NEWS: Hurricane Katrina Data & Resources Thread

The dome roof didnt stay stable, well, part of the rubber flew off or matle or something, and if the eye hit, I dont think they would have survived.

Is it possible the US government steered the storm away from a direct N.O. hit. Thi could have been so much worse. could they do that

My sister-in-law and her family were not able to get out of Biloxie, Ms., one of her son's did manage to get out, now he is back and can't get to the house where they were going to weather out the storm. He is devastated, the place is a wreck and he can't find them, he also said there are bodies in the water, he used the words bodies everywheres, but at this point I don't know if he is exaggerating from panic or not, also please keep in mind he did not tell me this directly, he spoke to someone else and they told me. We are all worried that the family did not make it. He says he is going to go in to the area tomorrow no matter what.

Have had good news about all my friends in the NO area... phwew!!! I can't tell you how much this eases my mind!

reports coming in 80 or more people dead and most of new orleans 80% under water.totally a disaster and i only hope a national homeless building project is in the works for these people.it will take months or years to fix this damage.










[edit on 30-8-2005 by flukemol]

[edit on 30-8-2005 by flukemol]

Martial Law has been declared in New Orleans.......

water in business district is rising and they don't know why - a total understatement is that things are not good.


[edit on 30-8-2005 by justme1640]

Originally posted by flukemol
reports coming in 80 or more people dead and most of new orleans 80% under water.totally a disaster and i only hope a national homeless building project is in the works for these people.it will take months or years to fix this damage.

Frankly, I am rather tired of all the coverage of New Orleans and Mobile, which has been totally blown out of proportion, despite living in a fishbowl. New Orleans was on the WEST side of the hurricane, which is not where most of the force is felt. They did NOT take the brunt of this storm.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast (Bay St. Louis/Gulfport/Biloxi/Pascagoula) has sustained the most damage of all and the media is NOT reporting sufficiently on this area because everyone is having such a hissy over the water in New Orleans. The majority of the deaths are in Harrison County in Mississippi, not Louisiana! I am so tired about hearing about the sigh of relief that is being breathed about people who narrowly dodged the bullet on this storm, and yet no one is talking about the ones who DIDN'T dodge the bullet.

I have spoken to one person (with a very weak cell signal) who rode the storm out 2 blocks from the beach and he said everything along the beachfront in Biloxi is demolished. The casinos have floated to the other side of the road from the Gulf! Five casinos are out of commission, those that are still standing, that is.

Does anyone have any idea what this has done (and will continue to do) to the economy for this entire area??? The MS Gulf Coast is completely dependent on tourism/restaurant/hospitality/gaming dollars, all tied to the beach in one way or another. To put it plainly, this is the annihiliation of life as they knew it.

Gulfport's fire chief has reported "complete devastation". (Not exactly what New Orleans is reporting...)

This is where the real damage is. This was worse than Camille for the locals, and they are the ones saying that. This is where the bodies will be.

The pictures published on these sites make New Orleans look like a wet walk in the park. Make sure you look at them.

Here are a few that I have collected on my own:


US Hwy 90 near Biloxi:

files.abovetopsecret.com...



Pascagoula, Jackson County, MS:

files.abovetopsecret.com...

files.abovetopsecret.com...



Some local links:

www.sunherald.com...

www.sunherald.com...

www.clarionledger.com...

www.hattiesburgamerican.com...



The local reporters have a blog also:

eyesonkatrina.blogspot.com...


There's more to this than the standard tripe that CNN/MSNBC/ABC is feeding the masses.



[edit on 30-8-2005 by Stegosaur]

Originally posted by Stegosaur
The Mississippi Gulf Coast (Bay St. Louis/Gulfport/Biloxi/Pascagoula) has sustained the most damage of all and the media is NOT reporting sufficiently on this area because everyone is having such a hissy over the water in New Orleans. The majority of the deaths are in Harrison County in Mississippi, not Louisiana! I am so tired about hearing about the sigh of relief that is being breathed about people who narrowly dodged the bullet on this storm, and yet no one is talking about the ones who DIDN'T dodge the bullet.

The reason those areas are not being covered by the media is b/c no one can thoroughly access those areas yet to survey the damage - They've been saying that all along...They've also been saying the exact same thing you're complaining about here...New Orleans was sparred, but the rising flood waters is no laughing matter as the aftermath of this storm continues to unfold - And things will only be getting much worse in terms of flooding...

In many areas such as Mobile and Biloxi, the flooding issue has subsided b/c the waters have retreated...Soon they should be able to get more news out on those areas that concern you...

But if anyone is having a "hissy" here, it's clearly you....Settle down and let these people report what they get, when they get it - I promise you that the media will not turn down any chance they get to share with you others' pain and misery as it unfolds, and if that's what you want to see, you'll be getting plenty of it in the coming hours...

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
....Settle down and let these people report what they get, when they get it

That's the problem. There is no balanced coverage. The information is out there, but New Orleans gets more "name recognition" as far as national media coverage so that's what they focus on, even though 80% of the city's residents evacuated and were clearly out of harm's way.

How is it that I can find all this news when I look for it on the local level but it's getting "crumbs" as far as coverage by the big networks?

As far as your comment about wanting to view the misfortune of others, that may be true for a few other people, but my interest has nothing to do with idle spectating.

Of course....They're after shock value and big names...As usual

Who does CNN get on the phone late last night? Aaron Neville of course, b/c we all love his music and we were all eagerly wondering if his family was safe....

I don't think those areas will go unmentioned once they're able to collect stable enough leads and quantitative data, but at the present moment I think they're simply feeding the people what they "want to see" (And I use that phrase loosely, as I do realize no one really wants to see it)

Mobilization into these areas I think is still a major factor....The local news may be penetrating the boundaries to a certain extent, but even the Red Cross are still on standby, waiting for these areas to clear up before they can really get in there and access the situation...

Times like these make me think of this Zeppelin tune.

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

Finally my SIL got a hold of a cell phone long enough to call and say they were all alive, thats all she had time to say since she was borrowing someones phone. They lived near the beach in Biloxie. I'm assuming their homes are gone, she and her 5 grown children all had homes on the same street. But the main thing is they are all alive.

Horrible news....


www.wwltv.com...
****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 12-15 FEET OF WATER ARE EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK.****

[edit on 8-30-2005 by worldwatcher]

Here is the website for the local New Orleans newspaper. Check out the galleries, updates, etc. here. There really is no media blackout. There are a wealth of photographers and reporters in the area...

www.nola.com...

I posted this in the other thread as well but felt like posting it here also.

Not necessarily news but I find myself reminiscing about the trips I've made to Nawlins. My friend got his MBA from Tulane so I made several trips for Mardis Gras and Jazz Fest and the Sugar Bowl. The market, the beignets from Cafe Du Monde, walking up to look at the river, the gutter punks, getting in a fight over a banner hanging from a pole after UF beat my beloved Noles, sitting in the street gutter all night waiting in line for Buffet tickets for his charity concert at Margaritaville, drinking Margaritas there at 7AM with some very nice young ladies, standing 10 feet from Buffet at his concert that night...

I've got my slate roof tile from LaFitte's hanging in our hot tub room. My hurricane (ironic now) glasses from Pat O'Brien's. My menu from Acme Oyster house.

It's truly a tragedy and a shame, despite what people are saying about building a city in a flood plain. The settlers in the 1800s didn't know what they were starting.

I've been away for awhile but this thread and the other one have been phenomenal and are an example of the ATS community at its best. Sorry for the somewhat off-topic post, but I felt nostalgic as I realized I may now never get to take my wife to the old New Orleans.

My god, what a horror this has become.

We have just lost a great city. for how long?

The best and worst is rising with the flood waters. I can't believe the images and stories I have just seen. This is far beyond anything I had imagined. Sad.. just very damned sad.

The damage in Mississippi and Alabama.. are there any words??

I have never seen anything close to this.. and pray I never do again.

Where I am now I live near Memphis TN, we lost power for a while.. had some trees blown down.. Thats it.

Every Hotel, Motel, or bed-n-breakfast we have here in our small community is full.. and about 90% are from New Orleans. Each one of them with a story.. All of them are worried, and are running out of money.. they can't go home.. some of them have no other place to go.. Not only that they have no job to return to.

They had to drive this far north just to find a hotel room.

What a sad turn of events.

This is one time our great nation needs to come together to help where we can.

What a week, what a storm.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Children's Hospital under seige
Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.

Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.

Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.

The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.

Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.

www.nola.com... p/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08.html#075242

That page is continuously updating with new stories.

Here are a couple of large overhead satellite images of New Orleans that shows the extent of the flooding:

Link 1

Link 2

Here is an overhead satellite image that shows the utter destruction of the Biloxi coast.

Link 3

[edit on 1/9/05 by subz]

Found some interesting before and after satalitte photos here.

This is really bad, total destruction.

Baton Rouge's mayor just said on tv to looter's and thugs, that they will not be compassionate and tolerate if they try and take over their city...

Would my choice be to continue to scour for food throughout the city and remain homeless or purposely get arrested so I had a place to stay and a 3 course meal?

hmmm.