Sweeping devastation along the Gulf; panic in New Orleans

[steve2470]

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/12514756.htm




<snip>
In New Orleans, medics converted part of the Superdome to a triage center for scores of the injured and sick, many of them found on rooftops and street corners. Some were sent to hospitals in Baton Rouge.

And as the water rose, the mayor told city workers to flee for their lives. Staffers at New Orleans' main newspaper hastily evacuated their building. Panic flared.

''The levee broke!'' one woman yelled outside Johnny White's Bar on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

Still, the Gulfport and Biloxi area of south Mississippi bore the brunt of the storm, which which shattered multi-million dollar casinos, buried Biloxi's beach highway and bulldozed entire cities.

<snip>

[Cooley Hurd]

1. My God...

I thought the worst-case scenario would be if NOLA was flooded by the initial storm surge. I was WAY-wrong! :cry:

We're witnessing a worst-case scenario unfolding right now. :cry:

[jean]

2. WLOX TV in Gulfport has two aerial videos from today

Aerial video as the helicoptor goes from Gulfport to Biloxi -

http://www.wlox.com/



edit - some of the casino buildings, which were moored in the water, were picked up and lifted over Highway 90 then dumped on whatever was in their way, in one case, a Holiday Inn.

I also read at WLOX that MS does not allow land based casinos so that's why they're all built out onto the water

[rbjensen]

3. Okay explain to me..

you guys who know that area. I mean I've been there, been to Harrahs and the zoo and all that. What does it mean when the levees are breached. Is breached toppled? All gone? Flowed over? What is the bottom line here? Will there be a city left? Has this happened before?

Just heard on the news that choppers from all over the country are coming to NO to get folks out of the dome.

Holy Jesus Christ.

[NYC]

4. Do you have an update about helicopters removing

people from the Superdome? Any more details?

[rbjensen]

6. MSNBC says

Coast Guard copters from around the country have been called to evacuate. They are starting with the folks on roofs all over the city. They didn't make it clear exactly how they are going to get folks out of the Dome.

[NYC]

7. Thanks. Please keep posting information as you get it.

I have trouble with streaming anything regarding New Orleans, so the only information I get is here on DU. Thanks in advance.

[kick-ass-bob]

5. there is a huge hole in the Lake levee.

The River's levee is holding - for now at least.

This means the water from the lake is coming into the city - and it can't be pumped out, because they just pump back into the lake.
If the river's levee breaks, I don't see much hope.