Because you can never really tell where its headed. Many are saying right now that they exepct a turn to the north, which would put it east of N.O.....key word "EXPECT" That turn has yet to really happen, so right now N.O. is still looking down the barrel of a 357 magnum, aimed at its head.
Let's hope the Lake P doesn't overflow - otherwise New Orleans is screwed. I've been going to school there for a year now, and from what I've seen, this city is in no shape or form prepared to deal with a hurricane like some of those Florida cities.
This doesn't surprise me - I tried some body boarding in Galveston today and the undertow was extremely strong. I agree with the sentiments about how the city should have been evacuated, but in all fairness, I imagine many people would still insist on taking their cars. Still, in emergencies like this, they should have a crew of helicopters ready to help clear accidents to minimize the risk of people being stuck in traffic when the hurrican hits.
Well, looking at projections, if Katrina takes that turn to the north everyone's expecting, it would put it somewhere near Slidell, directly at Lake P. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but that's what it looks like. Either ways, turn or no turn, its beginning to look like New Orleans is officially screwed.
The latest tracking map....north puts it a New Orleans' mercy. They say the sorm is now headed to the north.
Dang they said that the wind is already at 90mph downtown New Orleans. Edit: gust not sustained winds
What's going to happen now is the Lake will over flow with all the Gulf water being dumped on it. That will be enough to probably flopd the entire city, especially considering we're surrounded by water from 3 sides. The water they're saying will probably be up to 25 feets (it'll seem like much more considering the city is 10 feet under sea level). Add to this wind, etc, and a lot property will probably be completely destroyed - Bourbon street/French Quarter/Tulane. Let's pray the casualties are kept to a minimum - this looks a lot like 1901 Galveston. http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/?from=wxcenter_news Also, there is a thunderstorm coming down from the North towards LA - that might have an effect on the flooding as well - not sure.
Watching it now and they said they just got a report saying about 20,000 computers are now watching it.
Funny you mention Cafe du Monde. I was in New Orleans this morning with my girl friend. At this point I did not know how serious the hurricane was since we were out partying last night. Our flight out is at 10AM. At 8AM we are pretty much ready to go but my girl friend wants to get some beignets at Cafe du Monde. We think we have plenty of time since the Airport is about 15-20 minutes from the French Quarter. So we trek on over to Cafe du Monde and get there about 8:15. It's closed but I see a woman inside. Thinking that it might open up later in the day, I ask her when they open. She says Wendsday. I don't think much of it since I saw plenty of store making hurricane preperations the night before and I had heard that it was going to hit monday. When we are walking back to the hotel I overhear someone saying that I-10 is like a parking lot. O sh*t. I tell my girlfriend we better get out of here fast. We get back to the hotel about 8:25 and ask the bellhop to get a cab before we go up to the room to get our luggage. We come back down expecting a cab to be there soon. 5 Minutes, 10 mintues, 15 minutes pass. I ask the bellhop how long it going to take. He calls someone up and says it will be another 10 minutes because the cab driver is fighting trough traffic. Fifteen minutes later and he is there at about 8:55. The cab driver takes us on our way and passes under I-10. He says look how bad that is, but I know a back way to the airport. a few minutes later he asks us when our flight leaves. I say 10. And he say "You have got to be kidding me". Oh sh*t moment number 2. He proceeds to haul butt through the back streets and manages to get us there in 35 minutes at 9:30. I am relieved as we pull up to the airport. Then he drops us off at the Southwest Airlines entrance and I have Oh sh*t moment number 3 when I see the line winding to the counter. We bypass the line and walk up to the front of the counter. My girlfriend see an employee off to the side and asks where can we get our tickets. He points down the hallway. We walk over there and see 2 self service ticket kiosks. One has about 8 people in line and the other just one. So we get behind the lone guy and have our tickets within 5 minutes of getting to the airport! We then proceed to the gate and see the line to security. Oh sh*t moment number 4. This line turns a corner and I can't see how long it is so I assume its going to take a long time to get through security. It turns out that the metal detectors are right around the corner and it only takes us 10 minutes to get through the line. We get to the gate about 9:45 and the passengers are exiting the plane we are about to get on. We get in line to board and I hear a few people talking One girl missed her previous flight becuase of the traffic and got on this flight through stand by. Another guy left his hotel at 7:15 and got to the airport at 9:00! Thats when I relize just how lucky we were to get a cab driver that knew his way around. I tell the guy it only took us 30 minutes to get to the airport. He asks what time we left and I tell him 9:00. He couldn't believe it. The amazing thing was the plane was not full. There were about 10 seats open. I assume there were a lot of people who did not get to the airport on time. So now I have been watching Katrina on the news all day see what my life would be like if the walk to Cafe du Monde would have taken a little longer
The beignets at Cafe du Monde are amazing. I ate four of them before I left New Orleans last Wednesday.
I've had http://www.nola.com/paradecam/ running from the link at the start of the thread and it's pretty cool because (click on video to get something other than the still shot) even though it's just a crappy little webcam and the picture is fogged up because of the rain, you still see morons driving around. About every other car is a cop with his lights on, but some fools I guess are just out cruising the hurricane. It's also interesting because in the hour or so I've had it running in the background, I can see the actual change in the physical condition of this one little street corner. The trees are all sagging much more noticeably than an hour ago, the wind and rain definitely come in waves. Much more interesting to watch one little piece of the hurricane even poorly and without sound, than see the same old media overview big picture that I've sat through so many times before. It's a much more personal view of the hurricane. Last year's Florida foursome left me a little desensitized to the big picture media angle.
LOL, why am I not surprised. I spent the biggest hurricane (I forget the name) to hit Florida last year switching between CNN, CNBC, the Weather Channel, and Fox News. It was remarkable that while first three were broadcasting the admittedly simplistic public service broadcasts enjoining people not to touch downed power lines, Fox News alone would have none of that. They instead spent most of the morning ridiculing people who had to be saved because of their own stupidity. It was almost as if they were relishing the arrival of the Hurricane because it would kill off all the stupid people who didn't get prepared and watch Fox News.
I heard on one of the news reports that a FEMA computer model had between 40,000 and 60,000 people dying in new orleans in a cat 4 or 5 direct hit. I have not found a reference to that yet, but I did find this link. http://www.nola.com/washingaway/thebigone_1.html
