electric mist

Katrina, damage photos

I forgot to mention last post that we saw footage from local newscasters from the New Orleans area. They were on I-10 and were showing sections of Veterans (near Clearview) and it looked like a lake. There was a point where the railroad trestle crossed the interstate (?) -- I'm not as familiar with that area, but the interstate at that point was completely underwater. A reporter from Hammond said that she spoke to a team down in New Orleans and she was talking about new posts which had been put in near the new pumps. (Again, I'm not as familiar with this area.) The posts were marked in one-foot intervals, and are 17 feet tall, and the post were under water at that point. The water may have drained by now, but that was the report two hours ago.

They just showed images from Plaquemine Parish -- lots of destruction of homes there. They showed a brick two-story building in what looked like a downtown area where all of the bricks were on the ground and there was extensive wind damage to the top floor. There were people on the ground floor (unable to open the door for the debris outside the door) and they were waving to rescurers who were approaching the door. They looked relieved and not panicked.

If I hear anything specific about St. Tammany Parish I'll post it here.

There is an abolute "no entry" to New Orleans announcement going all over. If you're not an emergency personnel, you won't be allowed in.

Also, if I hear any more about that Days Inn in Slidell or the bodies (God, I really hope that one was wrong), I'll post.

Here are a few photos:

Our neighborhood:

Port Allen (just over the Mississippi River bridge from me):

Other areas with trees down (north Baton Rouge area):

UPDATE -- Senator David Vitter is on WBRZ news right now and says that he doesn't have much news about Metairie or St. Tammany Parish -- that no one does right now. He'd been over at the central emergency office (I've lost track of the correct acronym) and they, nor FEMA, has any better information than what you've all heard so far. When the anchor asked him why he didn't know much, he said that it's partly because most of the people evacuated and partly because no one can really get into those areas yet to assess anything. There are still people on their rooftops in St. Bernard Parish waiting for a boat or a helicopter. Some deputy sherrifs have been taking their own personal bass boats and going out to find people.

They're trying to get helicopters up to get some aerial photos before it's completely dark.

Posted by toni at August 29, 2005 06:01 PM