Ooof! Hurricane Katrina hits Category 5

[Nickdfresh]

Hurricane Katrina hits Category 5

Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 8:56 a.m. EDT (12:56 GMT)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/top.8.28.06.50.am.jpg
6:15 a.m. ET shows Hurricane Katrina as it approaches the Gulf Coast.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Traffic streamed out of the city of New Orleans early Sunday as Hurricane Katrina churned towards the U.S. Gulf Coast with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm on Sunday to Category 5, the most intense category on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

The storm is expected to make landfall Monday morning in southeastern Louisiana or southwest Mississippi.

The first bands of rain from the storm were starting to hit the southeastern tip of Louisiana on Sunday morning...


Rest at CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/index.html)

[ODShowtime]

Shit. I was hopin it would keep going and hit Mexico.

[DrMaddVibe]

Maybe Rick Martin will put on a show in LA!

Take cover NOLA!

[Redballjets88]

i wish i lived near new orleans this would be the best time to loot places when no one is in town...you get to steal what ever you want

[Unchainme]

Its all a part of the BCE I tell ya. :D

[FORD]

Originally posted by Unchainme
Its all a part of the BCE I tell ya. :D

Could be.... there's oil rigs in that area.

[FORD]

Elvis..... GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE!

[DrMaddVibe]

Why not...he's gotten the fuck outta here!


Elvis...MIA

[Nickdfresh]

There now saying this maybe the worst thing to ever hit a US coast.:confused:

It may also cause oil supply problems futher driving up the price of fuel (New ORLEANS is the chief port for oil)...

[DLR'sCock]

......gotta love mother nature, the real bad ass mother fucka'....

[BigBadBrian]

http://www.wunderground.com/data/640x480/2xg1_ir_anim.gif

[Nickdfresh]

God help New ORLEANS...

And I truly hope ELVIS left those buildings...

[FORD]

Verily.... as our Lord and Savior often says.

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by ODShowtime
Shit. I was hopin it would keep going and hit Mexico.

Damn dude, that was a bold statement for sure, lol.

I just hope Elvis makes it through this mess unscathed, he does live in those parts somewhere.
If this thing doesn't lose some strength it is going to be very bad for that area.

Let's just pray that people got out and that nobody else dies from this thing.

[FORD]

Whether or not the BCE is to blame for the hurricane, it seems they were about to screw New Orleans anyway. And parts of the cuts include the cancellation of

.....wait for it.........

...how to prepare for a Category 5 hurricane!! :mad:

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces record cuts

Deon Roberts

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.

Money is so tight the New Orleans district, which employs 1,300 people, instituted a hiring freeze last month on all positions. The freeze is the first of its kind in about 10 years, said Marcia Demma, chief of the Corps' Programs Management Branch.

Stephen Jeselink, interim commander of the New Orleans Corps district, told employees in an internal e-mail dated May 25 that the district is experiencing financial challenges. Execution of our available funds must be dealt with through prudent districtwide management decisions. In addition to a hiring freeze, Jeselink canceled the annual Corps picnic held every June.

Congress is setting the Corps budget.

The House of Representatives wants to cut the New Orleans district budget 21 percent to $272.4 million in 2006, down from $343.5 million in 2005. The House figure is about $20 million lower than the president's suggested $290.7 million budget.

It's now up to the Senate. Sen. Mary Landrieu, DLC-New Orleans, is making no promises.

It's going to be very tough, Landrieu said. The House was not able to add back this money ... but hopefully we can rally in the Senate and get some of this money back.

Landrieu said the Bush administration is not making Corps of Engineers funding a priority.

I think it's extremely shortsighted, Landrieu said. When the Corps of Engineers' budget is cut, Louisiana bleeds. These projects are literally life-and-death projects to the people of south Louisiana and they are (of) vital economic interest to the entire nation.

The Corps' budget could still be beefed up, as it is every year, through congressional additions. Last year, Congress added $20 million to the overall budget of the New Orleans district but a similar increase this year would still leave a $50 million shortfall.

One of the hardest-hit areas of the New Orleans district's budget is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes. SELA's budget is being drained from $36.5 million awarded in 2005 to $10.4 million suggested for 2006 by the House of Representatives and the president.

The project manager said there would be no contracts awarded with this $10.4 million, Demma said.

The construction portion of the Corps' budget would suffer if Congress doesn't add money. In 2005, the district received $94.3 million in federal dollars dedicated to construction. In 2006, the proposal is for $56 million.

It would be critical to this city if we had a $50 million construction budget compared with the past years, Demma said. It would be horrible for the city, it would be horrible for contractors and for flood protection if this were the final number compared to recent years and what the city needs.

Construction generally has been on the decline for several years and focus has been on other projects in the Corps.

The district has identified $35 million in projects to build and improve levees, floodwalls and pumping stations in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. Those projects are included in a Corps line item called Lake Pontchartrain, where funding is scheduled to be cut from $5.7 million this year to $2.9 million in 2006. Naomi said it's enough to pay salaries but little else.

We'll do some design work. We'll design the contracts and get them ready to go if we get the money. But we don't have the money to put the work in the field, and that's the problem, Naomi said.

The Appropriations Committee in Congress will ultimately decide how much the New Orleans district will receive, he said.

Obviously, the decisions are being made up there that are not beneficial to the state, in my opinion, Naomi said. Let's put it this way: When (former Rep.) Bob Livingston (R-Metairie) was chairman of the Appropriations Committee, we didn't have a monetary problem. Our problem was how do we spend all the money we were getting.

Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.


link (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657367)

[Cathedral]

Is it possible that all of these reductions across the country are a direct result of how much we have spent in Iraq?

Since Bush entered office the spending has basically shocked the shit out of me.

It's not like we have an endless supply of money here and i fear the bottom of the barrel is in sight.

[FORD]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Is it possible that all of these reductions across the country are a direct result of how much we have spent in Iraq?

Since Bush entered office the spending has basically shocked the shit out of me.

It's not like we have an endless supply of money here and i fear the bottom of the barrel is in sight.

Of course that's where the money's going. The real question is how much of that is ending up in Halliburton's pockets and other such sleazeballs in the so called "defense" industry.

When you think of how this money could be so much better spent.... preparing New Orleans from the very disaster they are about to face, or hiring border guards for the Southwest, or paying for security measures at our coastal seaport cities, or buying fucking armor for troops that shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place.

It makes my head hurt just thinking about the fucking insanity of it all.

[Cathedral]

I could not agree with you more on those points.

I think if we had stayed the course persuing Osama and keeping our attention on Afghanistan we would be in a much better position across the globe.

I now see Iraq as a left turn that took us far far far off the course we had a right to be on and actually had support in persuing.

Thing is, the damage has been done and i don't think the rest of the world will be very quick to dismiss our actions should we endure another 9-11 type of attack.

[Nickdfresh]

Katrina kills at least 55 in Mississippi
New Orleans levee breaks; 80% of city flooded

Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Posted: 9:59 a.m. EDT (13:59 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Rescuers worked through the night to reach hundreds of people stranded after Hurricane Katrina ripped across the Gulf Coast killing dozens of people, destroying countless homes and leaving more than a million people without power in three states.

And authorities said they would not be able to reach some of the hardest-hit areas until first light on Tuesday.

The storm is blamed for at least 68 deaths and that toll is almost certain to rise. Mississippi officials said at least 55 people were killed there, including 30 who were killed in an apartment complex near the Biloxi beach. Alabama reported two deaths. The storm killed 11 people last week when it made its initial landfall in Florida.

While Louisiana officials have not yet confirmed any deaths there, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said there have been reports of bodies floating in the floodwaters.
'This is our tsunami'

In Mississippi, streets and homes were flooded as far as six miles inland, and the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 between Gulfport and Biloxi were impassible because of debris deposited in the roadway by floodwaters.

"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway told the Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper, referring to the December 26, 2004, tsunami that killed more than 226,000 people in the Indian Ocean region.

A man in Biloxi told CNN affiliate WKRG-TV he believed his wife was killed after she was ripped from his grasp when their home split in half.

"I held her hand as tight as I could," the man said. "She told me, 'You can't hold me.' She told me to take care of the kids and the grandkids ... we ain't got nowhere to go. I'm lost. That's all I had."

Hotel worker Suzanne Rodgers returned to her beachfront home near Biloxi, but, she told CNN, "there is nothing there. There's debris hanging from trees." (Read Rodgers' harrowing account)

"All I found that belonged to me was a shoe," she said. "There's nothing left."

At least 30 people were killed at the St. Charles apartment complex, near the beach in the casino resort town of Biloxi, said Kelly Jakubic with the county's Emergency Operations Center.

Separately, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency in Jackson confirmed five Katrina-related deaths, a spokeswoman said. (CNN's Gary Tuchman describes the destruction in Gulfport)

Two people lost their lives in storm-related traffic accidents in Alabama.
New Orleans levee breaks

Water poured into New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain after a two-block-long breach opened overnight in a section of a levee that protects the low-lying city.

Nagin had said that about 80 percent of the city was flooded and that some areas were under 20 feet of water. (Watch emotional account of New Orleans' devastation)

"My heart is heavy tonight," Nagin said in the interview on CNN affiliate WWL-TV. "I don't have any good news to share."

In the city's 9th Ward neighborhood, rescue efforts continued throughout the night, with authorities in boats plucking residents from submerged homes after water topped another levee.

CNN's Adaora Udoji, monitoring the rescue efforts, said authorities had ferried at least 500 people from their homes, flooded with as much as six feet of water. Some residents reported water rose so fast they did not have time to grab their shoes.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco told CNN Monday that a 50-inch water main was severed during the storm, cutting the supply of drinkable water.

In Mobile, Alabama, the storm pushed water from Mobile Bay into downtown, submerging large sections of the city, and officials imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. (Video shows destruction in Mobile)

An oil drilling platform broke away from its moorings and lodged under a bridge that carries U.S. Highway 98 over the Mobile River.

The Alabama National Guard activated 450 troops to secure Mobile. Two other Alabama battalions, or about 800 troops, were activated to assist in Mississippi.
When can I go home?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to house "at least tens of thousands of victims ... for literally months on end," the agency's director, Michael Brown, said Monday night.

Veteran FEMA staffers who have surveyed the destruction are reporting some of the worst damage they have ever seen, he said.

Louisiana and Mississippi officials urged evacuees as well as those stranded by flooding from the storm to stay put.

"It's too dangerous to come home," said Blanco, who ordered state police to block re-entry routes to all but emergency workers.

The American Red Cross said it is launching the largest relief operation in its history. (Read about the relief effort)

More than 75,000 people are being housed in nearly 240 shelters across the region, and Red Cross President Marty Evans told CNN, "We expect that to grow" as people who can't return home seek somewhere to stay.

More than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were without electricity, according to utility companies serving the region.

As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, Katrina was about 35 miles northeast of Tupelo, Mississippi, according to the National Hurricane Center. The center's next update will be at 11 a.m.

The storm was headed north Monday night through Mississippi toward Tennessee and the Ohio River Valley. But even as a tropical storm, Katrina was still causing plenty of trouble.

Katrina's outer bands spawned tornados in Georgia Monday evening. Three twisters were reported in Georgia, one in central Peach County and two in the northwest counties of Carroll and Paulding. One person in Carroll County was critically injured.

CNN's (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/30/katrina/index.html) Miles O'Brien, Anderson Cooper and Kathleen Koch contributed to this report.

[Guitar Shark]

Did you guys see the footage of the looters in New Orleans? I was struck by the fact that every single person seen looting was black.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Guitar Shark
Did you guys see the footage of the looters in New Orleans? I was struck by the fact that every single person seen looting was black.

As was in Charleston in 1989. Amazing but true. :rolleyes:

[FORD]

Originally posted by Guitar Shark
Did you guys see the footage of the looters in New Orleans? I was struck by the fact that every single person seen looting was black.

I saw some photos from some website. Two photos, one with two white people and one with a black guy. Both were carrying food, which they got from a store in the flood zone (which obviously wasn't open for business). Only the picture of the black man was described as "looting".

As far as I'm concerned, there's no crime here. As long as the city remains flooded, there won't be any electricity. Therefore, should the food in the stores sit there and rot, or should it feed the people who are now homeless (temporarily or otherwise)?

It's not like anybody's grabbing TV sets or shit like that. Where would you plug it in at?

[Nickdfresh]

The people still in that city are the ones that were too poor to get out...

[Guitar Shark]

Originally posted by FORD
As far as I'm concerned, there's no crime here. As long as the city remains flooded, there won't be any electricity. Therefore, should the food in the stores sit there and rot, or should it feed the people who are now homeless (temporarily or otherwise)?

It's not like anybody's grabbing TV sets or shit like that. Where would you plug it in at?

Are you fucking kidding? Of course it's a crime. There is food and water available at shelters. And in the footage I saw, people weren't stealing food. They were stealing clothes and household goods. Basically anything they could get their hands on.

Where's the website with the pictures you were talking about?

[Warham]

I've heard they were stealing jewelry. I don't know how you can digest that.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
The people still in that city are the ones that were too poor to get out...

Some maybe, but certainly not all.