To Everyone in New Orleans and Surrounding Areas

[Zarkon]

I wish you luck with your evacuation and hope that you remain safe.  Things can always be replaced, even computers.  People....can't.

[Fellow]

Also, don't even THINK of staying to ride the storm out.

Get
the
hell
out.

[Destructor]

A class 5 hurricane hitting a spot that's 6 feet under sea level = flooding of absurd proportions.

[whiteboyskim]

Good luck to everyone.

[Zarkon]

I honestly wish I had the money to go down there and volunteer to help out after it's over.

[CeeKay]

This was posted over on OO:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

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.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!

If you are there, be somewhere else.

[warning]

The mayor has begun mandatory evacuation.  Scary stuff.

This is an interesting story on New Orleans and the risks if/when the hurricane hits:  link

[Calvin]

Seriously. Be careful everyone/anyone, and get the hell out of dodge. All the best!

[Starshifter]

Don't mess with this one.

Any CG'ers down there please get the hell out.

Keep us informed when you can and let us know that you are alright.

Praying for you.

[whiteboyskim]

I just got off the phone with Deadzone who lives in Baton Rouge. He and his family have boarded up their windows and are experiencing 75 mph winds and a whole ton of rain right now, but otherwise are safe and still have power. His in-laws live just south of NO and fortunately are visiting family around Baton Rouge, so they're fine too. Glad to see he and his are holding up, but they have a lot of friends in the NO area so any extra prayers available out there are welcome.

[AgtFox]

Seems a bit of the Superdome roof has opened up and started to leak rain in.  I remember when that happened at the Metrodome (lightning struck the dome.  I certainly hope the whole roof of the Superdome doesn't come off.

[TheMissingLink]

I was scared just watching the footage this morning - careful down there!!

[mytocles]

Don't mess with this one.

Any CG'ers down there please get the hell out.

Keep us informed when you can and let us know that you are alright.

yeah, Starshifter....and TML was right too, the coverage was pretty scary, please do let us know when you can, if you're alright, and if there's anything we can do.

Was this the same thing that hit Florida, just moving further along?  I'm not very weather-informed.  

[AgtFox]

Was this the same thing that hit Florida, just moving further along?  I'm not very weather-informed.  

Yep, went down into the Gulf and did a beeline for New Orleans and Mobile.

[dbt1949]

I lived in New Orleans for ten years. We just had one Cat 1 hurricane hit during that time and it was no big deal. And a  couple of near misses. Anyrate I was surprised to see that people almost seemed to look at hurricanes as a game. Handing out little maps to track them,having hurricane parties, etc.
Sounds like they took this one seriously.
Have they said how many people died yet?

[CrayolaSmoker]

Sounds like they took this one seriously.

Everybody but the damn newscasters.  One of the local stations sent some fool down to report on the hurricane.  He's out running in the rain and wind as debris of various shapes, sizes and materials zips past him, finally cowering behind a mailbox to "show what it's like to be in a hurricane."  Meanwhile the cameraman hangs back under cover and tries his best not to rain epithets down on the moron that's gonna get killed on his watch.

Or there's the guy that's so in awe of the flooding that he keeps going an way past his cut-off, steamrolling through the anchor desperately trying to cut to another story or commercial, 'till finally it's the end of the damn newscast and all I've learned is that the water is deep and it just might be rising.

effin' Casterbaters.

[Destructor]

And then I've seen the other set of newscasters (CNN/Fox News) do an excellent job simply trying to report the news of simply how bad it is down in New Orleans right now.

And it's really, really bad.

You know it's a bad thing when the mayor is telling everybody to simply stay away from the city (and get the hell out if you were an idiot and tried to ride out the storm) as he had no idea how long they could sustain human life (as supplies can't get anywhere).

They're saying that power might be restored in a month. And that's if the water receeds. And the water is currently climbing in the city, as the levies have broken in spots. And they have no way to stop it.

[dbt1949]

I used to live out in the suburbs,in one of the hnigher parts of the area. How are those people going to live a halfway normal life,assuming they still have utilities?