Is anyone on my f’list in the path of Katrina? I hope any of you from New Orleans are reading this from the safety of someplace else. I think it is literally criminal that they waited this long to evacuate. :-(
It’s clearly going to hit somewhere. Here’s hoping it gets weakened by wind shear before it hits, and does so in the midst of an eyewall replacement cycle, and at low tide. Here’s hoping that people can stay safe.
For those who don’t know, a lot of folks (the major news sources are estimating 100,000) are trapped in New Orleans because they don’t have transportation, and the city sits in a big bowl well below sea level already. The city of New Orleans should have done more to get people out. Even if this turns out to miss the Big Easy, the chances of death and damage are just way too high.
Of the two people I know of, Poppy Brite is staying because she has 24 animals, some of them nearly feral, that she can’t easily move. Greg Herran’s blog has been very quiet, so I hope this is because he got out. I really hope your desires for this storm come true. It truly has become a terrible force.
Does Poppy Brite have a blog? I’d like to follow it, though I doubt she’ll have power for long unless she has a generator.
Ah. I found it at . I’ll wish good thoughts her way and hope her family and pets stay safe and dry.
Yes, she does. It’s on Livejournal and her user name is docbrite. She hasn’t posted since yesterday afternoon, but she’s usually good for one or two posts per day.
I just looked at satellite of that thing. It’s filled more than half of the Gulf. I’m scared and it’s not even headed for us.
I read articles over a year ago in Discover Magazine about how high the death toll would be if a storm like this hit New Orleans. People in charge of disaster preparations in Louisiana and in federal agencies have known about this for years and have done little or nothing in terms of evacuation plans, educating people who live there about what the real dangers are, or any of the million things they could do to cut down on the loss of life. Property isn’t important. Keeping people alive is.
God help the people of New Orleans.
How is she able to stay behind if an evacuation has been ordered?
I guess they can’t make you go if you insist on staying, but they sound like they’re being really insistent this time.
My thoughts and best wishes are with her and her family.
They can’t force you to leave, but they can make things uncomfortable. Here in Florida, if you refuse to leave when a mandatory evacuation is under way, they’ll come to your house and fill out toe tags for you, then cut off your water and electricity.
*nods* I remember reading articles like that, too. *worries*
Well, the A/C was what she said she was worried about, and on MSNBC they’re saying it could take weeks before services like electricity are restored.
Even if Katrina doesn’t hit NO head-on, it’s going to be bad. The levee system is good up to 19 feet, and they’re expecting water levels of 25 feet or more.
Yeah, this is what kills me. Everyone knows what a problem this would be, and there wasn’t any really good scenario in place to deal with it. According to the folks at Weather Underground, the emergency management for New Orleans is now privatized, so it was a business decision not to evacuate earlier. Not only that, but there’s no plan for the 100,000 people there who can’t get out of the city because they don’t have transportation or money to do so. It’s making me sick.
Yeah, I don’t know that they’ll be able to go around neighborhood to neighborhood in New Orleans warning people off and trying to get them to leave–it’s a lot different situation than the island where I live. I’m honestly amazed that anyone’s going to try to ride this out; it terrifies me to think of the danger they’re putting themselves into. Nothing is worth your life.
I don’t know about Louisiana, but in Florida, they generally won’t drag you out, but there have been cases where some have been arrested for beligerance. I’m not sure what the point is of issuing such a notice if it’s not inforced.
I heard around 6:00 pm that the newest idea was to bus the homeless/indigent to the stadium and try to shelter them there. This is a domed stadium in the city! I think they’re setting themselves up for a major catastrophe. Yipes!
BTW, I bought Perdido St. Station (among other things) with an amazon.com gift certificate. I hope you’re right! *grin*
Yeah, N.O. is lucky the storm didn’t hit them at Cat 5, or more directly.
I hope you’ll enjoy China’s work! I really love his writing.
Yes, the folks of the NO area are lucky, in that regard. Much of the rest of the situation certainly couldn’t be categorized that way. And now we’re looking at more of an impact on gas prices, too. Yipes!
Once I finish the book I’m reading right now (The Nanny Diaries, which isn’t my usual style, but is very funny), I think I’ll take the China plunge!