KATRINA (Twelve)

Downgraded to a cat 3 now with max sustained winds of 125 around the eye wall.

maquiladora

Regarding the roof of the stadium being blown off - It's not quite so bad, just the thin protective layer has ripped away in places, the actual roof itself is not falling apart, just leaking in places.

According to reports on the ground in NO, flood waters seem to be lowering rather than rising. Good news.

ninebeanrows

Still more than 10ft of water covering alot of the city :eek:

irishgeo

whats the bets we get hit by the low pressure that was once this hurricane. They always seem to loop back aound our way. The waves from these storms are very spectacular though as i live on the atlantic ocean and its some sight to see the waves rolling and hitting the cliffs, i hate to be to lower than sea level.

billy the squid

New orleans Louisiana and Jackson mississippi radar are both out. nearest one i could find that picks up most of katrina is in Birmingham alabama

http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kbmx.shtml

Mobile Alabama shows the rainfall in New Orleans
http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kmob.shtml

also check this out
http://www.weathermatrix.net/radar/data/wxmatrix.shtml

billy the squid

Webstream - WAPT 16 Jackson Mississippi
http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/index.html

Mothman

Flood waters rising in NO

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/30/katrina/index.html?section=cnn_latest

...a levee holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain sustained a breach two blocks long in the Lakefront area of New Orleans.

The breach triggered rapidly rising floodwaters in the city's downtown and prompted at least one hospital to evacuate patients by air....

"The city of New Orleans is in a state of devastation. We probably have 80 percent of our city underwater. With some sections of our city, the water is as deep as 20 feet."

A system of levees and pumping stations usually protects the city, most of which sits below sea level.

Tulane hospital already had moved its emergency room to the second floor, she said. It has been on emergency generator power for the last 24 hours, but she said if water continued rising rapidly, it would swamp the power source and electricity would be lost.

"We have patients on respirators," she said. There are more than 1,000 people in the hospital, and most of the patients are critically ill, meaning they would have to be evacuated by air, she said.

The storm's survivors face months of displacement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to house "at least tens of thousands of victims ... for literally months on end," the agency's director, Michael Brown, said Monday night.

The American Red Cross said it is launching the largest relief operation in its history.

More than 75,000 people are being housed in nearly 240 shelters across the region, and Red Cross President Marty Evans told CNN, "We expect that to grow" as people who can't return home seek somewhere to stay.

More than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were without electricity, according to utility companies serving the region.

Officials warned Louisiana evacuees to stay away for at least a week to avoid "a wilderness" without utilities that will be infested with poisonous snakes and fire ants.

"We would really encourage people not to come back [to New Orleans] for at least a week," said Ivor van Heerden, director of the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes in Baton Rouge.

"If your house is gone, it's gone," he said. "If you come back in a day or a week, it's not going to make any difference."

ninebeanrows

Yea it's beginning to look bad now in N.O.

Yesterday when it was downgraded to a CAT 4 i thought there
was a real dumbing down on the way but N.O is a disaster zone.
Hundreds of buildings torn apart and now flooding gushing into
the city again.. it's not looking good at all.

Aparently water is flowing into the Super Dome after
the levee's collapsed..

The system is still packing a punch as it heads toward NYC.

maquiladora

Hundreds feared dead in BILOXI, Mississippi, according to Reuters.
Apart from NO, a lot of the smaller costal towns seem to have been totally flooded by the surging waters.
Widespread looting of electrical goods, clothing and jewelry - martial law being enforced. Someone commited suicide inside the stadium, wow, what a mess
It's really sad.

Exit

A couple of photos. The first is New Orleans.

http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=topixhurricanekatrinatxd6xe4ir.jpg

This one, not sure where it is, but I'd imagine it was once some small town in LA or MS.

http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hurricanekatrinatxdam1070ms.jpg

maquiladora

Local TV is reporting that 17th Street canal pump is failing and will cause 10 to 15 feet of flooding on the east bank of Jefferson and Orleans.

If this is true....

Edit : It is true, I'm afraid.

Efforts to stop the levee break at the 17th Street Canal have ended unsuccessfully and the water is expected to soon overwhelm the pumps in that area, allowing water to pour into the east bank of Metairie and Orleans to an expected height of 12-15 feet.

Also reports now that there are holes all over the river levee's too, which would mean NO will be getting flooded from both the lake and the swollen Mississippi too.

kawaii

This is a disaster...

I was born in New Orleans and all... I've no memories of the place (I was 2 when I left) but I can't help but feel I've lost something...

billy the squid

****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****

http://www.wwltv.com/

the pump at the 17th street cenal has now failed and nine feet of water is expected to fill areas such as the French quarter of the City. areas which previously remained more or less dry after the hurricane.

the Superdome is now surrounded by water and it is rising.

claidheamh

Do any of you have family stuck there, or homeless as a result?

kawaii

My dad and sis were living in New Orleans before but I think they've moved out of the area a few years ago so no real worries...

Thanks for your concern...

maquiladora

NEW ORLEANS – The evacuation of the Superdome was suspended Thursday after shots were reported fired at a military helicopter and arson fires broke out outside the arena. No immediate injuries were reported.

The scene at the Superdome became increasingly chaotic, with thousands of people rushing from nearby hotels and other buildings, hoping to climb onto the buses taking evacuees from the arena, officials said. Paramedics became increasingly alarmed by the sight of people with guns.

bringitdown

Image overlays for Google Earth (fup I love this program)

http://earth.google.com/katrina.html

Tragic / Impressive

fatherdougalmag

Aerial photo database here: http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM