I’m sure nobody wants to hear this from me, so here it is from Dr. Jeff Masters:
It’s time to leave New Orleans
Today is the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic hit on the Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama coast. Unfortunately, I think that people living in New Orleans should mark the anniversary of Katrina by getting the heck out of the city. You live at the bottom of a bowl, much of it below sea level. While New Orleans must exist where it is, this is not natural. Nature wants to fill up this bowl with huge quantities of Gulf of Mexico sea water. There is a storm capable of doing that bearing down on you. If you live in New Orleans, I suggest you take a little Labor Day holiday–sooner, rather than later, to beat the rush–and get out of town. Gustav is going to come close to you, and there’s no sense messing with a major hurricane capable of pushing a Category 3 storm surge to your doorstep. Don’t test those Category 3 rated–but untested–levees. Conventional pre-Katrina wisdom suggested that the city needed 72 hours to evacuate. With the population about half of the pre-Katrina population, that lead time is about 60 hours. With Gustav likely to bring tropical storm force winds to the city by Monday afternoon, that means that tonight is a good time to start evacuating–Saturday morning at the latest. Voluntary evacuations have already begun, which is a good idea.
Seems like sound advice from where I sit, but that’s a long ways away.
August 30, 2008 at 7:21 am
You’re such a nervous nellie.
August 30, 2008 at 8:19 am
You’re such a nervous nellie.
Three years ago, I remember laughing at some guy in a forum somewhere (I really don’t remember who or where) who was warning that New Orleans could “ceast to exist as we know it” if it took a direct hit.
August 30, 2008 at 8:38 am
A bunch of us was using the computer over to the library and found out about that Masters fella. Whoo, if’n we’d have knowed about him three years ago, we might have done better than an 80% evacuation rate.
Yes, yes, yes. Read the news. Evacuations started yesterday, even though the storm isn’t even in the gulf yet and it’s trending away from New Orleans. Contraflow starts sometime today,
Y’all go back to chuckling over how droll it is of God to send another storm at us during the Republican convention. We’ll look after ourselves, like we’ve been doing.
Bitter? Yeah. Just a little.
August 30, 2008 at 9:46 am
gregp – I’m not chuckling.
I’ve never gotten over Katrina though I live hundreds of miles away and have never suffered damage from a hurricane. I’m still sickened by the neglect and abuse heaped upon the New Orleans Katrina survivors. I’ve never been more ashamed of not just my government, but my fellow citizens as well.
That having been said, I think reminding people of Katrina and the aftermath only underscores the main theme of what Obama had to say the other night about what has gone wrong in this country these last 8 years (and was well underway before then if you ask me).
While I hate to see another hurricane on the way and worry about those in its path, if having it come ashore during the GOP convention helps to remind anyone about their EPIC FAIL in serving the citizens of this country and contributes to their defeat so that we can get someone in office who will finally give you some of the help you’ve been needing, I’d rather it happen while they’re in the middle of making their bullshit case to the country as to why we should trust them with anything at all than for it to happen next month. That would be in a sense poetic justice, making them own their failure.
August 30, 2008 at 10:21 am
A Day or so before katrina hit I stood in my local bike shop and joked to the proprietor about New Orleans being wiped from the map. When it hit I thought about loading my truck with food and water and driving south,I used to be an EMT and I thought I might have something to offer. It would be a two day drive from where I lived at the time, and I remembered my friends who had rushed to NYC after the towers were hit only to find themselves with nothing to do. The authorities will deal with it I thought. Every day thereafter the thought crossed my mind, only to be pushed out by “well, by the time I got there the national guard will have set things right.” Fucking national disgrace.
August 30, 2008 at 10:31 am
3: didn’t mean nothin’ by it but be safe, and good luck.
August 30, 2008 at 10:31 am
Nothing like a few floating corpses to spice up convention coverage. Of course, if Americans didn’t have the attention span of meth-addicted chickens, we’d remember them from three years ago.
Here’a post from back then that has some pictures of the New Orleans topgraphy and hydrography.
August 30, 2008 at 11:20 am
I’ve never truly cared about New Orleans (indeed, most political observers just reference the storm to push one agenda or another), though it’s a great town to fuck in.
August 30, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Looks like the center of it may be heading toward morgan city/lake charles, west of Nawlins for the heaviest winds.
Only trouble? The levees in NO aren’t finished, not til 2011 (if then).
Here’s a stormtracker…
August 30, 2008 at 9:47 pm
*Gulp* Yes mam’ *gulp*
August 31, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Check out my post: “I don’t get it” at my blog, http://www.caringisnotenough.wordpress.com and see what evacuees should have done before they left…