Worse Than Predicted (Updated)

It's looking like Katrina was every bit as bad...or worse than expected. The governor has ordered a complete evacuation of New Orleans.

Awful.

Updated: American Red Cross Blog:

MSY -
40,000-50,000 people in the superdome, including seriously injured people, and evacuees from the Hospitals.
There are no running water or sewage facilities -- and no power. Temperatures are in he 90's
within the building
One man just committed suicide by jumping. 'Unrest' is growing within the superdome - and their
are there are now military as well civilian police on the scene.
There are now several; major fires in view of city. There is evidently a fair amount of oil and gas floating
on the flood waters.

Water is still rising and the Mayor is just now being evacuated by helicopter as City hall is now surrounded by water that can only be reached by small boat, water is about 3 feet deep at the steps of City Hall.

80% of New Orleans is totally submerged now, and will likely become 100% submerged tonight
The depth of the water in the BIZ district is around 6-10 inches at this time.

This is a result of 2 MAJOR BREACHES OF THE LEVEE. The first one ,is about 400 feet long, and appears to have given
way around 9PM last night. The Corp of Engineers have now said there is also a second breach as well. Within the hour
the Pentagon will be taking over the coordination and manpower / machinery to assist in closing the 2 breaches.

The COE indicates there is no other way to resolve the problem, and they will be using huge cranes, barges of sand and intend
to 'plug' the breached area. Until that is accomplished, News Orleans will continue to fill up with water
No time table is known on how long it will take. The COE indicated they have 'great concern' for the a specific
pumping station - the largest in the world -- and it will be eventually used to drain the water out of the
city after the levee has been repaired.

This is turning into a 'slow motion version' of the worst case scenario for New Orleans.
Over 1,200 people have been rescued by 40 coast guard recovery helicopters where people are standing on
roofs - since yesterday. Untold numbers of dead - likely in the hundreds and possibly near 1,000 or more
Disease is expected to take a heavy toll within days. This could claim thousands of lives. The key seemingly
is to somehow to evacuate everyone from the city. Whether this can be done I have no clue.

ELSEWHERE:
Video from the air just now showed the complete devastation of the coastal area from Mobile west to Gulfport.
An oil platform (LARGE) was brought across D auphin island and dumped to the north of the island just south
of that mouth of Mobile Bay.

TROPICS

A strong wave -0 that briefly was classified as a Tropical depression, is drifting WNW, and showing no sign
or organizing. However, the global models are indicating that conditions will become more conducive for development of this system, located about 1500 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.