Yes, the levies are not designed for this type of storm. It was designed only for a CAT 3. 7PM UPDATE: Winds now 160 MPH.
Am I the only one that thinks the media is sensationalizing this a bit? I mean, if it does hit NO, it will be destructive without question...more so than if tis hurricane were to hit another city, but it's a little bit hard for me to fathom the city being underwater for months. Not that it couldn't happen, but....man. I hope I'm right and this doesn't destroy the city. The poverty in NO, is already really sad. I can only imagine how bad it would be if this happens as they are predicting.
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break, If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break, When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay....
The MAIN difference between this storm hitting New Orleans vs any other major city is that NO is below sea-level. With any other city the water will simply run-off but with NO the water has nowhere to go.
It's not the media saying that it's the National Hurricane Center and they're saying that could be the worst case scenario.
Well, maybe they are a tad bit, but there's absolutely no telling what this storm will bring. This storm could end up being just as bad or worse than the Galveston storm in terms of disease/death, and it will more than likely be worse than Andrew in terms of destruction. I think it is accurate to predict that the city could be under water for months. Just think if Lake Conroe was about two or three times as big as it is now, and had crushed buildings, sewage, alligators, poisinous snakes, coffins, dead bodies, harmful chemicals, and just about everything else in it, and had to be drained. Then, afterwards, people had to go through and manually clean these things out of the bottom of the lake. That's only a small visualization of what they could be in for.
And the main reason the water has nowhere to go is because of the damn levee system. The so-called "experts" have been predicting this doomsday scenario for years. Unfortunately, there is an actual threat of their predictions being tested now. I'm pretty sure the media is trying to hype it up as much as possible (even though death and destruction should never be that hypeable), but I do see there being a problem with all the water there if the levee system breaks down. There really is nowhere else for it to go, and stagnant water could potentially be just as harmful as the actual storm itself.
Even if N.O. is only underwater for a couple of weeks nearly every building will be condemned. Only the newer ones will survive and they will require major cleaning & repair. That is what I call the city being destroyed.
image when the city fills and it fills the lower bowl of the stadium. There will be snakes and rats running all of the place for dry ground. Now picture 20000 people in there also. That is some freaky crap
Just a few minutes ago they said it was up to 30,000 people in the Super Dome. They said they had to take weapons off some of them. I'm curious about the people trying to evacuate. Every now and then they show some live shots of the interstate and it's bumber to bumber.
I'm curious about the reporters... I know that they will get most of them out of there before the storm really hits hard, but I'm pretty sure some news outlets will try to keep at least one crew there to report on the aftermath...
I hadn't seen any reporters reporting from New Orleans until just now on CNN. I thought that they would just stay out of the city to avoid any injuries.
Wow, this bulletin from the National Weather Service sounds like doomsday. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=NPWLIX&version=0&max=51 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory 000 WWUS74 KLIX 282139 NPWLIX URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005 ...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA... ...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED... MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS. THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED. AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS. LAZ038-040-050-056>070-MSZ080>082-290300- ASSUMPTION-HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON- LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE- ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY- TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES- UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE- 413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005 ...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT... HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 26 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL ONSET AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE COAST AND BY 3 AM CLOSER TO THE NEW ORLEANS METRO AREA AND PERSIST FOR 9 TO 15 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS AROUND 175 MPH ARE LIKELY IN THE WARNED AREA BY DAYBREAK MONDAY. DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET!
this from the national weather service, second one down http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz062 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS. THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED. AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.
