– Great Interactive Graphic: The NYTimes provides a GIS-style interactive map, with all of the problem areas properly labeled, a levee map, latest evacuation routes and a look at Katrina’s impact on oil majors and hydrocarbon production. The neighborhood map is exactly something which I have been attempting to come up with … it’s VatulBlog approved! (Except for the Evacuation Routes section which shows the Causeway as “broken and impassable” – the Causeway is just fine and is reserved solely for police and emergency personnel)

– For those of you who want a few maps with which to compare and contrast whole areas of the city before and after the hit, DigitalGlobe’s gallery is the place to go.

– Alan Gutierrez has created a Katrina Wiki: this is well-organized with access to various blogs and reporting organizations, as well as aid agencies should you or someone you know need help. More names and resources may be added to the list – please email Alan or me, or if you’re wiki-savvy, add them yourselves. Of course, please make sure that the information you provide is moderately reliable and not a guess.

– Radio reports of Baton Rouge carjacking by displaced New Orleanians remain unproven. So far, three carjackings have supposedly occurred. Let’s not frighten our neighbors in Red Stick, shall we? If anyone has documented evidence or if they are indeed simply rumors, please let me know.

Until Tuesday after Labor Day weekend, VatulBlog will report on The News Out Of New Orleans from its Columbus, OH office. Call it a combination of uncontrollable claustrophobia and giving txyankee a break.

The latest:

• A sad report from Bayou St. John via my friend, Joel, in Bloomington, IN: “The Penfields didn’t fare as well. Their B&B, and everything in it, was swallowed by the Bayou St. John.” Joel and the Penfields of Moss St. are good friends.
• A report from the Garden District by Matt Kirkham (Prytania, just off of Jefferson):“On the apartment front, my place was virtually untouched. According to my landlord’s son who stayed in the building, there was a small puddle under my door and my screen door blew away. This was as of 3:00 yesterday, but then the levee broke… Fortunately for me, I live[d] Uptown by the university, Audubon Park and Zoo, and Audubon Place (a private street where the richest people in NOLA live) and, whether by coincidence or design, when they refer to 80% of NOLA being underwater, I’m in the 20% that’s not. As of 3:00 yesterday there wasn’t even a puddle. I’m also at least 7 feet above the road.”
• Now, this could all change rapidly, but Wolf Blitzer is still saying “virtually” all of NOLA is underwater, so there is still hope. Also, the fact that we haven’t heard ANYTHING about the University is also an encouraging sign (Tulane University hospital is nowhere near the University itself) since they usually don’t air the good news.
• A note from Uptown (via the nola.com forums): “… walked Napoleon from Tchoupitloulous [sic] to St. Charles and went over as far upriver (west) as Valance and downriver as Marengo. He meandered almost every block within this area. Nowhere did he see any significant damage, apart from downed trees (only 1 downed live oak) and a couple of small power lines. Absolutely no violence, vandalism or looting of residences (not even on St. Charles in that section). No flooding in this area at all. There is flooding from Jackson to Napoleon as far down as St. Charles. A police officer reported that the water was 5-6 foot deep at Baptist Hospital on Napoleon and Willow. Right now they are ferrying people up and down St. Charles and from the neighborhoods by airboat and they’re staging them for evacuation at Copeland’s at St. Charles [and] Napoleon. It seems to be running very smoothly, although some people look shell-shocked. Most of the people remaining in this area want to stay if they are allowed and are fairly optimistic. He says that people from this area shouldn’t worry about their houses. They’ll be fine after a good cleanup.”
• Keep checking in at New Orleans Metroblogs for their excellent coverage and perspective.
• The death toll in MS has officially climbed to 200 according to one CNN reporter, but Governor Haley Barbour continues to maintain it at 110. The number for New Orleans is going to be heartbreaking once the looters actually let rescue and cleanup workers do their jobs.
• Speaking of looting, it has become “increasingly hostile” and Mayor Nagin has turned 1500 police officers away from their search-and-rescue duties to put a kibosh on the crime. Carjacking and outright thieving continue, but this is not widespread. Let’s hope it stays localized.
• A Chalmette project building is on fire. Cause of fire as information trickles in.
• If one more CNN TV reporter puts on a fake-concerned look and compares this to 9/11 three times in a sentence … well, I’ll just have to come up with something creative in the punitive department.
• One TV personality reports on utter tragedy: “All Gibson has eaten for three days is potato chips.” Ummm, that was my daily diet in college. Can we get some real stories of loss and hunger here? Would a request for more and non-conflicting statistics be asking too much?
• No, Larry King, this is not “insurmountable.” Thanks for the infusion of hope, asshat.

Tomorrow, drywalling of the Ohio office begins. Perhaps it will dissipate some of this ready-to-bolt, coiled-spring feeling.

Oh, and HALLOWEEN IN THE QUARTER AND MARDI GRAS WILL HAPPEN. Because I said so.

The latest from the LGD:

The flooding never reached St. Charles … No electricity or running water are definitely complicating things, of course. They have also cleverly parked her car under a fallen tree in the yard to make it look unattractive to people who think a car with gas is a hot commodity.

The most immediate problem/fear was the rioting and looting. People were being carjacked trying to leave the city. [Many think] it is much safer to wait for the troops to arrive and get that situation under control.

Mac also said that they were possibly going to be interviewed by ABC News radio. . . she was hoping to even make it on the evening news. I haven’t heard any more details about it yet.

When Mac is a hot, hot celebrity, she can thank me for sending the ABC news producer her way.

In Waterworld-related news, flooding has crested and water is starting to recede, but what is not inspiring is this bit of news, also from the Times Picayune:

… water was still spreading through Uptown Wednesday morning, and was making its way over St. Charles Avenue towards the river. On Marengo Street, water was 3 to 10 feet high in stretches between Claiborne and St. Charles avenues and between Napoleon Avenue and Louisiana. Water lapped into the bottom floors of houses, and residents were being evacuated by boat on Marengo and surrounding streets. Along Prytania Street, the water was a foot high and still rising at 10:30 a.m. And while water was still running in Uptown faucets Tuesday night, the flow stopped Wednesday.

There goes the green “safe zone” from the previous post. Great, soon my neighborhood, the Lower Garden District, is going to be the one island jutting out of the Sea of New Orleans.

Nagin just opined on TV that our return to New Orleans may take 12 to 14 weeks. I’m not crazy about this outlook.

The Tulane University website hosts a very inspiring letter from president, Scott Cowen:

The uptown campus is covered with debris from fallen trees and shrubs, making it almost impossible to drive or even walk on campus. We have no power in any of the buildings other than a few where we control the power source.

In addition, we don’t know when our employees will be able to return to the city, much less to the university.

It is difficult to describe what this situation feels like for those involved. It is surreal and unfathomable; yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Our focus is on the light and not the darkness.

My only hope is that the tunnel doesn’t lengthen as more levees are breached and flooding continues.

Airport News: CNN TV reports that New Orleans Armstrong International Airport is open for incoming flights bearing emergency supplies.