by hilzoy
I've been out and about all weekend, doing things other than watching the news, so I only just realized that what was a minor hurricane the last time I checked now has all the makings of a major catastrophe. From the NOAA:
"DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTEDMOST 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."
StormTrack puts it more concisely:
"I am going to make this very simple. If you are in Mississippi or Lousiana near or below sea level, GET OUT!!!"
*** Update: here's a link to donate to the Red Cross. (End Update; more or the original post below the fold.)
As I understand it, the combination of New Orleans and a major hurricane is an accident waiting to happen. The city is below sea level, with water on three sides. The levees set up to control the flooding of the Mississippi have starved the coastal wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico for decades: normally, mud and silt from floodwaters replace soil that washes away, but the levees that prevent the flooding also prevent the wetlands from being replenished. As a result they have been disappearing, and taking with them the buffer zone over which a hurricane might have weakened en route to the city. The storm surge is currently projected to come over the levees; however, while the levees will not keep the water out, they may prevent it from flowing back out again, especially in conjunction with the city's bowl-like terrain. It's just a disaster.
Chris Mooney wrote an article about this last May:
"In the event of a slow-moving Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane (with winds up to or exceeding 155 miles per hour), it's possible that only those [third-storey] crow's nests would remain above the water level. Such a storm, plowing over the lake, could generate a 20-foot surge that would easily overwhelm the levees of New Orleans, which only protect against a hybrid Category 2 or Category 3 storm (with winds up to about 110 miles per hour and a storm surge up to 12 feet). Soon the geographical "bowl" of the Crescent City would fill up with the waters of the lake, leaving those unable to evacuate with little option but to cluster on rooftops -- terrain they would have to share with hungry rats, fire ants, nutria, snakes, and perhaps alligators. The water itself would become a festering stew of sewage, gasoline, refinery chemicals, and debris."
And here's an even scarier (and more detailed) article:
"Maestri says imagine what happens if a huge storm hits just to the east of the city."The hurricane is spinning counter-clockwise, it's now got a wall of water in front of it some 30 to 40 feet high, as it approaches the levees that surround the city, it tops those levees," describes Maestri. "The water comes over the top - and first the communities on the west side of the Mississippi river go under. Now Lake Ponchetrain— which is on the eastern side of the community—now that water from Lake Ponchetrain is now pushed on the population that is fleeing from the western side, and everybody's caught in the middle. The bowl now completely fills and we've got the entire community under water, some 20 to 30 feet under water."
Remember all those levees that the U.S. Army built around New Orleans, to hold smaller floods out of the bowl? Maestri says now those levees would doom the city, because they'll trap the water in.
"It's going to look like a massive shipwreck," says Maestri. "Everything that the water has carried in is going to be there. It's going to have to be cleaned out— alligators, moccasins and god knows what that lives in the surrounding swamps, has now been flushed -literally—into the metropolitan area. And they can't get out, because they're inside the bowl now. No water to drink, no water to use for sanitation purposes. All of the sanitation plants are under water and of course, the material is floating free in the community. The petrochemicals that are produced up and down the Mississippi river—much of that has floated into this bowl... The biggest toxic waste dump in the world now is the city of New Orleans because of what has happened." (...)
New Orleans has protected itself from past floods partly with the levees, but the city also operates one of the biggest pumping systems on earth. There are giant turbines all across town, and every time there's a major rain, they suck up the water and pump it out. Combes says that system won't work after a huge hurricane.
"The problem," says Combe, "is that the city's been underwater. And the whole city has to be drained by the pumps, and since the pumps have been under the water, the pumps are flooded. They don't operate now— we have to get the pumps back in operation and in order to get the pumps back in order, we have to get the water out of the city."
Sounds like a Catch 22.
"That's correct."
Researcher Jay Combe has reached a troubling conclusion. He's told his supervisors at the Army Corps of Engineers that if The Hurricane hits New Orleans, most of the buildings in the city would probably be destroyed. If the water didn't demolish them, the hurricane's horrific winds would. And Combe says that raises a question: How many people would die?
Some researchers say 40,000. Some say 20,000. This Army Corps researcher says those figures are probably too low.
Combe worries, "I think of a terrible disaster. I think of 100,000.""
Near the beginning of the article, there's this exchange:
"Basically, the part of New Orleans that most Americans—most people around the world—think is New Orleans, would disappear.Suyhayda agrees, "It would, that's right.""
OK. Let's pause and let that sink in. And pray to the deity of your choice that Katrina weakens or veers, or that these projections are alarmist. My heart goes out to anyone in the hurricane's path, and to their friends and family.
Coming in a distant third, after the loss of life, and the devastation of one of America's greatest cities, is a third problem:
""The real issue -- that I don't think the nation is paying attention to -- is that through the city of New Orleans, through the Gulf of Mexico, we probably deal with almost a third of the nation's domestic oil that is produced. And that will most likely be shut down," Mr. Nagin said."
More:
"If Hurricane Katrina holds true to predictions and tracks north through the toe of Louisiana's boot, much of the nation's oil and natural gas infrastructure will be exposed to 140 mile per hour winds, 30- to 50-foot waves, and water current speeds of around 20 knots all the way from the surface to the sea floor."This storm is going to pass through the meat of the oil and gas fields. The whole country will feel it, because it's going to cripple us and the country's whole economy," said Capt. Buddy Cantrelle with Kevin Gros Offshore, which supplies rigs via a fleet of large crew vessels.
The equipment located in the storm's likely path includes the bulk of the nation's oil and gas production platforms, thousands of miles of pipelines and -- perhaps most importantly for national gasoline prices -- much of the country's refinery capacity. In addition, the south Louisiana coastline serves as the entry point for around a third of the nation's imported oil.
Last year's Hurricane Ivan, which came ashore along the Alabama-Florida line moving through an area mostly devoid of rigs, caused widespread destruction both above and below water in the fields off Alabama and eastern Louisiana. Floating rigs were found drifting hundreds of miles from the wells they had been plumbing, while some rigs with legs fixed to the bottom toppled into the sea. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of pipelines were tangled and torn to pieces by sea currents and massive underwater mudslides.
The full extent of the damage wasn't known for days and the Gulf lost nearly 30 percent of production capacity for well over a month, which drove prices for oil up $12 a barrel within a few weeks. Prices for both oil and natural gas surged upward and stayed high for months.
But that storm was just a baby tap on the Gulf's infrastructure compared with the blow some in the oil industry are predicting from Katrina.
"No matter where it hits at this point, it's going to hit a lot of rigs, and the whole country is going to notice," Cantrelle said. "And if this thing comes up through Port Fourchon like they're calling for right now, well, that's where 30 percent of the country's oil comes ashore. They are forecasting 40-foot seas for Fourchon.""
Pray for a miracle.
With all due respect for the posting rules:
Hijuela chinga.
Posted by: xanax | August 28, 2005 at 11:37 PM
I hope all this horrific stuff doesn't happen.
There is another aspect to this disaster: the animals.
For example, migration season is beginning. The migratory birds of the East are heading down to the Gulf Coast to tank up for the long non-stop flight across the Gulf. If they get there and the native vegetation is gone they will not get enough fuel for their passage and they will die at sea. Of course the birds there now are in trouble, too. They can avoid the storm by flying inland, but they will use up their fat, leaving them unable to make the corossing to south aerica later on.
I don't know if they are allowing people to bring their pets into the Dome for safety. I hope they are. Either way, in the aftermath of this storm there will be thousands of lost, injured, frightened domestic animals. Please consider giving a donation to an animal rescue organization. If you decide to send food, include some dog or cat food.
There is a lot of speculation about why some people are refusing to evacuate. In some cases people choose to stay because they have no way to evacute their companion animals. If they survive, they and their pets will need our help.
Posted by: lily | August 28, 2005 at 11:40 PM
I meant "crossing to South America." Jeez.
Posted by: lily | August 28, 2005 at 11:42 PM
New Orleans has all the makings of the biggest storm disaster in this country in the last few decades, if not the last century. This storm makes Ivan look like a minor squall. The damage a hurricane does is roughly proportional to the difference between its central pressure and standard pressure (1000 millibars); Ivan was 946 millibars, Andrew was 922 millibars; Katrina is, right now, 904 millibars. Camille was 909 millibars. I hope everyone has gotten the hell out of dodge.
I've been discussing going to assist with the cleanup and recovery afterward, with the wife. You never know what's going to happen until after it does, but this...there's no way it's going to change course, and even if it slows down a bit it'll still push water all over NO. There'll be trees on houses everywhere.
That bit about the levees, though, I don't know. IIRC in the French Quarter, at least, the levees are openable. If the levees do that much of a job trapping the water in, well, shaped charges can fix that right up.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | August 29, 2005 at 12:18 AM
If you do go, Slart, don't forget to pass the hat here.
Posted by: rilkefan | August 29, 2005 at 12:23 AM
Will do, rilkefan.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | August 29, 2005 at 12:32 AM
Just wondering, too, how much longer this (NO Webcam, at St. Charles and Napoleon) will be working.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | August 29, 2005 at 12:35 AM
I just keep waiting, hoping, for the message that it's weakened, or it's changing course...but no. This is very, very bad.
Go donate blood tomorrow, folks.
I just saw one woman interviewed who said, "well, we knew a hurricane was coming but we never thought it was this bad." If this lady has been watching the 24 hour cable news channels over the past few months, she probably saw the pictures on tv and thought, "oh yeah, well, another hurricane story."
Fortunately, I'm sure the locals depended on local news and those who needed the warning, got it. At least I hope so.
Pray.
Posted by: Opus | August 29, 2005 at 12:36 AM
Chris Mooney has a post here that's worth reading. It's called 'Why Did No One Listen?'
Posted by: hilzoy | August 29, 2005 at 01:02 AM
I've been transfixed by the threads at Weather Underground. Metereologist Jeffrey Masters maintains a blog there frequented by some serious storm watchers.
Many sources have been projecting that not only will New Orleans be flooded, it will be a toxic soup, as the city is surrounded by heavy industrial plants. Make that a toxic soup swimming with snakes and alligators.
I won't even repeat the nightmare scenarios from the Wunderground threads; this is scary enough without them.
Posted by: Jackmormon | August 29, 2005 at 01:14 AM
My prayers are with the folks going through this ordeal. Today I stumbled across a website at www.SupportNewOrleans.com which supports the brave people facing Hurricane Katrina. Others have posted letters of support on the site as well.
Posted by: george | August 29, 2005 at 01:26 AM
I've been cruising Masters' blog too; it's fascinating, if disturbing, reading.
And isn't Chemical Alley just 50 miles north of NOLA or so?
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 02:21 AM
Amazing tragedy. Thoughts and prayers are with all involved.
I found some great stuff on the oil/refinery/production aspect of this over at The Oil Drum. Maps and charts and stuff...apparently, this whole thing is going to have huge effects on the oil supply and gas prices...greeeat.
http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2005/8/26/22637/7757
Posted by: Dave W. | August 29, 2005 at 02:22 AM
In fact, it is:
...the ExxonMobil facility is just one of more than 50 petrochemical plants and oil refineries in the Mississippi Delta region between Baton Rogue and New Orleans, referred to by industry as "Chemical Alley" and locals as "Cancer Alley."
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 02:23 AM
Being from a mostly below the sealevel country with the according history I really feel for the people in the region.
Last time we had an emergency was in 1995. We had to evacuate over 250 000 people and lots of cattle, but fortunately the worst didn't happen and no one died. I hope New Orleans has the same luck.
Posted by: dutchmarbel | August 29, 2005 at 03:22 AM
Katrina's down to Category 4.
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 03:22 AM
Anarch, I still had CNN on when it dipped 1 mph below Cat5 and they had "Breaking News!" at the bottom of the screen immediately. When they went to the official spokesperson guy at the Hurricane Center, he had to keep telling the anchors that it didn't really matter...the impact was still going to be catastrophic...the speed could change again...it was still a monster. 3 minutes of this and the anchor asked, "so..with the storm weakening...?"
Thank you, CNN, for helping me turn storm coverage off for a couple of hours.
Posted by: Opus | August 29, 2005 at 03:41 AM
Opus, there were rumors on Wunderground that Katrina had actually dipped into Category 4 some hours earlier (there's been a significant lag time between the Vortex measurements and their reports) and that the NOAA or whoever had deliberately held off from making this public in case people thought this meant that Katrina had suddenly become less dangerous.
Also, via Wunderground, is the important note that that dry front that slashed into Katrina's western flank didn't penetrate the eye and therefore Katrina could easily ramp herself back up to Cat5 before landfall. [IIRC, the eye's actually enlarged and the minimum pressure's holding at a steady 908-910 mb.] Nonetheless, here's to hoping.
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 03:49 AM
I can't get back into the wunderground site; it must be swarmed with readers by now. Teresa at Making Light has been gathering links in a couple of good posts.
Should really get to bed, as I can't prevent what going to happen.
Posted by: Jackmormon | August 29, 2005 at 03:51 AM
I'm with you on that, Anarch. Thanks for the info. I'm unable to sleep, even though my friends have gotten out and there's nothing to do but wait.
Posted by: Opus | August 29, 2005 at 03:52 AM
Oh, I forgot to include my favorite Bad Anchor story from Katrina: some CNN bimbo-head is talking to the mayor of one of the towns on the Alabama-Florida border. The mayor's dry and matter-of-fact, laying out the evacuation plans and giving advice to people fleeing the Gulf Coast for the Florida panhandle. [Shorter version: don't.] At one point he gives some very good general advice, namely that people should be fleeing north at this point and not laterally.
Quoth the CNN bimbo, "Oh, it makes sense that they should flee inland" and prattles on.
You can practically hear the mayor spitting nails as he grits out "No, not inland. North."
"Well, it's all the same thing down there, isn't it?" she smirks, cutting off his protests.
Should anyone end up injured or killed because of her banal idiocy, well, the posting rules forbid me from saying what I hope befalls her and hers.
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 03:54 AM
From livejournal: "This journal lists as friends New Orleans residents who are not evacuating the city in advance of Hurricane Katrina. If you are interested in reading the livejournals of people who are riding the storm out at Ground Zero, clicking on katrinacane's friends list is a convenient way to check on a bunch of them all at once."
Posted by: Jesurgislac | August 29, 2005 at 04:04 AM
While I was asleep, the storm turned east (yay) and this has caused everyone at CNN to say, "oh, ok, so...no biggie. A little flooding for NOLA, a little property damage, great news!"
I get that the storm surges won't overwhelm the levees, but isn't the power still going to be out, and aren't the pumps -- which they use in regular weather -- going to be offline? Wont' whatever water they get be just sitting there?
I mean, yay for no chemical dump and no water-up-to-the-second-floor, but is the news really that good? Can we really celebrate?
And what about Biloxi?
Posted by: Opus | August 29, 2005 at 08:50 AM
Well, NO isn't exactly going to avoid everything, but the pumps can be powered by generators (after Charley, sewage lift stations (I know: great name for a band) were powered by generator here in O-town). The winds and rain will still be bad, and there won't be NO storm surge. Still, a stroke of luck having it turn east rather than west, as the damage and storm surge tends to be greater on the east side of the storm.
Biloxi may wind up seeing rather more of the storm than it expected, but probably not a LOT more.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | August 29, 2005 at 09:09 AM
One can only hope against the worst damage.
Slart's impulse to go help is high human goodness.
FOX just misspelled "Louisiana" in a graphic.
On the other hand, my best friend in 6th grade misspelled "misspell" during the school misspelling bee.
I don't watch much coverage of hurricane disasters, mainly because I don't care for the attempt they make to appeal to my worst and lowest human impulses, you know, to be vaguely disappointed afterwards when the storms veer off from the major population centers, thus avoiding the really horrific stuff. Instead of the advertised "toxic soup", we get a reporter shouting into his mic while his pantlegs flap. Probably Geraldo.
It's like when the rumor is advertised that your favorite T.V. character in your favorite show is going to be killed off. You tune in just to find out, peering through your fingers, if the killing off involves a woodchipper.
One wonders if Pat Robertson is praying for, or against, New Orleans. I don't think Hugo Chavez is in town this week, but "Girls Gone Wild" was filming there last week. Plus the French Quarter is, you know, French.
The new fiscal year for the Federal Government starts October 1. More budget cuts for NOAA, and no doubt FEMA and the Army Corps. And we'll get a report soon from the redirected EPA extolling the nutritious yumminess of heavy metals. Let the lectures by the insurance lobbyists begin on "why would anyone start a city below sea level, in a swamp, next to the ocean?"
Iraq.
Posted by: John Thullen | August 29, 2005 at 10:31 AM
Also, via Wunderground, is the important note that that dry front that slashed into Katrina's western flank didn't penetrate the eye and therefore Katrina could easily ramp herself back up to Cat5 before landfall.
...but, it seems, she's not going to: that dry front pretty much gutted Katrina, or at least the special something that made her such a monster. Katrina seems *fingers crossed* to be nothing more than a generic Cat4 hurricane now and NOLA looks like it's going to hold with moderate (i.e. "minimal" relative to earlier estimates) damage.
Gulfport, OTOH, sounds boned.
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 10:37 AM
As of 10:00am CDT Katrina had been reduced to a Category 3.
Posted by: Dave Schuler | August 29, 2005 at 11:03 AM
Bad but not catastrophic.
Thank all the gods.
Posted by: CaseyL | August 29, 2005 at 11:06 AM
Since I am most likely without much news the next few days I am glad things seem to turn out pretty ok for New Orleans and hope Katrina will decrease in strenghts even more.
Posted by: dutchmarbel | August 29, 2005 at 11:43 AM
Just to point out: this is another thread where time-stamps are kinda crucial. All these dire comments, and no way to know they're all way out of date, or look back and see how what looked like when.
Posted by: Gary Farber | August 29, 2005 at 01:27 PM
Just to point out: this is another thread where time-stamps are kinda crucial.
I confess, I don't see why. It'd be nice, but if one had really wanted up-to-date info one should have been checking other sources (e.g. TWC, Wunderground and the like).
Posted by: Anarch | August 29, 2005 at 06:20 PM
I:'m not religious, but I have to thank God or chance or karma or whomever for that little wobble to the east last night. Because I like that town, and I wasn't crazy about the idea of saying that New Orleans was nice while it lasted. We almost woke up to a really horrible disaster this morning, and the only good thing about it would have been that it would have put 9/11 in perspective for us. Everything that NOAA said, and all the ramifications of those things, would have happened.
But this is a largely political site, so let me also make the political point about what The Little Wobble That Saved New Orleans meant. As we found out almost four years ago--actually, we knew it already, we just didn't know it quite as much--there's nothing that can boost a President's ratings like a really big disaster, and this would've been the Big Mama of really big disasters. There is too much water under the bridge for Bush to ever see 90% again, but he would have been at 65-70% in no time, and it wouldn't have been easy to get him down.
So for that, I secondarily thank the Invisible Cloud Being for the Little Wobble That Was.
Posted by: Trickster | August 29, 2005 at 11:00 PM
"Just to point out: this is another thread where time-stamps are kinda crucial."
"I confess, I don't see why. It'd be nice, but if one had really wanted up-to-date info one should have been checking other sources (e.g. TWC, Wunderground and the like)."
Not so much for real-time happenings, as for retrospective realization of what was known/believed at different hours - a whole mini-narrative on What We Thought When, with potential subplots involving those Particularly Prescient (which is a step short of being Prematurely Anti-Fascist).
Historians care about stuff too, you know.
Posted by: dr ngo | August 30, 2005 at 12:40 AM
For what it's worth (and this isn't directed at dr. ngo, so much as at everyone else who clamors for time stamps)
(a) we want them too.
(b) we don't know how to get them.
(c) We have filed a help request with Typepad.
(d) Also, I have just, for the second or third time, spent about an hour prowling around Typepad trying to figure out how to produce them, without success.
(e) My take on this is that we are aware that timestamps would be great, but that I (at least) have done everything I can to produce them, to no avail. I do not believe that more requests for them would alter the fundamentals of this situation, but of course if anyone disagrees, feel free to go on letting us know how great they would be, and maybe, somehow, your requests will produce them after all.
Posted by: hilzoy | August 30, 2005 at 01:55 AM
Should we close our eyes tightly while we're wishing? Does that cover typing with the eyes closed as well? Would that help?
Posted by: dr ngo | August 30, 2005 at 02:02 AM
At the risk of having my intestines tied to a spoke of hilzoy's Harley, I want to note that the previews have timestamps, which seems like a useful clue.
Posted by: rilkefan at Aug 30, 2005 6:03:24 AM
Posted by: rilkefan | August 30, 2005 at 02:03 AM
Hmm, and the preview timestamp time seems to be somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | August 30, 2005 at 02:14 AM
rilkefan: the problem -- at least for me -- is that there is no control covering this, and I don't know how to get in and edit the html. (I mean, I literally don't know how to get there -- I can find the html for the home page, but not for comments.) (If I did, I'd be scared to mess with it, but that's the next problem.)
Posted by: hilzoy | August 30, 2005 at 02:14 AM
I did add new categories, though, though I just realized that while they do show up while one is composing a post, they aren't on the list of categories on the side, which makes them sort of pointless. (Ethics, Law, and something like 'Why Are They Saying These Things?')
Posted by: hilzoy | August 30, 2005 at 02:17 AM
Historians care about stuff too, you know.
But do we care about historians?
...I kid! I kid! Really!
And now, the bad news, quoting myself for speed:
Posted by: Anarch | August 30, 2005 at 05:00 AM
And FWIW, the comment above was originally written at 2:30am Central but wasn't posted until almost 4am Central due to wackiness with the ObWi server.
Posted by: Anarch | August 30, 2005 at 05:00 AM
Until the time stamps return, why not note in the "Name" field what time you are posting?
Just an idea.
Posted by: xanax 1:22 EDT | August 30, 2005 at 01:22 PM
This is just terrible, both the news and the attempt to score political points out of it.
posted at 4:00 EDT.
Posted by: Dantheman | August 30, 2005 at 03:59 PM
Posted 4:55 pm Central:
In case no-one's heard, New Orleans is being completely evacuated. The city is 80% submerged, up to 20 ft in some places. Even without the worst-case scenario, looks like the feces has well and truly hit the fan.
Posted by: Anarch | August 30, 2005 at 05:56 PM
"and the attempt to score political points out of it"
Could you explain? If the levee broke because of intentional underfunding, I'd like to know who to hold accountable.
Posted by: rilkefan | August 30, 2005 at 06:01 PM
rilkefan,
In my mind, this is potentially as catastrophic as 9-11, especially if:
a. the Port of New Orleans is out of commission for months, or
b. the numerous major refineries in the area are out of commission for months, or
c. the numerous chemical plants in the area start leaking into the water.
There are more immediate concerns than casting blame, especially if the best anyone can point to is that the repair funds were shortchanged due to other, more clearly pressing concerns.
Posted by: Dantheman | August 30, 2005 at 10:12 PM
In my mind, this is potentially as catastrophic as 9-11
In my mind, this is a good example of how overwrought our reaction to 9/11 was and has been. Potentially, this could be finis to one of the world's great cities. I do emphasize the word potentially, but 9/11, by comparison to what is potentially underway in New Orleans, is a footnote on the page of history.
Posted by: Trickster | August 31, 2005 at 12:03 AM