather than the few days I foresaw - before any sort of normalization.  My absolute very 'worst-case' projections came much too close to reality for the Crescent City, and my paraphrase of Rudolph Giuliani all too accurate when I said , 'the number of casualties will be more than any of us of can bear'.

What should border on the unbelievable for those at a distance is that if the storm track had been 30 miles more to the west, I suspect we would had suffered tenfold casualties in Louisiana from the unprecedented flooding.

EP :'(

Incredible.

Glad you are alive.

Our prayers are with you.

Brings William Golding's Lord of the Flies much too close for comfort.  Glad you have survived this far.  Please be prudent, many people need and a lot more enjoy your presence.

I have one bed & airconditioning a little west of you - if interested, e-mail me at thorin at air mail dot net.

Very glad to hear you are OK.

El_Pescador

How wonderful to see your posting!


Quote:

Battening down, but not certain I will run.

I prayed that you had *run*--I'm happy you are still with us--but I do not envy the *hell* that all in that region are facing.

Rad wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 3:25am:

"... Glad you are alive..."

Perhaps I am alive, but I never realized that the moment would occur in my life when I would envy the dead.  I doubt there will be any time for avocation or enjoyment for me well into the unforeseeable future.


thorin wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 9:38am:

"... William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'... Please be prudent... one bed & airconditioning a little west of you..."

Great minds must think alike, for I independently arrived at the "Lord of the Flies" analogy while walking through the ruins of Slidell early in the afermath.

As to being prudent, my 4x4 Toyota truck has been the only conveyance of potable water and bag ice able to make it into my stricken neighborhood.  If my truck breaks down or I become physically dysfunctional in any fashion, those armed citizens providing the only security thereabouts may in deep trouble.  All their vehicles are disabled, and even though MREs, ice, and water are available five miles to the east it may as well be five hundred miles.  Logistics is the bitch - you can send all the relief supplies imaginable, but those last five miles are where things choke up.  

On a scale of 1-to-10 for suffering, deprivation, and a bleak future my family is registering roughly 0.35 - but I know of others in the community hitting 9.75 or higher.  To genuinely care for me and mine, go in my name about the Dallas vicinity to find a refugee mother with small children whose menfolk stayed to face the storm.  Offer them a shower, home laundry service, a home-cooked meal, and a night of comfort with safety.


David_L6 wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 10:10am:

"... glad to hear you are OK..."

Alive and kicking, yes; OK, no.


NightOwl wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 11:34am:

"... wonderful to see your posting... I do not envy the *hell* that all in that region are facing.

Imagine the worst, then multiply it tenfold.  I spent a lifetime learning and then practicing a profession as a marine biologist to manage, enhance, and preserve the commercial fishing industry along the Gulf Coast - and while many of my former constituents are dead or dying, the remainder are facing a future impacted by devastation that is positively off-the-scale.

EP :'(

When did you leave?

Is there anything that I can do? I am off for a couple more days (go back to work Friday). If you think the police will let me in the area, I can go to Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, grocery store, etc. and pick up some supplies for you and bring them down. Like 4 or 5 of those big 120 quart ice chests filled with ice, bottled water, samich meat  :),..... whatever you need.

Just let me know if I can do anything.


David

Rad wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 3:07pm:

"... When did you leave?...

I left Sunday night in high winds to ride out the storm at my daughter's place north of Interstate 12 a little west of my home on the south side.  Incredible wind damage over there, but no flooding other than the river bridges being overtopped by swiftwater.  All other conditions pretty much as described earlier.

Serious looting going on north of Lake Pontchartrain by Central American gangs.  I had a personal encounter when I stopped to help a band of them who I mistakenly thought were broken down and stranded, but they declined my offer of compressed air, ice and water from the cargo I was ferrying in from Baton Rouge.  They were impressed by such generosity from a gringo El Viejo I suppose, and I managed to drive away unscathed.  While offering to assist a disaster relief organization last night, the topic came up and the supervisor said that by his estimation over 100 goblins have been terminated with extreme prejudice but such political incorrectness will forever remain urban legend whether factual or not because nobody is talking - and never will.  Our crabs, crawfish and catfish are continuing to grow fatter with each passing day, and now I understand why most Coast Guardsmen are reluctant to dine on crustaceans or scavenger fish.


David_L6 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2005 at 11:53am:

"... Just let me know if I can do anything..."

Bring chainsaws and a stouthearted friend for just one long hard day to cut up a beautiful old pecan tree uprooted in my back yard (and while you are at it, clear the rest of the yard when cutting up the small tree lying on top of my bassboat).  With an empty pickup truck bed and some sort of trailer, you can carry a good load of some of the best 'cooking wood' there is back to America (i.e., west of the Amite River) which will ease my sorrow to know it will not be wasted.

EP :'(

Fascinating to hear accounts from somebody who actually *lives* there.

El_Pescador wrote on Sep 6^th, 2005 at 1:46pm:

Bring chainsaws and a stouthearted friend for just one long hard day to cut up a beautiful old pecan tree uprooted in my back yard (and while you are at it, clear the rest of the yard when cutting up the small tree lying on top of my bassboat).  With an empty pickup truck bed and some sort of trailer, you can carry a good load of some of the best 'cooking wood' there is back to America (i.e., west of the Amite River) which will ease my sorrow to know it will not be wasted. EP :'(

I can go buy a chainsaw, but I'll have to come down alone. If you're serious, call me (collect is OK) or e-mail me. I'll PM my number and address to you.

The wood stays there though. Not interested in hauling a truck load of wood back up here that I wouldn't use.  ;)

That wood would be valuable. You should call a lumberyard. I bet they would come get it and pay you a pretty penny for it. They would also cut it so as best to preserve its value.

David_L6 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2005 at 3:37pm:

"... I can go buy a chainsaw, but I'll have to come down alone. If you're serious, call me (collect is OK) or e-mail me. I'll PM my number and address to you..."

Many local seven-digit phone calls are impossible in Baton Rouge, and almost no toll calls nor toll-free calls can be made out of here.  Both wired and wireless telephone systems are positively overwhelmed. Remarkably, eMail has become the only reliable method of communication for southeast Louisiana since the US Mail is not being distributed - you have to go pick it up at your local Post Office in the unlikely event that it is even open.

I drove up a major thoughfare today for four miles to file a claim with Allstate - it took almost two hours up and way over an hour back.  The Allstate mobile unit was overwhelmed and could accept no more applicants today, so I went shopping at Home Depot for relaxation - bought ninety dollars worth of HD plastic bags to dispose of watersoaked possessions at curbside.

Too late to work out anything this week.  Right now, my only concerns are my two rat terriers - Cingular Wireless called my middle daughter back to work in Covington - so now I am the only caregiver extant in Louisiana for them as the tomcat in her dwelling is totally intolerant of canines.  My medical and prescription insurance was terminated due to a SNAFU of some kind two days before Katrina, my MDs office and the publicly-owned hospital across the street went under 8 feet of water so as to be offline indefinitely, and I have not seen a pair of socks that belong to me for the last ten days.

EP :'(

Hi El Pescador. Thanks to David L6 who posted at the Outhose I've been able to track you down. I'm so very sorry for what has happened. It's diificult to read the papers without choking up. I read this morning that the Vancouver Search and Rescue Crew just returned after a week in The Big Easy and were reluctant to talk about what they experienced other than to say it's far worse than photo's, reporters or television can convey. Ickie started a donation site at the Outhouse for donations to the Red Cross and I gave what I could. I wish I could do more as this is just heartbreaking. :'(

membrain wrote on Sep 7^th, 2005 at 4:16pm:

"... I read this morning that the Vancouver Search and Rescue Crew just returned after a week in The Big Easy and were reluctant to talk about what they experienced other than to say it's far worse than photo's, reporters or television can convey..."

To reiterate an earlier remark, I never thought I would see the day when the dead were to be envied. There are still folks stranded south of Lake Pontchartrain - some have committed suicide out of despair when day after day their waterborne rescuers come into sight only to retire under gunfire from the goblins. All of my former agency's technical people were ordered withdrawn early on, and only the law enforcement branch is left onscene with instructions to avoid combat.  Prior to evacuation, thugs with assault rifles essentially commandeered the Superdome under the noses of outmanned and outgunned city and state police ordered to avoid confrontation at all costs.  'Lord of the Flies' pales to the order of college-boy pranks, but rumor has it that as long as the news media can be held in abeyance 'DeGuello' has finally been sounded.  We will never know for sure in our lifetime, and it may forever remain myth.

EP :'(

El_Pescador


Quote:

To reiterate an earlier remark, I never thought I would see the day when the dead were to be envied. There are still folks stranded south of Lake Pontchartrain - some have committed suicide out of despair

Are you *okay*?  I know things are not good in that part of the world--but do you have family or friends for *moral support*?

I literally started crying when I posted the above--I wish I could give you a hug.

Checking in. More hugs from the West coast. Watching the news with great interest. Seems like a nightmare.

Rad wrote on Sep 9^th, 2005 at 4:16am:

"... Watching the news with great interest..."

This is all quite ironic, actually.  For days, a battery-powered AM radio was my only source for news coverage of Katrina.  When I crossed the border into the Zone of Normality west of the Amite River, there was scant time to watch TV after I crashed, then restocked and resumed ferrying potable water and ice back into St. Tammany Parish - Louisiana counterpart to county - with my Toyota 4x4 pickup (regrettably, in accordance with Murphy's Law, the A/C in my truck died while on the road).  While most Americans have had around-the-clock TV coverage of the disaster, I have seen very little of it.  What I miss most of all is reading the comic strips in the New Orleans Times-Picayune at breakfast time.  I don't know if it is even being printed anymore.

It has been a very long time since I have seen the 'thousand-yard stare', but when resupplying at the Wal-Mart Super Centers (now reopening with generator-powered electricity) I can spot it now and again. The absolute lack of disaster-profiteering is very commendable.  Prices for some storm-related supplies and equipment are rock-bottom at Home Depot and Sam's Club, and I have seen no gouging at all beyond brief gasoline price spikes which have since been rescinded.

Quote:

DISPATCH TO TRAPPER Coonasses are resilient and not easily quashed.

Quote:

DISPATCH TO DAVID_L6 Team of retirees from ICRR coming down from McComb, MS at dawn SAT to clear trees and gut house. Armed US Marines now patrolling neighborhood around-the-clock handing out canned water, ice and MREs. Things looking up.

EP :'(

Good deal Pesky. Thanks for the update.

El_Pescador wrote on Sep 8^th, 2005 at 5:11pm:

'Lord of the Flies' pales to the order of college-boy pranks, but rumor has it that as long as the news media can be held in abeyance 'DeGuello' has finally been sounded.  We will never know for sure in our lifetime, and it may forever remain myth. EP :'(

I hope the Goblins get what they deserve!! Sorry to hear about your Pecan Tree, I know from personal experience how aperson can become attched to a beautiful old tree. It breaks my heart to hear you've got to gut your house. This catastrophe beggars the imagination.

The Times-Picayune is printing again. Their on-line edition is at: http://www.nola.com/t-p/ From what I understand this was the only way desperate folks could get word out about their situation by posting there for quite some time.

You're in my thoughts and prayers. (I guess Katrina was my 'Foxhole'). :'(

Pulled power company meter pan so that no electrical current can backfeed into distribution network, and hooked a Coleman PowerMate Model 6560 (5,250 watts steady state) gasoline generator directly into my household wiring ... can run three 5,000 BTU A/C window units at MAX continously plus a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer and modest lighting with no problem whatsoever ... Robin/Subaru engine relatively quiet and thrifty compared to Briggs & Stratton counterpart ... very satisfied with generator, and FEMA may reimburse all or part of cost ($699 USD plus tax) ... be advised that Sam's Club has literally dozens of generators being returned for malfunctioning with less than two hours service, and 90-plus percent are painted YELLOW at the factory.

In addition to above, now have (1) safe water with adequate pressure; (2) functional sewage system; (3) gas-fired water heater; and (4) functional automatic dishwasher ... have yet to try clothes washer or gas-fired dryer on generator power ... no wireline telephone service and scant wireless service, plus no US Mail delivery nor package delivery services.

EP :'(  

Hey, my Conservative friend. Long time no hear! Are you still progressing towards "normality", whatever that may be in your life?

A little worried

thorin (David Lowell)

I'm worried about you too El Pesc. I hope things are improving for you and yours.

membrain wrote on Sep 24^th, 2005 at 3:16pm:

"... I hope things are improving for you and yours.

Effective 9/28 wireline telephone service restored; ADSL broadband service tested on submerged Dell Dimension L400c this date (all other PCs stored in Baton Rouge); Cingular Wireless service slowly becoming useful, but in immediate aftermath of Katrina/Rita might as well carried a brick around with me - NexTel alleged to have weathered the recent disaster best of of all wireless services; cable TV still out; US Mail service interrupted 8/28 thru 9/13 and again 9/21 thru 9/26; safe potable water; functional sewage treatment; refuse collection spotty; electric service restored 9/16, but out for a couple of days due to Rita; natural gas service uninterrrupted throughout event.

EP :'(

Good to hear from you. I saw you on the forums earlier today. Interested to any and all thoughts you have on the disaster down there in thre Gulf.

This update was sure long enough coming!  ;)

Glad to hear that you're still kicking and moving back towards normal.

Thansk for the update El Pesc. Much appreciated. Hopefully the rest of the hurricane season will leave you alone. :-/

Rad wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2005 at 10:37pm:

"... Interested to any and all thoughts you have on the disaster down there in the Gulf.."

All my functional computer gear is still stored in Baton Rouge 80 miles away.  The Dell Dimension L400c was soaked in estaurine waters, and after running hinky for awhile finally conked out.  The floppy drive was full of storm residue and the case of the MASTER HDD was severely corroded, but after installing a spare 80GB IDE Seagate HDD and a new NEC floppy I was able to perform a Ghost 2003 "image-to-disk" Restore from the still-functional SLAVE HDD using DOS Disaster Recovery diskettes.  Since you can read this post, it is self-evident the procedure worked.

Most of my thoughts on this topic have been previously expressed back upstream, but I do have one further comment based on a limited tour south of my immediate area once my own predicament was addressed: THE ENORMITY OF THE STORM DEVASTATION BORDERS ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE IN MY COMMUNITY ALONE - I CAN SCARCELY IMAGINE HOW THINGS ARE TO THE EAST AND FURTHER SOUTH.

EP :'(

I would like an update on Pescador, anybody heard from him?

El_Pescador wrote on Oct 7^th, 2005 at 11:58am:

:... THE ENORMITY OF THE STORM DEVASTATION BORDERS ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE IN MY COMMUNITY ALONE - I CAN SCARCELY IMAGINE HOW THINGS ARE TO THE EAST AND FURTHER SOUTH."

Behold the white object in the image below.  That is the underside of a 24-foot fibreglass boat with its keel broken and suspended upside-down in its tangled steel-reinforced slings inside a demolished boathouse at the rear of a vanished condominium located at 182A Lakeview Drive along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain south of Slidell, Louisiana.  The nearest wind gauge registered 170 mph from the north immediately prior to its destruction during Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Rita further devastated the shoreline with southerly winds a few weeks later.

Back when I lived in modern-day America, I used to go fishing in that boat.  During Mardi Gras every year, we would sit atop the decked boathouse roof to watch the local Krewe of Bilge stage a wacky nautical Carnival parade around the canals of Eden Isles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/El_Pescador/RatsNestRd.jpg

EP :'(

Wow! That is devastation indeed EP. I had been looking at satellite photos of Lake Pontchartrain earlier to get an idea what the situation was. I noticed the same thing in those photos: namely that grainy stuff in the lake.

Is that digital interferance or debris?

membrain wrote on Oct 27^th, 2005 at 5:13pm:

"... that grainy stuff in the lake. Is that digital interferance or debris?"

Not quite sure, as I do not know exact date image was captured; however, I do know that Hurricane Katrina's most destructive winds were northerly versus southerly for Hurricane Rita which piled incredible amounts of debris on that very shoreline a few weeks later.

The owner of the condominium came to visit today and related that almost 60 days after the event, he has yet to have any substantive contact with his insurers and thus cannot even begin to undertake measures to chart the course of his family's life in the near-future.

EP :'(

Hello Pesky!

It's good to see your recent posts in other topics. They indicate that things have settled down a bit and that you can get on with your life to at least some extent.

I hope that there is steady improvement towards anything resembling 'normal'!

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 1^st, 2005 at 4:57am:

"... It's good to see your recent posts in other topics. They indicate that things have settled down a bit and that you can get on with your life to at least some extent..."

Regrettably, doing such is no more than an escape from reality.  Last night we had decorations put up for Halloween and bowls of candy for the Trick-or-Treaters, but not a single child came to the door in our devastated neighborhood.  The highlight of my week was tracking down a neighborhood dog and reuniting it with its storm-displaced owner.

Our local society is transforming from an acute crisis mode to a chronic crisis mode that promises to stretch into years.  The key shortage remains housing for service employees.  For example, a local outlet of an interstate restaurant chain that opened bravely in the wake of Katrina has capitulated and closed its doors.  Any small business that requires salesclerks, waiters, cooks, et cetera is hardpressed to even keep its doors open on a reduced schedule.

EP :'(

Quote:

Our local society is transforming from an acute crisis mode to a chronic crisis mode that promises to stretch into years.

Well, that says a lot about the situation ... from 'acute' ... to 'chronic' ... difficult to grasp for someone who only has seen it on the news!

Anyway, I enjoy reading your posts ...... :) ...... !

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 1^st, 2005 at 3:32pm:

"... difficult to grasp for someone who only has seen it on the news!..."

No journalism of any kind - whether print, photos, films, video, et cetera - can even begin to convey the scope of the devastation.  The true horror really set in for me when I was approached by bedraggled residents of neighboring coastal Hancock County, Mississippi canvassing the trash piles of flood-damaged furniture arrayed cubside in our stricken neighborhood to seek permission to gladly salvage mildewed bedding and scarred furniture because everything they possesed only a couple of weeks before was literally GONE WITH THE WIND!

EP :'(

El_Pescador wrote on Nov 1^st, 2005 at 5:11pm:

"... No journalism of any kind - whether print, photos, films, video, et cetera - can even begin to convey the scope of the devastation..."

Today - for the first tiime since Hurricane Katrina - I ventured south of Lake Pontchartrain to travel the streets of New Orleans and the roadways of St. Bernard Parish on a crisp and beautful fall day.  To my utter horror, it was only to discover an entirely new quantum level of devastation.

Nightly dreams now provide somewhat of a release, but the harshness of dawn resurrects the nightmare of reality from which there is no escape.

EP :'(

El_Pescador wrote on Nov 12^th, 2005 at 6:55pm:

"... Nightly dreams now provide somewhat of a release, but the harshness of dawn resurrects the nightmare of reality from which there is no escape..."

"... But the loss of power and the shortage of supplies was not what frightened Caraway on Tuesday.  What frightened her was what she saw when she walked out on the catwalk over Tulane Avenue.

'I saw a young man, not in uniform, walking through chest-high water, carrying a rifle up over his head.  I saw two men in a boat in T-shirts and cut-offs with seven or eight guns in the boat.  I saw two men in those orange Parish Prison jumpsuits.  It was just an oh-my-God kind of thing.

In our parking garage, while we were driving these patients up to the roof, there were people so bold as to be looting our employees' cars in front of us.  Tuesday night, the helicopters stopped flying because of gunfire.  We don't know where it came from or where it was targeted, but it sounded like gunfire.  When you see people with guns in the streets and you hear things that sound like gunshots, that's what you think.

If you weren't here, you don't really understand how scary it was.  It was scary.  The entire time I was down there, I didn't see one NOPD officer.  We were scared of rioting, of the commandeering of assets.  We were scared of lawlessness, of anarchy.  We felt vulnerable.  Very vulnerable'..."

CLICK HERE to read "Angels of Mercy".  

EP :'(

Body hunt continues in Lower 9th Ward

Cadaver dogs aiding team of firefighters

CLICK HERE to read story.  Almost 1,500 "souls" are still missing.

EP :'(

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/dispatches/050919.html

EP :'(

'War with no war'

"... Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of a quarter-billion Eastern Orthodox Christians from his seat in Istanbul, clutched his flowing black robes and trudged up the side of the broken Industrial Canal levee Saturday 'to answer the need of our soul.'  Surveying the wreckage beneath him, he prayed for the more than a thousand lives lost to Hurricane Katrina...

Leaving the airport, his motorcade headed to the Lower 9^th Ward, toward the same stretch of levee that officials opened to Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla in December to show the royal couple Katrina's effect on New Orleans.  A few hundred yards away a huge barge lies incongruously on high ground, beached atop a crushed school bus. Nearby, homes are piles of gray rubble; some have vanished, leaving behind only slabs.

Accompanied by Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes, Bartholomew was briefed on Katrina's damage by officials from the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA.  They prayed together, and the pontiff left a bouquet of red flowers to mark the site.

At the base of the levee, he turned away from his limousine and walked a short distance through the rubble of ruined houses, past discarded dishes and scattered vinyl LP records.

He stopped near a Chevrolet sedan flipped over on its top, its tires exposed to the sky.

'God protect us all,' he said.

Church officials traveling with the pontiff, including some Americans, said later they were stunned by the extent of the damage, even though they were completely familiar with all of television's images of Katrina.

Metropolitan Nicholas, the Detroit-based leader of Greek Orthodox Christians in the Detroit area, said the desensitizing effects of 24-hour television cable news left him unprepared for the reality of New Orleans.

'Seeing it actually frightened me: the searchers' graffiti on the houses.  All of it,' he said.  'It's like there was a war here.  You had a war, with no war.  Unbelievable'..."

New Orleans Times-Picayune
January 8^th, 2005

EP :'(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/El_Pescador/NOLA.jpg

EP :'(

El_Pescador

Regarding the above *cartoon*--

With all due respect to the victims of Katrina, both survivors and those that lost their lives, why do the New Orleans folks want to rebuilt a city based on that model?!

NightOwl wrote on Jan 10^th, 2006 at 11:25am:

"... why do the New Orleans folks want to rebuilt a city based on that model?!..."

If you superimpose a map of what is now the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan Area circa 1876 over a recent map expressing the flooding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it is readily evident that those settled areas from years past escaped virtually unscathed.

By and large, the most horrendous of the flooding was not an immediate result of the storm; rather, it represented the largest civil-engineering disaster in American history exacerbated by misgovernance at all levels - both before and after the event.

EP :'(

"... Each night for the past five months, Janet Bemis closed her eyes and recited tearful prayers.  She pleaded to God, with a million midnight whispers: 'Wrap your arms around my mother until we find her.'

Bemis' prayers softened the ache in her heart, but nothing could chase away the pain of not knowing if her ailing 82-year-old mother was dead, alive or alone.  Ethel Ann Herbert was airlifted from the Superdome on Aug. 31, two days after Hurricane Katrina.  She has been missing ever since.

'We didn't leave her floating in water,' Bemis, 60, said Tuesday.  'We didn't leave her to die.  We left her in the hands of the world's finest.  We left her with the military.'..."

New Orleans Times-Picayune
January 25, 2006

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202931122050.xml

EP :'(

KATRINA REDUX: This time the Angel of Death stalks to the west of the Big Easy


At 8PM CDT, August 30^th all indications are that Hurricane Gustav will strike west of the City of New Orleans and its immediate environs within the next 72 hours.  For the communities along the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain where we live, the projected storm surge with the current track will be far worse than endured during Hurricane Katrina three years ago almost to the day.

No matter what, electrical service and communications will be interrupted in the area for days on end - that is already a given even with a near-miss.  We are now faced with a Category 4 - maybe Category 5 -  hurricane, so regardless of strength and proximity of impact it may be a long time before any of you will see the signature below ...

[glb]El Pescador[/glb]  Perhaps Ever Again

The surge prediction so far in my area, Biloxi, is 6'-12'.  Being at ~25' of elevation, that'll keep me from having to go swimming.  Now, if I could just keep that water oak off the house...

I hate to wish this storm on somebody else.  Though, I'd sure welcome it hooking to the west some.  We've already had our lifetime share of catastrophic weather.

Look forward to hearing from you on the other side, Pesky.

Joe

Two links for water levels near where El Pescador lives...

Lake Pontchartrain @ I10 Turnaround near Slidell
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?0738023335

Rigolets at Hwy 90 near Slidell, LA
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?301001089442600

And here's one close to my home...

BILOXI BAY AT POINT CADET HARBOR AT BILOXI
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?302318088512600


Looking pretty good so far.