Latest Infozone News Update on Katrina: Stand Tall New Orleans, you are in our Prayers
- From: infozone1@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 28 Aug 2005 19:55:15 -0700
webposted at www.theinfozone.net
Updated..... 10:15EDT ...August 28, 2005 (IZ) Report by James Murray
(c) 2005
New Orleans Preparing for Category 5 Katrina -- Oil Price Soars,
Citizens of New Orleans Leaving
Watch Streaming Video from New Orleans
Latest Hurricane Update From National Hurricane Center
Watch NOAA Animation of Storm Serge
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a test. This is the real deal," New
Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said Saturday. "Board up your homes, make
sure you have enough medicine, make sure the car has enough gas. Do all
things you normally do for a hurricane but treat this one differently
because it is pointed towards New Orleans."
Busy areas, like Bourbon Street are virtually empty. New Orleans,
usually thought of as a "Party Town" is not holding the usual hurricane
party that one might expect. Much of New Orleans Parrish is below
sea-level, and a threatened storm surge for a major hurricane would
cause massive damage.
Bourbon Street, deserted. Live Image
According to the Washington Post, "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".
""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.
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."
BBC News Streaming Video of evacuation of New Orleans
Across America tonight, and around the world, people are seeing images
from New Orleans and praying, and hoping for the best, but fearing for
the worst. The worst fears of many experts are being raised on
televsion shows world wide.
New Orleans Super Dome
The New Orleans Superdome is being used as an emergency shelter for
residents who have no other way to evacuate the city. The Superdome is
a "shelter of last resort" and despite a long lineup of upto four
hours, there are now thousands of people seeking shelter there. Worries
that there would not be enough food or water were resolved with the
National Guard bringing in 360,000 MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) for people
seeking shelter.
The long lineups were dictated as all people entering were subject to
searches for drugs, alcohol, or weapons.
Officials in New Orleans are estimating that up to 100,000 people are
simply staying at home, and hoping to ride out the storm. The Governor
simply commented that those people "pray" and that she hopes that they
are in a place as safe and secure that they believe that they are.
Local schools are being ruled out as emergency shelters. "Anything
above a category two makes them pretty much ineligible because
they're not wind resistant enough and they're in flood prone areas it
looks as though we're pointing to the Superdome in being reinforced
with the proper back up system as shelter of last resort," said New
Orleans Mayor Nagin.
"It appears a facility as large as the Dome could hold up in hurricane
conditions but Bill Curl, spokesman for the Superdome, says that is yet
to be tested and if there is no other choice then maybe the Dome could
serve as a shelter. "Only in dire emergencies. The Superdome is not a
shelter," said Curl. According to Curl, the assumption that the
Superdome can withstand hurricane force winds is just that: an
assumption. He says more analysis is needed to determine what the Dome
can actually withstand because previous wind studies have become
somewhat irrelevant since they did not factor in the new high-rise
buildings around the Dome."
The Superdome, opened on August 3, 1975, and construction started on
August 11, 1971.
Disaster Planning New Orleans. Speaking on the announcement of the
decision to create a disaster plan, IEM Director of Homeland Security
Wayne Thomas said "Given this area's vulnerability, unique geographic
location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that
facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is
critical". The IEM team's approach to catastrophic planning meets the
challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and
capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic
hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events."
The Mayor has declared a mandatory evacuation of the City of New
Orleans. This order only exempts police, military, emergency services
and other essential services. In addition, the city has authorized city
officials the power to seize private property as needed.
The economic impact from any major hurricane damage to New Orleans will
be substantial. The Port of New Orleans is at the center of the
world's busiest port complex - Louisiana's Lower Mississippi
River. Its proximity to the American Midwest via a 14,500-mile inland
waterway system makes New Orleans the port of choice for the movement
of cargoes such as steel, grain, containers and manufactured goods. The
Port of New Orleans is the only deepwater port in the United States
served by six class one railroads. This gives port users direct and
economical rail service to or from anywhere in the country.
View Webcam images of Port of New Orleans
The Port of New Orleans will began to lock-down its bridges across the
Inner Harbor Navigational Canal beginning at 7:00 AM Sunday August 28,
2005. It is anticipated by noon all bridges will be locked-down. The
order of bridges to be closed is as follows: 6:00AM DOTD will close the
Danzinger bridge and the Claiborne Avenue bridge. At 7:00AM the Port of
New Orleans will close the Almonaster bridge followed by the Florida
Ave. bridge followed by the St. Claude Ave. bridge followed by the
Seabrook Railroad bridge. The Orleans Levee District will close the
flood gates leading to these bridges and vehicular traffic and rail
traffic will cease.
"Crude oil soared to a record above $70 a barrel in New York after
Hurricane Katrina forced companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and
Chevron Corp. to shut operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil had its
biggest gain in 29 months while gasoline and heating oil reached
records as Katrina, one of the most powerful storms to hit the U.S.,
crossed the Gulf, source of 30 percent of the country's oil output and
24 percent of its natural gas.
"Forecasters are saying Katrina could do more energy damage than any
storm in recent years," Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia
Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, said before the start of trading.
"It's not just that there's going to be outages for the next couple of
days. With shutdowns and damage at platforms and refineries, the
bullish impact could be felt for the rest of the year."
Oil prices are very likely to be affected by the storm. Twenty-five
percent of the domestic oil production in the United States is produced
from off-shore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Those rigs have been shut
down while Hurricane Katrina blows through the Gulf. About 1.5 million
barrels per day of crude and 12.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas is
produced in the Gulf of Mexico. As of Saturday, one third of that
production was shut down.
"It's been 36 years since Hurricane Betsy buried New Orleans 8 feet
deep. Since then a deteriorating ecosystem and increased development
have left the city in an ever more precarious position. Yet the problem
went unaddressed for decades by a laissez-faire government, experts
said. "To some extent, I think we've been lulled to sleep," said Marc
Levitan, director of Louisiana State University's hurricane center.
"Hurricane Allison dumped a mere 5 inches on New Orleans, nearly
overwhelming the city's pump system. If an Allison-type storm were to
strike New Orleans like it did Houston, or a Category 3 storm or
greater with at least 111 mph winds, the results would be cataclysmic,
New Orleans planners said."
Roads out of New Orleans
Across the Gulf Coast residents are jamming freeways and fueling
stations as they are fleeing Hurricane Katerina. The National Hurricane
Center has upgraded the hurricane to a Category 4 storm early on
Sunday.
Hurricane Katrina gained strength overnight, becoming a Category 4
monster with 145 mph sustained winds as it moved over the warm waters
of the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center reports that "Coastal storm surge
flooding of 15 to 20 feet above normal tide levels ... Locally as high
as 25 feet with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected
near and to the east of where the storm makes landfall".
Routes out of the area are being converted to one-way roads, to speed
the evacutation of civilians from the city. The storm, likely to make
landfall on Monday has the state of Mississippi in a state of emergency
with emergency officials granted the power to seize private property
and direct people to leave.
Why is New Orleans so vulnerable to a major hurricane?
"Today New Orleans rests within a bowl formed by 16 ft (4.9 m) tall
levees, locks, floodgates, and seawalls, the edge of the bowl extending
for hundreds of miles. It is bisected from west to east by the
Mississippi River, which is also contained within massive engineered
embankments. Water flows through and all around the city while its
residents go about their daily routines. A system of levees forming a
ring around the northern half of the city to protect it from surging
waters in Lake Pontchartrain is set to be completed within the next
decade."
With a predicted storm surge of 15 to 25 feet above normal tide levels,
there are serious concerns that the extensive system of levees,
floodgates and seawalls will not be enough. "In the 40 years since the
design criteria were established for New Orleans's hurricane
protection levees, southeastern Louisiana's coastline has been
subsiding-settling in on top of itself-even as the natural height
of the sea rises. A century ago any hurricane heading toward New
Orleans would have had to traverse a 50 mi (80 km) buffer of marshland.
Today that marsh area is only half as broad and the hurricane would be
striking a city that itself sinks lower every day".
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