Almost Silent Thread for New Orleans

[stevestojan]

If you're looking for a local persepctive, here is live streaming news from N.O.

 

http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38202.asx

421177[/snapback]

 

nothing but static... .

 

[Frez]

nothing but static... .

 

421280[/snapback]

 

 

Try this

[Golden Wheels]

Some webcams still working here:

 

http://www.nola.com/bourbocam/

[gobilz]

nothing but static... .

 

421280[/snapback]

is there anybody out there?

[stevestojan]

Try this

421282[/snapback]

 

 

thanks... this is scary sh--...

[faderphreak]

I am so glad I convinced my sister-in-law and her husband to come over here yesterday. This is truly frightening when you look at the computer model predictions of what could happen.

[jester43]

here is a particularly troubling warning form the noaa. jesus, i hope joey has gotten the hell away from there:

 

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

 

 

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE

MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

 

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

 

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT

LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL

FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY

DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

 

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.

PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD

FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE

BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME

WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

 

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A

FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

 

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH

AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY

VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE

ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE

WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

 

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN

AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING

INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

 

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY

THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW

CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE

KILLED.

 

(link to above warning)

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

here is a particularly troubling warning form the noaa.  jesus, i hope joey has gotten the hell away from there:

 

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE

  MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

 

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

 

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT

LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL

FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY

DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

 

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.

PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD

FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE

BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME

WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

 

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A

FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

 

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH

AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY

VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE

ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE

WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

 

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN

AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING

INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

 

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY

THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW

CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE

KILLED.

 

(link to above warning)

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069

421338[/snapback]

 

The caveat being that that's not for New Orleans, it's for the lower delta, about 90 miles away. And fortunately, that's mostly swampland, so there's not a hell of a lot there to be levelled (trees and such aside).

 

Even so...I had no idea NOAA would issue a warning worded like that. When I first read it, I thought it was a hoax.

[BuffaloSKEET]

My Aunt & Uncle just made it in from New Orleans. Old school South Buffalo types - just drinking away.

[stevestojan]

When I was waiting for Jeanne and Frances to strike, noaa was the site i relied on all the time. For them to make statements like:

 

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH

AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES

 

WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING

INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

 

is freaking unbelieveable...

 

 

This is gonna be awful

[Ghost of BiB]

The caveat being that that's not for New Orleans, it's for the lower delta, about 90 miles away.  And fortunately, that's mostly swampland, so there's not a hell of a lot there to be levelled (trees and such aside). 

 

Even so...I had no idea NOAA would issue a warning worded like that.  When I first read it, I thought it was a hoax.

421344[/snapback]

 

I guess they want people to take it seriously. And, whatever is left a week from now or so goes right through Buffalo, unless the projected track changes a lot. Y'all make sure you give it the finger when it comes by.

[Dwight Drane]

The caveat being that that's not for New Orleans, it's for the lower delta, about 90 miles away.  And fortunately, that's mostly swampland, so there's not a hell of a lot there to be levelled (trees and such aside). 

 

Even so...I had no idea NOAA would issue a warning worded like that.  When I first read it, I thought it was a hoax.

421344[/snapback]

 

There is a statement pretty much the same for NO linked on the Drudge Report. I agree that it is so strong and disheartning that it looks fake, but FOX has been quoting that bulletin all day. I don't get moved to pray very often, but reading that got me in a mental pew.

[Campy]

Obviously this will be The Big One that everyone's been fearing.

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

From HoustonChronicle.com.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

When I was waiting for Jeanne and Frances to strike, noaa was the site i relied on all the time. For them to make statements like:

 

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH

AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES

 

WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING

INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

 

is freaking unbelieveable...

This is gonna be awful

421348[/snapback]

 

But again...that's for the extreme tip of the delta. There's got to be maybe three household appliances in that whole parrish.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

Obviously this will be The Big One that everyone's been fearing. 

From HoustonChronicle.com.

421351[/snapback]

 

1000 years from now, with all that debris washed into the delta, that's going to be an archeologist's wet dream.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

I guess they want people to take it seriously. And, whatever is left a week from now or so goes right through Buffalo, unless the projected track changes a lot. Y'all make sure you give it the finger when it comes by.

421349[/snapback]

 

Eastern Great Lakes and the Ohio River valley are projected to get 4"-8" of rain from this storm.

 

And of course, all that rain that falls in the Ohio ultimately finds its way into the Mississippi, hence to New Orleans. And probably floods it more.

 

Kind of makes you wonder if we're going to see a modern metropolis be abandoned completely...

[SDS]

the winds have died down from 185 to 160 MPH, yet no one is saying that it is weakening. Am I missing something? Pressure has gone up few bars too...

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

holy !@#$

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

the winds have died down from 185 to 160 MPH, yet no one is saying that it is weakening.  Am I missing something?  Pressure has gone up few bars too...

421361[/snapback]

 

It's complicated. Pressure's about the same in the 11pm report (904 mb). But they're getting different wind readings from different sensors, and since they measure wind speed from a plane at altitude they have to adjust that to surface wind speeds...so until the storm hits land and surface instruments can directly measure, wind speeds are just an estimation, and there's questions about the adjustment factor in this case. Plus it looks like it's starting an eyewall replacement cycle, which typically weakens a storm temporarily (basically, it's taking a last deep breath, and can't blow as hard while it's inhaling).

 

So there's a lot that goes into wind speed...but pressure's a fairly consistent and independent measure of storm intensity, and the pressure hasn't materially changed, so they'll say it's maintaining its strength.

[Ghost of BiB]

It's complicated.  Pressure's about the same in the 11pm report (904 mb).  But they're getting different wind readings from different sensors, and since they measure wind speed from a plane at altitude they have to adjust that to surface wind speeds...so until the storm hits land and surface instruments can directly measure, wind speeds are just an estimation, and there's questions about the adjustment factor in this case.  Plus it looks like it's starting an eyewall replacement cycle, which typically weakens a storm temporarily (basically, it's taking a last deep breath, and can't blow as hard while it's inhaling). 

 

So there's a lot that goes into wind speed...but pressure's a fairly consistent and independent measure of storm intensity, and the pressure hasn't materially changed, so they'll say it's maintaining its strength.

421367[/snapback]

 

Pressure gradient.