New Orleans sounds like it’s a weather horror story about to happen — and if you live there get out of town now:
The mayor of New Orleans ordered the immediate evacuation of the city today as Hurricane Katrina, now a Category 5 storm packing 175 mph winds, bore down on the Louisiana coast after gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mayor Ray Nagin issued the mandatory evacuation order amid fears that the hurricane could cause massive flooding in New Orleans, a city of 485,000 people that lies below sea level.
Appearing on live television at a news conference to issue the order, Nagin said authorities were setting up 10 refuges of last resort, including the city’s Superdome, for people who were unable to get out. He said the hurricane’s storm surge was likely to overwhelm the levees that protect the city.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who joined Nagin at the news conference, said President Bush had called her moments before to urge a mandatory evacuation.
“There doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight,” Blanco said. She pointed out that even when Katrina hit Florida last week as a Category 1 storm, well below its current strength, it killed half a dozen people.
“The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly,” Nagin said. Calling Katrina a “once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said, “We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared…”
Indeed, there have been nightmare scenarios about New Orleans for years…and if the winds hold, this could live up to them.
The BBC is inviting comments from readers who have info about the storm. And some are highly dramatic, such as:
The scene here looks like something from the apocalypse. People are running around the city, terrified about what to do. Those who are leaving have clogged the roadways so extensively that little hope remains for those who have not yet decided to leave. Gas stations are breeding grounds for fighting and riots, as people are resorting to a state of martial law in order to get the precious gasoline they need to move their vehicles. This truly is the worst part of the storm and it only looks to get worse. God be with everyone who is trying to escape the madness.
Sam Morrison, New Orleans, LA USAI am from Pailton, Warwickshire, England. I am travelling after working at a summer camp. Me and my friends are stuck in New Orleans and have no way of getting out! We were supposed to have a flight to New York on the 29th September but it has been cancelled and now there is a possibility that we cannot fly until the 1st September or even longer! All of the shops are putting boards up over their windows and most shops are closed by law. It is frustrating because we need water and food. we managed to find one shop and the prices were very expensive. We are not scared that we will get injured – just at the fact we cannot get out!
Stuart Bird, New Orleans, USA
CNN notes that New Orleans is now bracing for “The Big One”:
A solemn New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuations Sunday as his city faced its worst fear — the threat of a direct hit from a major hurricane that could swamp the low-lying city.
By mid-morning Sunday, Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 175 mph. It was expected to make landfall Monday morning. Category 5 is the most intense category on the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. (Full story)
Officials are particularly concerned about New Orleans because about 70 percent of the city is below sea level.
The city essentially sits in a bowl, protected by a series of levies that keep the Mississippi River waters out.
Meanwhile, weblogs are recording some personal stories as well:
—People Get Ready:
I-10 east was totally clear of any traffic last night. It was 70mph the whole way to Pensacola. We’ll catch the edge here, but there won’t be any water events as there will be in New Orleans, where the levees will most likely be topped by 18-20 foot surges pushed up into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi. After that, the only place for the water to go is into the streets, and into your homes.
This happened so fast. Most people were doing their normal Friday routines, with an eye on the hurricane as it left Florida. But the weather patterns were already lining up to steer the hurricane right up the lane for a ten-pin strike in New Orleans. Saturday morning, everything had changed….
—Suspect Device Blog tells fellow citizens to flee:
Last year, I was worked a hurricane planning workshop in Baton Rouge, put on by the state’s Department of Homeland Security. It dealt with planning and response to a major SE Louisiana hurricane, complete with simulations and expert-designed projections, surveys, etc. A Cat3 making a direct hit on NOLA was projected to cause massive damage, far beyond what the average person might think. Consider the possibility of 18 feet of water in the CBD, a toxic soup of household and industrial chemicals floating around the flooded bowl that NOLA sits in and substantial, if not complete, destruction of homes and businesses along the river. Think floating corpses and balls of fire ants and gasoline and god knows what. If you stay and survive, search and rescue will not come after your ass for some time, and if they do they will be coming to take you out and nothing else. After they blow the levee and the water goes down, it’ll still be months before the city is livable. Casualties possibly in five figures.
That’s a Cat3. If Katrina makes landfall as a Cat5? The destruction will be apocalyptic. Get out now.
We’re ready to board up the windows, our hurricane kit is extra thick and our evacuation plan is a-go if need be. I’ve spent most of my life in hurricane areas and this is the very first storm that I’ve ever felt in fear of. I have a bad feeling about this bitch. Katrina looks like she wants to play and New Orleans may be the toy. The damage this thing could do is unthinkable. I hope we all make it through as safely as possible.
Alright, in a rare display of common sense, the old lady and I, along with the whiskey, are moving to higher ground. The National Hurricane Center’s forecast track hasn’t changed in 24 hours; usually a pretty good indication that it’s going to do exactly what they say it will. And now Katrina’s a pretty intimidating category 4, 145 mph winds, and the hurricane center has even amused the thought of it strengthening to category 5. In short, this is no longer something that I’m comfortable joking about.
We live in a one story single shotgun in Mid City, we don’t have storm shutters, elevation is 1.5 feet below sea level, and there’s not a room in the place without windows.. hardly a safe shelter in a category 4 or 5 storm. At this point I’m going to be pleasantly surprised if we return to find it in livable condition.
Well, on our way home today from mowing lawns we went to get on Interstate 49 today…and it looked like there was a hurricane evacuation going on…well, I guess that’s because there was. There were THOUSANDS of cars going north to get out of the way of the path of the storm. I was quite encouraged to see many of them stopping at local hotels, feeling safe enough getting here and stopping is a good sign. Anyway, it’s funny to see some of the things tied on top of cars and to the backs of vans and such…like a swimming pool…uh, afraid there won’t be any water where you’re going? Or how about the plywood tied to the back of the jeep? No, not full sheets like you buy at Lowe’s or Home Depot, just a lot of pieces about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long. What’s up with that? I guess they could be locals planning on boarding up some 2 X 4 foot windows, but it looked strange. How about the people pulling the trailer with the satellite dish on it? Hokay….ever heard of cablevision at a hotel
Meanwhile, Mississippi was bracing itself, too, for what could potentially be one of the worst storms in years…
UPDATE:
–A lot of info via InstaPundit.
—See Donald Sensing here.
–And amid the drama, Crooks And Liars has captured these hurricane bloopers.
–Michelle Malkin has an excellent and exhaustive (you should say DEFINITIVE) round up here.
(NOTE: Due to a long drive our updating on this will be greatly limited today — if at all).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.