They had a story on CNN about how one of the zoos (I think in Mississippi) had two dolphins and they loaded them up, transported them to a local hotel pool, treated it so it was salt water, and they were swimming fairly happily.

SI

Ah crap, I didn't even think of the zoo and the aquarium. The New Orleans aquarium is perhaps the best in the nation, hopefully since it was all constructed within the last 15 or so years, its somewhat stormproof, but there is so much glass in its construction, even on the outside... Worse yet the Aquarium is RIGHT on the riverfront.

The Audobon Zoo in New Orleans has also become one of the better zoos in the nation. Its build up a little higher than the surouding area and its well enough run that there are places to shelter most animals in the zoo. Hopefully both survived the storm well enough...

Yes, if the river had overflowed, the zoo would be in deep trouble.

Also, I was just looking at the slides at WWL. Slidell got the shit kicked out of it.

I should have just searched right away. If this article is well informed, Audubon came out pretty good in the storm, the zoo and aquirium are ok, and only animal deaths are flamingos.

http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0830-n..._aquarium.html

I'm feeling very blessed and thankful when looking at the damage in LA, MI, and AL. When Katrina came through South Florida it was a Cat 1 and was much less severe than the storms we got last year. Palm Beach County was especially lucky since she jogged more to South. We got some strong wind gusts and some rain, but we didn't even lose power this time, except for a few times it flicked out and back on (we were without power for about a week and a half at this time last year). My heart goes out to everyone who got slammed by the monster it became out over the gulf.

FOX News is reporting that gunmen have fired their AK-47's at a New Orleans police station.


Edit-- added excerpt from FOX News.

I just got home from buying some extra food and stuff for at the hotel. This is just so sad to see police officers shot, hostages taken, and now AK-47's being fired :(


Edit: Wierd that I referred to the hotel as "home."

You've got a lot of people you care about right there with you ... using the word "home" doesn't seem all that weird to me ;)

Just remember, this is temporary, not permanent.

Mayor what's-his-name is now saying that another levee is about to break and they've stopped trying to plug the 17th street one, the water is expected to rise to 3 feet above sea level all across the city. So a street that is 3 feet below sea level will end up with 6 feet of water.

doesn't look good. doesn't look good at all.

Ya' know, I don't buy the bull Bush is an idiot but...



...but is the best thing to be seen doing if you're the President?

Small firefights in N.O. needs to be taken care of with force. Those yahoos need to be taught a lesson that they dont run the show.

was watching the Texas news channel earlier and I know they said the statewide groecery store chain we have here, H-E-B is getting together in San Antonio and they're trying to find a place near ORleans where they might be able to plug in their huge mobile kitchens, they bring them around to poor communities int he state normally so they're going off to help..they're going to donate a lot of food and gather volunteers from the state and take them out there as well, im going to try to find out about that tomorrow. Im also waiting to see if Cringe's company that he drives for will start up a donation matching, that way whatever money we give we can make it bigger, i know they have companies they go to in some fo the affected areas so im thinking they will. I just cant believe these stupid ppl going around looting and shooting, like i KNOW it happens all the time with these disasters but come on, guess you HOPE soo bad it wont happen this time, that it's a million times more depressing when you see it does, it's just so senseless...I'd love to volunteer, but i cant leave town until my client has her baby, im sure there will still be much to do late next month so id like to then:( it's all very odd to me because I had the chance to go up there earlier this month, just a freak chance that i got asked to go by a friend..glad i took it and was able to see the city before all this happened, but it makes it pretty damn sad..k im done babbling:(

Nice, there's even the Presidential seal on the guitar!

dola - Saw this on Slashdot, and it's pretty interesting! 9 weeks or more just to pump the water out of the city!


http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/nov04/nov04c.html

I remember someone mentioned how was the Children's Hospital? I just heard on the radio that looters had surrounded the hospital and were trying to break in. The administrator said I guess by cell phone that the hospital was locked and secure but Police and national guardsmen couldn't get there do to the rising flood waters. :(

Wildlife and Fisheries workers rescued more than 3,000 people Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu told a reporter.

This is a tiny sentence from one of the CNN stories online, but it's one of my favorite sidebars to the big picture so far.

I heard the director of the W&F division on TV yesterday afternoon & was struck by how common-sense their involvement in the rescue operations has been. I can't quote him, but the gist of it was "we're equipped for this sort of thing, with headlights & such on our boats, we're trained for this in so far as our people are used to working at night & in close quarters, we figured we could help, so that's what we're doing".

I probably don't do that nearly enough justice trying to explain it, the thing that impressed me was that here's an agency that seemed to be saying "here's something we can definitely do ... so let's go DO it". And that sort of common sense understanding of both needs & capabilities just impressed the hell out of me.

Saw this info on that forum that Jim had recommended. The satellite pictures shown are just general pictures, not of specific areas. Warning, takes a while to load up on a slow connection.

hxxp://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=48689

Before-




After-

Look at how much wider the rivers are and how the land between the lakes just disappeared.

I'm a bit late getting to this thread, but I'm glad to hear you and yours are OK. Hang in there EF27.

Dola-


Amazing.

Where did the news about the prison riots come from?

Wow, lake pontchartrain ate lake maurepas. I wonder if that will become a permanent feature now? Its something to see such a geographic change in one's lifetime, especially overnight.

Most of two parishes, Plaquemines parish (which was mostly the skinny land mass that lines the river after New Orleans) and St Benard parish (the penisula north of the river/plaquemines and east of NO), look to be totally wiped off the face of the earth.

Can we please cut the political garbage once and for all, folks? Getting sick and tired of the handful of jabs against the President and Conservatives...

In terms of dumbass statements, this certainly takes the cake. The priorities are getting people back and what not - not shooting people trying to get baby formula.

I thought so too yesterday.

Then a police officer was shot in the head by looters, and a band of looters attempted to break into a children's hospital late last night. A children's hospital with patients still locked inside.

Franklin and JIMGA were 100% correct.

(link for hospital story - last story under Aug 30.)

Dola - and the Saints are headed to San Antonio.

Saints to go to San Antonio

Wednesday, 12:50 a.m.

The Saints will fly to San Antonio following their 8 p.m. Thursday game at the Oakland Raiders and will make it their home base for the immediate future, said director of media and public relations Greg Bensel.

Several teams and communities offered assistance, but Saints owner Tom Benson has long-standing ties to San Antonio, his second home. The team evacuated to San Antonio before Hurricane Ivan last year.

The Saints are planning to practice in San Antonio until their season-opener Sept. 11 at the Carolina Panthers.

Where they will play the home opener, against the New York Giants on Sept. 18, is uncertain. General Manager Mickey Loomis and the NFL are looking into potential sites, and that would include college stadiums.

linky

There are rumors on the UTEP board that Tulane may play its entire season on the road this year. If that's true, I hope the teams that gain an extra home game both donate all the profits to Tulane/New Orleans and hold some sort of fund raising event in conjuction with the game...

They're evacuating the Superdome refugees and putting them in... the Astrodome.

via the Associated Press.

That is surreal.

Governor about to hold press conference.

{My next few comments will be from the press conference, if it lasts any length of time}

--Confirming that all in Superdome (approx. 10,000) will be moved to Astrodome.

--Asking President for military presence so that National Guard can be freed up for security

President has authorized army to assist. Ships coming to help evacuation and provide supplies.

Now, the evacuation spokeperson says 23,000 are in Superdome.

Buses are on the way to Superdome now. Hospital patients also to be evacuated.

Purposes of military ships...

• command and control
• "assets" (supplies?)
• housing (mainly of personnel, but could be a last resort for housing evacuees)

How are the buses able to get there? I thought the Superdome was surrounded by water, not to mention all the roads leading into NOLA being submerged as well. I had visions of the evacuation of the embassy in Saigon in '75 (people clinging desperately to choppers and so forth).

My parents are at Children's Hospital and I was very worried when I saw this report. I called my parents at about 1:45 central last night (about two hours after the report was first published), and apparently this story at nola.com was erroneous or at least geatly exaggerated. Security at the hospital is good; there is a SWAT team therel.

Children's Hospital has power, water (even hot water), and food; but it is one of the few buildings with even just one of the those three. So my parents are far more comfortable than most others in the city.

And for EaglesFan27, there is still no flooding in that area, and apparently the water is rising extremely slowly, if at all.

apparently you can still get out (for now) as long as you're heading west. not sure how much longer that will be feasible.

They said that's part of the problem of getting them there. If they've gotten specific about how they're going to get through the water, I haven't heard it. They've gotten bogged down in some very detailed discussion about how the evac is going to happen (names of roads/parishes/townships/etc.), and I haven't paid full attention to that at times.

I'm alittle confused, why are looters trying to gun down and break in to the Children's Hospital?

That'd do it in a place like New Orleans right now.

Oh yeah. But is the hospital not flooded and out of power?

Conference over....total evac may take up to 2 days.

There is still one way out of the city from downtown which has only minor flooding (2-3ft). The buses can cross the river to bypass the flooded parts of lakeview, Metairie, and Kenner. The interstate bridges to the west of the city were not affected by the storm surge.

There are also a great deal of narcotics inside of hospitals. I've heard reports of at least one drugstore looted not for diapers and formula, but for the drugs inside.

Im curious - how many helicopters are available for this evacuation ? Surely they can commandeer private copters from Houston and all for this purpose, correct /

That was my first thought about looters trying to break into the hospital. Power, hot water and such can't be taken and brought with you, drugs can...

FM

Thats what I was trying to figure out.

Fair point. Hadn't considered that junkies would be part of the (what is now becoming) Thunderdome crowd.

I do wonder whether New Orleans is a total loss at this point. I know there will be efforts to rebuild, but is it possible that it might not come to pass? One nightmare scenario to consider is that yet another storm may come out of the Gulf in September and deliver the coup de grace while the city struggles to recover. At this point, even a Cat 1 or 2 may be enough to finish the job.