FoxNews TV reports that two of the pumping stations are up. Some areas will have running water in the next 24 hours, according to Mayor Nagin. Still trying to figure out the exact locations of the latest Garden District fires, that reportedly claimed a couple of houses. Latest prognoses include power back in 8 weeks and clean water in 3 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed. Nevertheless, New Orleans IS on its way back.

As the television shows footage of levee repair/sandbag drops, water pumping, fire dousing and water cleaning, people the nation over are still missing family and friends. Here are some online and telephone resources:

National Next of Kin Registry
Mail or fax your registration form.

Family Links Registry
Sponsored and recommended by the Red Cross

Yahoo! Missing Person and Survivor List
Comprehensive listing of people finders and missing person resources

Katrina I’m Ok Registry
Pinpoint search for another person and find information in three seconds. User puts in a phone number and immediately finds information about a person.

Katrina People Finder
Systematic collection and reconcilation of all the different Craigslist/newspaper type bulletins into a single, searchable database. Volunteer-based – they need help! If you can program or enter data, contact them.

For best results, put your missing person information into all of these online devices and call them. Keep the faith that you will find your loved ones safe and sound, as do all of us out here.

Today marks the beginning of semi-normal-in-exile life in Houston. Today is for mail re-routing, filling prescriptions, resource accounting, minor shopping and settling in at txyankee‘s for the unknown-duration haul.

The news out of New Orleans may not be voluminous for a while as the police and military go about dealing with the daunting task of discovering, identifying and properly storing human remains.

—

Focus On Rebuilding: Nagin warns of price-gouging contractors and sellers. To report price gouging, call (800)488-2770. BellSouth, Entergy, wireless carriers and other infrastructure companies are on it (with what vigor, I do not know). The help of evacuees is not welcome until water is drained and contamination/disease is under control. A word to the returning: Please do not run generators inside your house due to the danger of carbon monoxide inhalation.

—

The National Geodetic Survey of NOAA hosts post-Katrina satellite images. Affected areas of the Gulf Coast are broken down into blocks so users may access areas most important to them.

Gulf Coast with Katrina’s path –> Orleans Parish (New Orleans-centered) –> neighborhoods. N.B.: Some of these maps are not north-oriented, so you’ll have to do some guessing as to the location of your home. I suggest that you locate landmarks and follow street curves.

Examples:

1) Portions of the Lower Garden and Warehouse District (including my home)

2) Uptown and some Mid-City (right is north)

3) Lakeview

—

Universities Offer Help To Displaced Professors:

Several national universities have kindly extended a semester’s worth of help to New Orleans university professors who are currently out of jobs. For instance, Jean Bahr, a friend and current chair of the Univ. of Wisconsin Geology Dept. writes,

I sent an email several days ago to faculty I know at LSU asking that they let any geology faculty, staff or students they may be in touch with from U New Orleans, Tulane or other affected institutions that our department would be willing to try to find ways to accommodate them here. If you are in touch with anyone from those institutions, please ask them to get in touch with me if we can be of assistance. More generally, UW is attempting to serve as a university of refuge.

—

Shell: For 1000 displaced employees, Shell managers are “currently putting the finishing touches on their space allocation plan, which will place our employees at workstations in Robert Training Center, Baton Rouge, One Shell Plaza, Two Shell Plaza, Pennzoil Place, Westhollow and Woodcreek. Plans are to review this information with Level 3 and 4 managers this week. Leaders will then be in a position to talk with everyone about your work location and other arrangements once your personal situation has stabilized.”

Plans are also being ironed out to “re-enter One Shell Square in the near future to secure critical data, hardware and files. This work will be delicate given the conditions in New Orleans and One Shell Square.” If CBD power is back up and conditions improve, why remove the data and hardware? It will probably be more secure and accessible here in Houston; additionally, even if the CBD is ok, where is everyone going to live and how are they going to get to work? I hope this goes by quickly.

Shell production is ramping up and flowing in most areas shut in due to the hurricane. Asset damage is still under assessment; all will not be fine until inspections and repairs are complete.

The latest: Members of the military and FEMA are going door-to-door not telling, but evangelizing, people to leave. In other words, the authorities repeat stern phrases like “it’s unsafe here” and “we urge you to leave,” but aren’t forcing anyone out and most still remain. On the other hand, local police officers are concerned that residents making a sudden exit, just as things are getting better, will leave them shorthanded. It’s not surprising that the police wish for people to stick around who know and care about New Orleans, but I, too, wonder about the safety implications.

—

Shell Employees: New Orleans-based employees are invited to an employee communications session on Wednesday, September 7 at 3 p.m. in the Woodcreek Cafeteria.

Marvin Odum will provide an update on business continuity plans (including office space allocation, housing, computer access, employee assistance programs and our operations. U.S. E&P leadership will be on-hand to answer your questions.

We encourage everyone who can to please join in person, however a teleconference bridge will be open:

Dial-in: 713-423-0600 or 866-761-0750
Email me for the passcode.

The latest from the ground:

• The city is buttoned-down and the troops everywhere. With the eager help of local law enforcement, folks are starting to clear/clean the streets of Uptown and the Garden District. Simultaneously, they also attend to corpses (yes, of all varieties) around these areas.
• Contrary to some reports, the police actually want locals to remain for the cleanup and rebuilding effort.
• Power to the Central Business District (CBD) will supposedly be restored by tonight. The plan is to bring power back up to the unaffected parts of the city starting from there,
• No one remains, but the Convention Center is an absolute, filthy mess and cleanup efforts are underway.
• A “ton of food and bottled water” has now entered New Orleans. Food includes canned goods, dried fruits and veggies and other non-perishables.
• FEMA and the rest of the city are fighting over whether to evacuate the remaining residents or keep them so they start working on rebuilding the city. As long as residents do not venture out into flooded and unsafe zones and with a large military presence, residents don’t understand the sense in being kicked out. Everyone is (understandably) mad at FEMA – it is becoming more and more obvious that their main concern is bureaucracy and “the proper way” (whatever that is), and not putting the willing to work.

—

Some friends have started a non-profit with donations that will coordinate some building contractor and housing efforts in and around the city. I’ve offered to build and maintain the website for the project and will keep you appraised on details as they develop. Meanwhile, it would be great if someone can provide me with information on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that is willing to offer server access and space and a domain name for free.

—

Re-entry: Jefferson Parish residents are allowed to re-enter “as long as they [show] a valid ID proving residency, [have] food, [have] a full tank of gas and [don’t] drink the water.” An after-dark curfew is also in place. Traffic is backed up already – remember what I said about everyone rushing the city at once? Ever heard of phased re-entry?

Rumors: No, we cannot go back to Orleans Parish just yet, at least not officially. In fact, people are still being asked to stay out as long as possible. Along with waterlogged homes and the lack of amenities, water-borne disease is a concern, especially West Nile virus, tetanus and dysentery. Doctors everywhere advise New Orleanians to get all of their shots up to date before going back home.

Going back home. Sigh.