Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Hurricane Devastation

I just can't believe this is happening. I breathed such a sigh of relief yesterday when the levees held and the Superdome was just leaking. Where are these people going to go, and how in the world are they going to get out? This is a bad Ben Affleck movie- it can't be reality.

Here'a an excellent sampling of the news (thanks Heather):

From Sploid: 30,000 In Superdome; Man Jumps To Death
Conditions in the Superdome have rapidly deteriorated. The severely damaged Dome is now packed with nearly 30,000 survivors — up from about 10,000 when Katrina struck Monday morning. Toilets have long quit working. A man jumped to his death from the Superdome’s nosebleed seats.

The Coast Guard and National Guard and volunteer search & rescue groups continue to pluck people from rooftops throughout New Orleans. Flooding continues in the center and business district of New Orleans, as well as the Lakeshore areas. Flood water has reportedly receded a few inches in the 9th Ward, but is still at rooftop levels. The water is filthy. Broken natural gas lines continue to leak toxic gas. Hundreds of electrical lines are still live, snapping in the water.

Abandoned, lost and feral dogs have claimed the high ground in many neighborhoods, chasing off humans. Rats, alligators and poisonous snakes are also a problem for those stranded on rooftops. Oil, sewage and chemicals continue to pour into the city with salt water from Lake Pontchartrain and silty river water from the canals and Mississippi.

Many bodies and body parts have been sighted floating throughout New Orleans. It is unknown how many are victims of the storm or were recent burials. In New Orleans, corpses are buried above ground in crypts or low tombs.

Attempts to block the growing hole in a break on a levee along a canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain have not yet stopped the flooding. The Coast Guard had planned to drop 3,000-lb. sandbags over the 500-foot-long collapsed levee wall. The lake was at about 5 feet above sea level this morning, due to the storm surge pushed into the lake from the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans is 6 feet below sea level, on average. New Orleans will likely continue to fill until the water reaches lake level. All hospitals have flooded and patients & staff have been evacuated.

Reports from CNN and WWL say more levee breaks have been identified. Flood waters are now coming from several breaks on different canals and seawalls.

City officials say hundreds may be dead in the floodwaters and in submerged houses. Aaron Broussard, the president of Jefferson Parish — the suburban area directly west of New Orleans, including Metarie — tells WWL TV that “residents will probably be allowed back in town in a week, with identification only, but only to get essentials and clothing. You will then be asked to leave and not come back for one month.” Broussard also says “there is no plumbing and the sanitary situation is getting nasty. He told WAFB-TV that he is carrying around a bag for his own human waste."

A huge fire is burning east of downtown. Yesterday, a yacht club burned down on the Lake Ponchertrain shore. Fire crews can’t reach the blazes, so they just burn. Oil and gasoline are floating on top of the flood waters. Fires are jumping from buildings to the oil and gas pooled atop the rising flood waters.

6,000 National Guard troops are moving in, AP reports. Another 6,000 Louisiana and Mississippi guard troops are unable to respond, as they were sent to Iraq. Looting continues along Canal Street, which is heavily flooded. Martial Law has been declared, but most of the city is not accessible to police or troops.

Many parts of Interstate 10 over the eastern edge of Lake Pontchartrain have been washed away. The Causeway that runs north-south over the lake has structural damage, the Coast Guard reports. There are “whitecaps on Canal Street.”

Mosquitos are breeding wildly in the standing water and health experts fear epidemics caused by the insects as well as the human waste and toxins in the water covering the entire city.

The Superdome’s remaining primary generator is “showing signs of stress,” according to Fox News. Water is rising around the Superdome, which is on the highest ground in town. WWL radio describes the city as a “dark, eerie, lonely, depressing and dangerous place.” There is no food supply, no electricty, little drinking water. There is no direct road connection east of New Orleans. Bridges and roads linking Louisiana to Mississippi and the rest of the southeast have washed away.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home