Homeland Security reportedly keeping media from reporting how bad it is:

[CottonBear]

WDSU live news report just said "Homeland security is reporting bodies floating in the streets of NO" then the transmission was cut.
That is odd. http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#

30 People dead in one apt. complex in coastal MS. Up to 80 dead in one MS county. :(
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Post from the WWLTV St. Tammany Parrish Forum:

http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2414&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=420

Good morning. Just heard from my husband who has made it back to Mandeville. New Orleans is under Marshall Law. Homeland security is keeping the media from filming or reporting how bad it really is. (there are literally bodies floating in the street in New Orleans) They are trying to control the panic and pandemonium that would occur if broadcast to the nation. I think Mandeville and parts north faired well. Unfortunately, it does not sound like the same can be said for Slidell. Not sure when I will be returning. My husband will start adjusting claims as soon as they begin to come in. Of course, people are not reporting damage because they don't know what damage to claim. At least we know the insurance companies are on the ball. If anyone knows anything about Mandeville schools please post. Particularly Mandeville High School, Mandeville Junior High, and Ponchartrain Elementary. I will post anything I am able to find out through my husband
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Maybe this is why they are showing the same footage over and over again. St. Tammany is closed to all traffic (in or out) and under curfew.

NO is under curfew as well. There are swimming looters according to the local WDSU news anchors who are complaining the MSM are saying it's "not so bad." The local anchors say it's worse than they could have ever imagined.

Just in: "knee deep (toxic) moat around the Superdome now...filled with gas, chemicals red ants and snakes"
http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#
:(

Gov.Blanco is speaking live now.

[demnan]

1. It's just like the NOAA predicted

a toxic soup!

They have to let people know how bad this is. We who can should be donating money to help!

[CottonBear]

2. Water in NO is filled w/ gasoline, debris and floating islands of red ants

http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#

This was just reported on the TV online stream. :(

Just in: * returning to WH. Toxic moat around superdome.
2 new levee breeches today. Water is pouring into NO.
People are still stuck in attics. 80% of city is flooded
No way into NO. Only one way out. :scared:

[madeline_con]

3. I think we knew this was inevitable....

Homeland Security be damned. They can't keep people from getting news out. It may be slow, but it will get out...

[CottonBear]

4. WDSU reporting a rescued man saw dead bodies in a flooded boarding house

in NO. He was in 20' deep flood water. I wonder how many people didn't make it because they were trapped in their homes in the rising flood water.
http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#

[madeline_con]

9. People were rescued from their attics...

I heard. I wonder how many drowned there. :(

[jaxx]

5. This is a good video of the mayor of NO.....20 mins long

but with some footage of the destruction and flooding. He mentions the bodies floating, and how a temp morgue will have to be set up when they start retrieveing the bodies. Right now, rescue is #1.

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.wwltv.com/082905mayor.wmv

<from the WRH lead-in>
Apparently, there are now THREE breaks in the levee.
Mayor's comments (transcribed):

"We have 80 percent of our city underwater. In some parts of the city, the water is as deep as twenty feet.

"We have people still trapped on their roofs.

"We have an incredible amount of water in the city. Both airports are underwater."

"The twin spans in New Orleans East are destroyed. They're gone.

"We have three huge boats that have run aground. We have an oil tanker that is also run aground. And leaking oil.

"We have a serious levee break at 17th Canal. It's causing waters to continue to rise in certain sections of the city.

"We have houses that have literally been picked up off of their foundations and moved.

"The yacht club on the lake has burned and is destroyed.

"I must tell people who are driving around that if you drive on the highrise, we're not sure about the structural soundness of the high-rise, because it appears that a barge has hit one of the main structures of the high-rise.

"This is a briefing that I got from FEMA.

"All of Slidell is under water.

"We have gas leaks that have sprout out, and even when they are under water, you will see a flame shooting out of the water. It's not a pretty picture."

[CottonBear]

6. Oh my god. It is even worse than we could have imagined.

:cry:

[jaxx]

8. Dubya is no hero in this.......like he's trying to come across as being.

His budget went for defense....and war. Instead of the levees and hurricane protection for NO.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050207/ai_n10176537

[O.M.B.inOhio]

7. How fortunate that all our National Guard resources are near... Oh.

Thank you George. Way to go, Dick and Don.

[AnnInLa]

10. The events you reported above

have been reported on local TV stations. So many people evacuated, and the evacuees are following events on CNN, MSNBC and the Weather Channel, that officials may hope to stave off panic by the evacuees that left friends, relatives behind.

[rodeodance]

11. people panic because they do not have information also.

[AnnInLa]

17. If the local TV stations in Baton Rouge and Lafayette

are reporting all of the things you mentioned...that's where I saw them...then there's nothing to prevent the major news channels from picking up the stories. I really doubt that FEMA is preventing info from getting out for some nefarious purpose.

[Nikki Stone 1]

18. Yes. I am one of them

I'd like to have some real info and not this fake crap about looting. Out here in CA, it is talk radio (believe it or not) that is discussing this and described the whole city as "toxic soup" (from a comment made by a reporter at a news conference.)

From everything I have read, this is a horrific tragedy.

[rodeodance]

12. lots of repeat film. was thinking just due to hard to get around.

.......Maybe this is why they are showing the same footage over and over again.

[rodeodance]

13. media helicopters have not been grounded or anything like that?

[rodeodance]

14. I only heard the bodies floating here on DU--not on the tube.

[CottonBear]

16. WDSU TV anchors reported floating bodies. Mayor reported bodies.

Bodies are being found in coastal MS. 2 people died in St. Tammany Parrish on flooded I-12. The local anchors are complaining that the MSM is not reporting the real and important news, that they are saying it's "not so bad" when it's worse than anyone imagined.

http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#

[kansasblue]

15. I heard the Gov say things weren't bad on our Kansas station.

the the levy leak was minor. Things were under control.

Let me go check about the gov...........

[carpetbagger]

19. New bodies or cemetery escapees?

I saw an email to a co-worker today from someone on the scene in downtown NO who reported caskets.