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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 2:05:15 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 2:05:15 GMT -5
www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/katrina.doomsday/index.htmlKatrina may be 'our Asian tsunami' I am about 8-12 hours ahead of the headlines on Katrina.I have been covering Katrina in 3 threads: The Mailbag: fusioner.proboards60.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1125079716&page=1Global Warming:fusioner.proboards60.com/index.cgi?board=news&action=display&thread=1122832615&page=4Oil: fusioner.proboards60.com/index.cgi?board=news&action=display&thread=1122965368&page=3In my opinion, New Orleans is going to cease as a functional US city is about 10 hours. (CNN) -- Flooding expected from Hurricane Katrina could wreak catastrophe on New Orleans, overwhelming its water and sewage systems, damaging its structures and leaving survivors in a bowl of toxic soup, a top hurricane expert said Sunday.Landfall is expected early Monday. "We need to recognize we may be about to experience our equivalent of the Asian tsunami, in terms of the damage and the numbers of people that can be killed," said Ivor van Heerden, director of the Louisiana State University Public Health Research Center in Baton Rouge. Some 25 feet of standing water is expected in many parts of the city -- almost twice the height of the average home -- and computer models suggest that more than 80 percent of buildings would be badly damaged or destroyed, he said. Floodwaters from the east will carry toxic waste from the "Industrial Canal" area, nicknamed after the chemical plants there. From the west, floodwaters would flow through the Norco Destrehan Industrial Complex, which includes refineries and chemical plants, said van Heerden, who has studied computer models about the impact of a strong hurricane for four years. "These chemical plants are going to start flying apart, just as the other buildings do," he predicted. "So, we have the potential for release of benzene, hydrochloric acid, chlorine and so on." That could result in severe air and water pollution, he said. In New Orleans, which lies below sea level, gas and diesel tanks are all located above ground for the same reason that bodies are buried above ground. In the event of a flood, "those tanks will start to float, shear their couplings, and we'll have the release of these rather volatile compounds," van Heerden added. Because gasoline floats on water, "we could end up with some pretty severe and large -- area-wise -- fires." "So, we're looking at a bowl full of highly contaminated water with contaminated air flowing around and, literally, very few places for anybody to go where they'll be safe." He went further. "So, imagine you're the poor person who decides not to evacuate: Your house will disintegrate around you. The best you'll be able to do is hang on to a light pole, and while you're hanging on, the fire ants from all the mounds -- of which there is two per yard on average -- will clamber up that same pole. And, eventually, the fire ants will win." The levees intended to protect the city vary in height, from as low as 10 feet above sea level to about 14 feet, he said. They too are vulnerable, because they are made of earth, he said. Disaster waiting to happenPrevious studies have suggested a catastrophic toll in lives and property if a major hurricane were to hit the New Orleans area, where about 1.3 million people live. Walter Maestri, the emergency management chief in neighboring Jefferson Parish, said Hurricane Georges in 1998 could have killed as many as 44,000 people had it struck the city directly. "The way it's described, we describe it here, is Lake Pontchartrain has now become Lake New Orleans," he told CNN in 2004. Van Heerden said levees built to protect New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain could be buffeted by waves from the lake, which is about 23 miles by 35 miles in area. "You're going to have enormous waves develop on that lake, especially with as much as 14 hours of hurricane-force winds." Those waves will erode the levees, raising the possibility of their collapse, he said. "This is what we've been saying has been going to happen for years," he said. "Unfortunately, it's coming true." Rick Luettich, a professor at the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences, compared Katrina's expected impact on areas far up the Mississippi to "grabbing the end of the bed cover and giving it a hard snap." That snap will push "probably in excess of 10 feet" of floodwater up the river, he predicted. "It will propagate up the river like a wave," past Baton Rouge, more than 70 miles away, he said. For 15 years, Luettich has been developing a hydrodynamic circulation model -- called AdCirc -- that he said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has endorsed to help emergency managers predict storm damage. Apologizing for the possibility that his comment could be interpreted as somewhat ghoulish, he said, "This is, in some ways, a little bit exciting for us, because it's a real opportunity to test this technology we've developed and see how well it works." Edited to add: Ivor van Heerden is a hero
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 2:38:24 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 2:38:24 GMT -5
000 WTNT32 KNHC 290656 TCPAT2 BULLETIN HURRICANE KATRINA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 25B NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 2 AM CDT MON AUG 29 2005 ...POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE KATRINA BEGINNING TO TURN NORTHWARD TOWARD SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA AND THE NORTHERN GULF COAST... ...SUSTAINED HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS OCCURRING ALONG THE SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA COAST... A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTH CENTRAL GULF COAST FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER... INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH ARE IN EFFECT FROM EAST OF THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER TO DESTIN FLORIDA...AND FROM WEST OF MORGAN CITY TO INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FROM DESTIN FLORIDA EASTWARD TO INDIAN PASS FLORIDA...AND FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA WESTWARD TO CAMERON LOUISIANA. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. AT 2 AM CDT...0700Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE KATRINA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 28.2 NORTH...LONGITUDE 89.6 WEST OR ABOUT 70 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ABOUT 130 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA. KATRINA IS NOW MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 12 MPH. THIS MOTION IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE TODAY WITH A GRADUAL INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED. A TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED LATER TONIGHT AND ON TUESDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE WILL BE VERY NEAR THE NORTHERN GULF COAST LATER THIS MORNING. HOWEVER... CONDITIONS ARE GRADUALLY DTERIORATING ALONG PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF COAST...AND WILL CONTINUE TO WORSEN THROUGHOUT THE DAY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 155 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. KATRINA IS NOW A STRONG CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY PRIOR TO LANDFALL...BUT KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS EITHER A CATEGORY FOUR OR POSSIBLY A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE. WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER FLOORS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THOSE NEAR GROUND LEVEL. KATRINA REMAINS A VERY LARGE HURRICANE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230 MILES. DURING THE PAST HOUR...A WIND GUST TO 83 MPH WAS REPORTED FROM A UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI BUOY LOCATED JUST EAST OF THE CHANDELEUR ISLANDS...A GUST TO 75 MPH WAS REPORTED AT GRAND ISLE LOUISIANA...AND A WIND GUST TO 60 MPH WAS REPORTED IN NEW ORLEANS. THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE RECENTLY REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WAS 910 MB...26.87 INCHES. COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 18 TO 22 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...LOCALLY AS HIGH AS 28 FEET...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA COULD BE OVERTOPPED. SIGNIFICANT STORM SURGE FLOODING WILL OCCUR ELSEWHERE ALONG THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST. NOAA BUOY 42040 LOCATED ABOUT 50 MILES EAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER RECENTLY REPORTED WAVES HEIGHTS OF AT LEAST 40 FEET. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES...ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE PATH OF KATRINA ACROSS THE GULF COAST AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY INTO THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES REGION TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE TORNADO THREAT AHEAD OF KATRINA IS INCREASING AND SCATTERED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE TODAY OVER SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA... SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...SOUTHERN ALABAMA...AND OVER THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE TONIGHT. REPEATING THE 2 AM CDT POSITION...28.2 N... 89.6 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...NORTH NEAR 12 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...155 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 910 MB. THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 4 AM CDT. FORECASTER STEWART
This storm is on course to make a direct hit with maximium impact on the city of New Orleans, which can well expect to cease to function as a major US city and oil terminal. The good news is that the pressure at the eye of this storm has begun to rise, and it has slowed from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm as it moved into shallower water. The bad news is that shallower water brings the storm surge to a head, with higher wave crests. It is not the wind, or the rain that is going to destroy New Orleans... It's the storm surge... Wave heights at the mouth of the Mississippi reported at 40 feet means the levees surrounding New Orleans are all but doomed later today
(formating edits made)
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 3:06:44 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 3:06:44 GMT -5
HURRICANE KATRINA LOCAL STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 240 AM CDT MON AUG 29 2005
...DIRECT STRIKE OF POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC AND LIFE THREATENING HURRICANE EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY MONDAY...
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 3:36:15 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 3:36:15 GMT -5
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 3:57:23 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 3:57:23 GMT -5
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9113550/Hurricane could leave 1 million homelessIt should if my numbers are correctExperts warn of ‘incredible environmental disaster’ of biblical proportionsThat sounds about right for the times... The world is changing people... Biblical things are happening... as in maybe if there was a God... he might be upset? Don't blame me!!!When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans on Monday, it could turn one of America’s most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city’s legendary cemeteries. Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm. Katrina reached Category 5 level Sunday before weakening just slightly to a strong Category 4 storm early Monday. But with top winds of 155 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless. “All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario,” Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon. 'A refugee camp of a million people' The center’s latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. In the French Quarter, the water could reach 20 feet, easily submerging the district’s iconic cast-iron balconies and bars. Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city’s houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless. “We’re talking about in essence having — in the continental United States — having a refugee camp of a million people,” van Heerden said. Aside from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Miami in 1992, forecasters have no experience with Category 5 hurricanes hitting densely populated areas. “Hurricanes rarely sustain such extreme winds for much time. However we see no obvious large-scale effects to cause a substantial weakening the system and it is expected that the hurricane will be of Category 4 or 5 intensity when it reaches the coast,” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Richard Pasch said. Hurricane guide As they raced to put meteorological instruments in Katrina’s path Sunday, wind engineers had little idea what their equipment would record. “We haven’t seen something this big since we started the program,” said Kurt Gurley, a University of Florida engineering professor. He works for the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, which is in its seventh year of making detailed measurements of hurricane wind conditions using a set of mobile weather stations. Vulnerable city Experts have warned about New Orleans’ vulnerability for years, chiefly because Louisiana has lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands in the past seven decades. The vast patchwork of swamps and bayous south of the city serves as a buffer, partially absorbing the surge of water that a hurricane pushes ashore. Experts have also warned that the ring of high levees around New Orleans, designed to protect the city from floodwaters coming down the Mississippi, will only make things worse in a powerful hurricane. Katrina is expected to push a 28-foot storm surge against the levees. Even if they hold, water will pour over their tops and begin filling the city as if it were a sinking canoe. After the storm passes, the water will have nowhere to go. In a few days, van Heerden predicts, emergency management officials are going to be wondering how to handle a giant stagnant pond contaminated with building debris, coffins, sewage and other hazardous materials. “We’re talking about an incredible environmental disaster,” van Heerden said. He puts much of the blame for New Orleans’ dire situation on the very levee system that is designed to protect southern Louisiana from Mississippi River floods. Before the levees were built, the river would top its banks during floods and wash through a maze of bayous and swamps, dropping fine-grained silt that nourished plants and kept the land just above sea level. The levees “have literally starved our wetlands to death” by directing all of that precious silt out into the Gulf of Mexico, van Heerden said. It has been 40 years since New Orleans faced a hurricane even comparable to Katrina. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, submerged some parts of the city to a depth of seven feet. Since then, the Big Easy has had nothing but near misses. In 1998, Hurricane Georges headed straight for New Orleans, then swerved at the last minute to strike Mississippi and Alabama. Hurricane Lili blew herself out at the mouth of the Mississippi in 2002. And last year’s Hurricane Ivan obligingly curved to the east as it came ashore, barely grazing a grateful city.
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 5:05:46 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 5:05:46 GMT -5
000 WTNT32 KNHC 290850 TCPAT2 BULLETIN HURRICANE KATRINA ADVISORY NUMBER 26 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 4 AM CDT MON AUG 29 2005 ...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE KATRINA MOVING NORTHWARD TOWARD SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA AND THE NORTHERN GULF COAST...
...TROPICAL STORM-FORCE WINDS LASHING THE GULF COAST FROM SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA TO THE ALABAMA-FLORIDA BORDER...
A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTH CENTRAL GULF COAST FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER... INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE COMPLETED THIS EVENING. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH ARE IN EFFECT FROM EAST OF THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER TO DESTIN FLORIDA...AND FROM WEST OF MORGAN CITY TO INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FROM DESTIN FLORIDA EASTWARD TO INDIAN PASS FLORIDA...AND FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA WESTWARD TO CAMERON LOUISIANA. FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA... INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS... PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. AT 4 AM CDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE KATRINA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 28.8 NORTH... LONGITUDE 89.6 WEST OR ABOUT 90 MILES SOUTH- SOUTHEAST OF NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA AND ABOUT 120 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF BILOXI MISSISSIPPI. KATRINA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 15 MPH... AND THIS MOTION IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE TODAY. A GRADUAL TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST AT A SLIGHTLY FASTER FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED LATER TONIGHT AND ON TUESDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...KATRINA WILL MOVE ONSHORE THE SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA COAST JUST EAST OF GRAND ISLE THIS MORNING... AND REACH THE LOUISIANA-MISSISSIPPI BORDER AREA THIS AFTERNOON.
CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO STEADILY DETERIORATE OVER CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA...SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...AND SOUTHERN ALABAMA THROUGHOUT THE DAY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 150 MPH...240 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. KATRINA IS A STRONG CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY PRIOR TO LANDFALL...BUT KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE. WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER FLOORS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THOSE NEAR GROUND LEVEL. KATRINA REMAINS A VERY LARGE HURRICANE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230 MILES. RECENTLY...A SUSTAINED WIND OF 53 MPH WITH GUST TO 91 MPH WAS REPORTED AT GRAND ISLE LOUISIANA ...AND A WIND GUST TO 71 MPH WAS REPORTED IN NEW ORLEANS. THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE RECENTLY REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WAS 915 MB...27.02 INCHES. COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 18 TO 22 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...LOCALLY AS HIGH AS 28 FEET...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA COULD BE OVERTOPPED. SIGNIFICANT STORM SURGE FLOODING WILL OCCUR ELSEWHERE ALONG THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST. NOAA BUOY 42040 LOCATED ABOUT 50 MILES EAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER RECENTLY REPORTED WAVES HEIGHTS OF AT LEAST 46 FEET. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES...ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE PATH OF KATRINA ACROSS THE GULF COAST AND THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY INTO THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES REGION TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE TORNADO THREAT AHEAD OF KATRINA CONTINUES TO INCREASE AND SCATTERED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE TODAY OVER SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA... SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...SOUTHERN ALABAMA...AND OVER THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE. REPEATING THE 4 AM CDT POSITION...28.8 N... 89.6 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...NORTH NEAR 15 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...150 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 915 MB. INTERMEDIATE ADVISORIES WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 6 AM CDT AND 8 AM CDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 10 AM CDT. FORECASTER STEWART
The central low pressure (the "engine") of this hurricane is rising, as the pressure rises, wind speeds will decrease... But this is a record breaking, huge, storm... Hell and high water are not going to stop it or prevent major destruction... It is not going to "blow out" hitting land... Wave heights at the mouth of the Mississippi have increased 6 feet in the last few hours. The storm is on track for a direct hit on New Orleans... And remember, it is not wind speed, or rainfall, that are going to destroy the city... It is the storm surge topped by wind generated waves... New Orleans has a "catch pocket" to the east, the Mississipi river and Lake Pontchartrain... These bodies of water will provide mass for the storm surge to push into the city... The hurricane as seen locally, hits counter-clockwise, from the east, where these bodies of water are located. They will breech in about 8 hours
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 5:40:52 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 5:40:52 GMT -5
news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050829/ts_nm/weather_katrina_dc_44Hurricane Katrina roars toward Louisiana NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Powerful Hurricane Katrina roared toward the Louisiana coast on Monday with 150 mile per hour (240 kph) winds and a massive storm surge that threatened to swamp the historic city of New Orleans. Katrina was losing intensity as it approached land, but was still expected to deal a serious blow as it came in from the Gulf of Mexico. As of 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the eye of the storm was just off the southeastern Louisiana coast about 90 miles south-southeast of New Orleans and moving north at 15 mph (24 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Winds of 91 miles per hour (146 kph) had been recorded at Grand Isle on the coast, while gusts in New Orleans were already up to 71 mph (114 kph), or almost hurricane force. Rains pelted the area and were expected to total up to 15 inches, but so far there had been no reports of serious damage. At least a million people had fled the area ahead of the powerful storm, which was once a fearsome Category 5 storm with 175 mph (280 kph) winds, but was now a Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Weather experts issued dire predictions for the fate of New Orleans, saying that thousands of homes could be damaged or destroyed and a million people left homeless by a storm surge forecast to be as high as 28 feet above normal. As Katrina plowed through the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies shut down production from many of the offshore platforms that provide a quarter of U.S. oil and gas production. At least 42 percent of daily Gulf oil production, 20 percent of daily Gulf natural gas output and 8.5 percent of national refining capacity was shut on Sunday, producers and refiners said. U.S. oil futures jumped nearly $5 a barrel in opening trade to touch a peak of $70.80. The rise in oil prices fed through to other financial markets, hurting stocks and the dollar on fears that economic growth might be curtailed but boosting safe havens such as government bonds and gold. SEEKING SAFETYEven into Monday morning, Louisiana highways were thick with traffic as evacuees sought safety as far away as Texas, 265 miles to the west. "Please Pray for New Orleans" read a giant handpainted sign, appearing to sum up the fears that had seized the city known as the Big Easy for its relaxed life and party atmosphere. New Orleans is nearly surrounded by water, including Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi, and about 70 percent of it lies below sea level, protected only by a series of levees. Mayor Ray Nagin, who ordered a mandatory evacuation, warned the predicted storm surge could push water over the levees and flood the city, including its historic French Quarter. That, said Cray Bruce as he fled in his car toward Texas, was what convinced him to leave. "The only thing I was worried about was the water. We don't worry about no wind," said Bruce as he stopped for gas in Crowley, Louisiana. 160 miles west of New Orleans. In Baton Rouge, officials said three people from a New Orleans nursing home had died during their evacuation to a Baton Rouge church. They said they were among nearly two dozen people from the home who were on a bus stuck in traffic for hours during the 80 mile trip. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 26,000 people had taken shelter in the Superdome, the giant, enclosed stadium near the French Quarter. The Louisiana National Guard brought in 10 truckloads of food and water for them. Streets in New Orleans were mostly abandoned as the storm approached and even on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, bars that usually never close were shut down. News reports said sporadic looting had broken out in one New Orleans neighborhood, but police intervened. Later, they and ambulance crews were ordered to take shelter as the storm approached. New Orleans has not been hit directly by a hurricane since 1965 when Hurricane Betsy blew in, flooding the city and killing about 75 people in the United States. Mississippi and Alabama also braced for impact as the wide hurricane was forecast to push a 20-foot (6-meter) surge of seawater into the tourist community of Gulfport, Mississippi. Katrina was making its second U.S. landfall after striking southern Florida last week, where it caused widespread flooding and seven deaths.
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Katrina
Aug 29, 2005 6:18:42 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 29, 2005 6:18:42 GMT -5
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050829/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_2Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall in La. It was not going to hit? Everything is ok? Oil supplies and gasoline prices will not be affected?NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore early Monday and charged toward this low-lying city with 150-mph winds and the threat of a catastrophic storm surge. Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city. Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at about 5 a.m. central time. Katrina's fury was quickly felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of professional football's Saints, which became the shelter of last resort Sunday for about 9,000 of the area's poor, homeless and frail. Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and is not strong enough to run the air conditioning.
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Katrina
Aug 31, 2005 23:24:38 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Aug 31, 2005 23:24:38 GMT -5
Well, well... Guess what happened? Everything I predicted came true. New Orleans has ceased to function, it is a dead city... Only looters thrive there. There are many thousands dead... The mainstream news is only reporting "authority" statements, and they are not releasing casualty numbers... I did the math, and there are between 20 and 30 thousand people unaccounted for.
Oil and gas production from the Gulf has stopped. It has been four days since an oil tanker has unloaded, or a pipeline has pumped petroleum. Most off-shore oil rigs are substaintially damaged, destroyed, or blown off station. Gasoline prices have risen 50 cents in four days, and they still have not completed damage estimates... Gas at the US pump is going to $4 a gallon soon.
Natural gas... The primary heating fuel for homes and businesses in the south and midwest... Is now in very short supply. The hot summer has utilities burning natural gas to generate electricity for air conditioning... Supplies were already low, there is no reserve, heating costs for this winter are going to increase dramatically...
What do you do when no matter how much you are willing to pay... There is no fuel available?
Katrina is just a shakedown cruise for the future folks. Global warming and fuel shortages in this millenium, the end of the petroleum age... Are just starting to make noticable changes... The kind of changes that insensitive people cannot ignore even... The kind that sensitive people predict and focus on well in advance.
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Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 4:21:53 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 2, 2005 4:21:53 GMT -5
Planning, response to Katrina faultedwww.msnbc.msn.com/id/9166531/Officials failed to plan for serious levee breachBy Josh White and Peter Whoriskey Updated: 12:44 a.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005 Tens of thousands of people remain stranded on the streets of New Orleans in desperate conditions because officials failed to plan for a serious levee breach and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was slow, according to disaster experts and Louisiana government officials. Though experts had long predicted that the city -- which sits below sea level and is surrounded by water -- would face unprecedented devastation after an immense hurricane, they said problems were worsened by a late evacuation order and insufficient emergency shelter for as many as 100,000 people. Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans's emergency operations, said the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was inadequate and that Louisiana officials have been overwhelmed. "This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert told the Associated Press as he watched refugees evacuate the Superdome yesterday. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking, but we're not getting supplies." New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent out a frustrated plea for help yesterday as thousands of people remained marooned at the city's convention center in the heat and filth, with as many as seven corpses nearby. "This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the Convention Center and don't anticipate enough buses. Currently the Convention Center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people," Nagin said in a statement read by CNN. Frustration rose yesterday as federal, state and local officials responded to what many have described as an unimaginable disaster. Hampered by the lack of power, communications and passable roads, exhausted officials became increasingly worried about saving lives and getting help for those still stranded. Slow pace of aidRep. Charles W. Boustany Jr., (R-La.), said he spent the past 48 hours urging the Bush administration to send help. "I started making calls and trying to impress upon the White House and others that something needed to be done," he said. "The State resources were being overwhelmed, and we needed direct federal assistance, command and control, and security -- all three of which are lacking." In Mississippi, refugees and survivors also complained about the agonizingly slow pace of aid. Food and fuel were extremely limited in many of the hardest hit counties, and power and telephone communications were distant prospects for thousands of people. Isolated reports of shooting and lawlessness compounded the woes of weary survivors. Officials said debris on highways slowed the arrival of relief supplies. But most of the bottlenecks had now been finally cleared, said Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Scott Hamilton, and supplies were on their way. The state was also planning to activate thousands of additional National Guard troops, to help maintain order. Michael D. Brown, FEMA's director, offered an emphatic defense of the federal response, saying that his agency prepared for the storm but that the widespread, unexpected flooding kept rescuers out of the city. He urged the nation to "take a collective deep breath" and recognize that federal officials are doing all they can to save people. Brown said personnel, equipment, supplies, trucks, and search and rescue teams were positioned in the region ahead of the hurricane. Overwhelmed"What the American people need to understand is that the full force of the federal government is bringing all of those supplies in, in an unprecedented effort that has not been seen even in the tsunami region," he said. "I was in the tsunami region, and this response is incredibly more efficient, more effective and under the most difficult circumstances." Local officials in Louisiana said the scope of a double whammy -- a Category 4 hurricane coupled with a large breach of a levee -- simply overwhelmed them. "There is never a contingency plan for something like this," said Johnny B. Bradberry, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Communication has been nearly impossible, and transportation is extremely limited, complicating the rescue and recovery efforts. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) said yesterday that officials were just getting around to putting functioning communications devices out in the field. The rush of water knocked out the 911 system, police radios and telephones, and state police officials have been struggling to communicate with their officers in the field. Blanco also said federal assistance has been problematic. "I will confess that it has caused us a lot of stress," Blanco said. "We would have wanted massive numbers of helicopters on Day One." Experts said one of the major problems with the response effort was an ineffective evacuation that began just 24 hours before the storm hit. Though models for such a storm accurately portrayed the circumstances that arose -- a levee breach, flooding, stagnant water, inaccessible portions of the city and large numbers of people unable to leave -- more than 100,000 people remained when the storm hit. Some people were simply too poor to pick up their lives, and others unwisely figured they could ride out the hurricane in their homes because they had done so in the past. But Rep William J. Jefferson (D-La.) said there was a failure to think about a "holistic approach to the evacuation effort." Jack Harrald, director of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management at George Washington University, said researchers and academics have for years been studying New Orleans because of its particular vulnerabilities to disaster. In the Natural Hazards Observer in Nov. 2004, Shirley Laska, director of the Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology at the University of New Orleans, predicted a direct hit could produce "conditions never before experienced in a North American disaster" and said evacuation problems would be severe. Late evacuation"They didn't get people out. There was a late mandatory evacuation, and it's a very exposed position," Harrald said yesterday. "The realization of how serious the situation was not shared in all directions." Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore, the Army officer in charge of the military task force set up to respond to Katrina, acknowledged yesterday that the vast extent of hurricane damage had caught him and other military planners off guard. "All last week, we were collaborating on developing options," he said in a briefing to Pentagon reporters. "None of us -- nobody -- was clairvoyant enough to perceive the damage that was going to be brought by this storm." Geeze... I predicted it. I am a moron and these guys run the world?Nevertheless, he and other Defense Department authorities insisted that they had acted quickly after recognizing the scale of the disaster and have been able to marshal the necessary assistance. Some defense specialists argued yesterday that the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to Iraq had diminished the number available for hurricane relief. Nearly 8,000 guardsmen from units in Mississippi and Louisiana, for instance, are serving in Iraq, many with engineering and other support skills that are especially useful in relief operations. But Guard officials noted that despite the deployments, 60 percent or more of the total Guard forces in the affected states remain available. Honore added that a large flow of Guard forces from other states around the country has "helped minimize" the Iraq factor. ‘I think it has cost lives’Martha A. Madden, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said she believes a critical systemic breakdown occurred the moment the levee broke. She said contingency plans have been in place for decades but were either ignored or improperly executed. Madden, now a national security and environmental consultant, said the lack of immediate federal help, specifically in the form of military assistance, was "incomprehensible." "How many people are going to die, per hour, before you get 40,000 troops in there?" Madden asked yesterday. "I think it has cost lives. . . . They can go into Iraq and do this and do that, but they can't drop some food on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling." Whoriskey reported from Baton Rouge, La. Staff writers Bradley Graham, Dafna Linzer and Shankar Vedantam in Washington and Christopher Lee in Gulfport, Miss., contributed to this report. © 2005 The Washington Post Company
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Katrina
Sept 2, 2005 4:40:20 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 2, 2005 4:40:20 GMT -5
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Katrina
Sept 5, 2005 10:39:04 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 5, 2005 10:39:04 GMT -5
If we are to pull ourselves out of the disasters of Katrina and Iraq alike, we must live in the real world, not the fantasyland of the administration's faith-based propaganda. Everything connects.www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rich.html
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Katrina
Sept 20, 2005 22:48:43 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 20, 2005 22:48:43 GMT -5
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Katrina
Sept 25, 2005 0:56:37 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 25, 2005 0:56:37 GMT -5
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Katrina
Sept 25, 2005 19:17:07 GMT -5
Post by Fusioner on Sept 25, 2005 19:17:07 GMT -5
TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWELVE, Aug 23 2005 5:00PM , 23.2, -75.5, 30, 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWELVE, Aug 23 2005 11:00PM , 23.4, -76.0, 30, 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWELVE, Aug 24 2005 5:00AM , 24.0, -76.4, 30, 1006 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 24 2005 11:00AM , 24.7, -76.7, 35, 1006 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 24 2005 5:00PM , 25.6, -77.2, 40, 1002 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 24 2005 11:00PM , 26.0, -78.0, 45, 1001 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 25 2005 5:00AM , 26.2, -78.7, 45, 1000 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 25 2005 11:00AM , 26.2, -79.3, 50, 997 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 25 2005 5:00PM , 26.1, -79.9, 65, 985 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 25 2005 11:00PM , 25.5, -80.7, 65, 984 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 26 2005 5:00AM , 25.3, -81.5, 65, 987 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 26 2005 11:00AM , 25.1, -82.2, 65, 981 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 26 2005 11:30AM , 25.1, -82.2, 85, 971 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 26 2005 5:00PM , 24.8, -82.9, 85, 965 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 26 2005 11:00PM , 24.6, -83.6, 90, 965 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 27 2005 5:00AM , 24.4, -84.4, 100, 945 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 27 2005 11:00AM , 24.5, -85.0, 100, 940 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 27 2005 5:00PM , 24.6, -85.6, 100, 945 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 27 2005 11:00PM , 25.0, -86.2, 100, 939 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 2:00AM , 25.1, -86.8, 125, 935 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 5:00AM , 25.4, -87.4, 125, 935 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 8:00AM , 25.7, -87.7, 140, 908 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 11:00AM , 26.0, -88.1, 150, 907 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 5:00PM , 26.9, -89.0, 145, 902 <- Peaked HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 28 2005 11:00PM , 27.6, -89.4, 140, 904 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 29 2005 5:00AM , 28.8, -89.6, 130, 915 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 29 2005 11:00AM , 30.2, -89.6, 110, 927 HURRICANE KATRINA, Aug 29 2005 5:00PM , 31.9, -89.6, 65, 960 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 29 2005 11:00PM , 33.5, -88.5, 50, 973 TROPICAL STORM KATRINA, Aug 30 2005 5:00AM , 34.7, -88.4, 45, 981 TROPICAL DEPRESSION KATRINA, Aug 30 2005 11:00AM , 36.3, -87.5, 30, 985
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