Mac’s sister writes:

Mac is going to check on your place & Dave’s place today. Her part of town isn’t bad & her apartment is just fine. At Felicity’s place a tree broke a couple of things but her place is fine. Morgan’s place is fine. Mac will give you an update later. Let Dave know.

Relief floods Evacuation Central like the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, but I hope she stays safe until we get back. Now that the hurricane menaces the Northeast and the aftermath pervades, the human element has resurfaced in the form of looters and people who are ok until the legal system is stymied itself. New Orleans is now under martial law to curb crime as well as to keep out evacuees from surrounding areas.

On a sad note, the brave reporters of the Times Picayune are evacuating to Houma due to rising flood waters from the Lake Pontchartrain levee breach.

This is exactly what I was afraid of – the storm will pass, but our levees will not hold. All of Lakeview, City Park, Mid-City is home to a torrent of water that threatens the CBD. My friends who live and own property in these areas must be wrecks; I’m certain they are wise enough to have left. For reference, this set of neighborhoods sits in the deepest part of the bowl that is the city of New Orleans.

A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee … gave way late Monday morning … after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north. The breach sent a churning sea of water from Lake Pontchartrain coursing across Lakeview and into Mid-City, Carrollton, Gentilly, City Park and neighborhoods farther south and east.

… the water was still rising in the city, and nobody was willing to predict when it would stop … the American Red Cross was mobilizing for what regional officials were calling the largest recovery operation in the organization’s history.

Police officers, firefighters and private citizens, hampered by a lack of even rudimentary communication capabilities, continued a desperate and impromptu boat-borne rescue operation across Lakeview well after dark.

As a frequent visitor of the places listed below, I cannot fathom the destruction and terror there right now. This cannot be happening.

… residents … were stranded between the flooded neighborhood on their right, and the flooded City Park on their left … pleasure boats were stacked on top of each other like cordwood in the municipal marina and yacht harbor. The Robert E. Lee shopping center was under 7 feet of water.

It is rumored that “the total projected cost for this, likely the worst natural disaster in US history (financially speaking), will be something around the cost of four months of the war in Iraq.”

With officials asking remaining residents to leave the city if they still can, it doesn’t look like we evacuees are going home any time soon. If you’re involved in forming a volunteer effort back home starting next week, please email me.

Residents of New Orleans East homes remain trapped in their flooded homes as rescue workers struggle to pull them out. Floating corpses and the screaming trapped – please continue to pray for our city.

Evacuees outside the Superdome | August 29, 2005 (Associated Press)

Those with 504 numbers still cannot be reached or reach one another, and evacuees have been ordered to stay away from NO for at least a week.

The most comprehensive summary on Katrina aftermath to date is available here. Of interest:

Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday morning, ripping holes in the roof of the Superdome, blasting out high-rise windows, knocking out power citywide, and leaving residents of flooded neighborhoods in their attics and on rooftops awaiting rescue.

[Terry] Ebbert [NO Director of Homeland Security] said it could be two months before electricity is restored to all of the city.

High winds have damaged parts of Uptown New Orleans, including the Napolean Avenue area, the location of Memorial Medical Center.

Evacuees, stay safe and do not attempt to return any time soon.

Hurricane Katrina | Google Earth – August 28, 2005 | NASA Earth Observatory

From the safety of VatulBlog’s temporary HQ north of Houston (geek alert – txyankee, By The Bayou, D and me with a computer each), the pieces of information coming from various news sources merge into one giant message:

New Orleans Is Getting Walloped Right Now. As of 9:30AM CT, the worst is expected to last another hour.

The following is a breakdown (with personal analysis) of the major factors with respect to NO. Keep checking back for updates. All times are in CDT.

Roads: The I-10 E corridor to Slidell, which we used as the first leg of our evacuation route yesterday, now forms the western edge of the hurricane eye wall. MSNBC just showed portions of the bridges across Lake Pontchartrain as completely submerged. New Orleans is closed for business until all of these bridges are out of harm’s way.

Power: A big portion of New Orleans is without power. In fact, the Superdome lost power at 5AM followed by the entire French Quarter. Mac reported from the Lower Garden District at 8:24AM: “Just woke up – no electric, so keeping phone off often to save battery – house safe, but street starting to flood a bit” The power has been out for 4 hours and the land lines are just beginning to cut out. Time to consider a generator. Cellphone circuits are busy which explains why I can’t get through to anyone with a 504 mobile number and haven’t been receiving phone calls.

Flooding: The dozen or so pumps that keep the river, lake and rain out of the New Orleans fishbowl cannot handle the predicted storm surge. A pump is out because of aforementioned power loss and some homes are flooded to their ceilings. The Industrial Canal levee has just broken in the Ninth Ward way east of the French Quarter. The strongest winds are yet to clear the area, promising to shovel more water into the metro area. The eye wall is to the east of us, but winds out of the north can do a lot of damage. This is worrying considering that Lake Pontchartrain is 26 miles across and 30 feet deep in the center, i.e. a cookie sheet filled with water. The city of New Orleans is under a flash flood warning until 2:15PM today.

Winds: As of 9:50AM, Katrina is a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 135mph. Maximum sustained winds in NO through the morning were reported as between 75 to 139mph. It appears that New Orleans will not see the worst of the wind damage (that’s for east of the city), but we’re not out of the woods (or the bayous, in our case) yet.

Flying Debris and Structural Damage: Watching a familiar street sign (MLK & Carrollton), bus shelters and store facades flutter away like dead leaves does not provide comfort. Flying stuff crashes into other stuff like homes and their windows. Keep in mind that mere tropical storms have taken down gas station roofs and trees and overturned dumpsters in our area. Yes, people, we have dangerous flying debris in the air (wonder where my hibiscus plant and grill are); let’s hope people stay indoors. Downtown high-rise windows are blowing out (bye-bye, Blade 2000?)

• An apartment building has collapsed in Harvey, which is right across the river from downtown. People are trapped inside and emergency personnel cannot help them yet.
• Never mind the conflicting reports about the Superdome, the final word is that the outer membrane two six-foot panels have come undone and water is raining, not “gushing,” in.
• As of 11:24AM, Eastern New Orleans’ buildings have sustained significant structural damage

Now, after the winds and rain head northeast, we wait and see how much more water percolates into New Orleans over the next couple of days. Threats to home and property from this hurricane symptom include sewage mingling with flood and drinking water, encounters with snakes and bugs, and the danger of downed electrical lines.

Rainfall Log:
August 29 10:53 – 8″ (all major streets within the Crescent are flooded)

Reporting: If you’re following along at home, please do not watch Fox News because the weather reporter on the scene in coastal Mississippi is currently placing himself in harm’s way, undergoing sudden bouts of grief and saying nothing but, “Whoooa, whooooa!” Also, the studio meteorologist irritated the bejeezus out of this audience by standing right in front of the Doppler image while projecting his well-rehearsed Troy McClure. As much as we’re not CNN fans, Soledad O’Brien and Anderson Cooper have done some of the best national-level reporting on this catastrophe so far. Bottom line – don’t toy with us, the victims and news-starved, for your bottom line.

Our hometown paper, the Times Picayune, is doing a tremendous job with online updates on individual neighborhoods’ problems and photos.