Day 1 Louisiana's Date With Disaster: The Prelude
Between my writing this column and you reading it, I along with hundreds of thousands of people in south Louisiana could very well be homeless and/or without electricity for a month or longer.
It has even been speculated that flooding could be so severe that downtown New Orleans could be submerged in up to 30 feet of water.
Between my writing this column and you reading it, one thousand or more people in south Louisiana could have died via drowning or other related hazzards created by the terrible storm known as Katrina.
Admittedly, these dire scenarios are an extreme take on what this category 5 hurricane could inflict on life and property in America's most fragile state over the next 15 hours.
Louisianans have often speculted about when the "Big One" would finally hit. New Orleans's reputation as being a city below sea-level is well circulated though not entirely true. The land near the Mississippi River levee, not just the earthen dike, is not below sea level, though Mid City, an ethnically cosmopolitan area of small businesses and upscale and downscale residences pending on what block you are on, is the lowest point in the city, or the bottom of the bowl that is New Orleans.
Though Katrina's full wrath has not yet hit New Orleans proper, it can be anticipated that wind gusts at 125 mph or greater will do considerable damage to many physical structures. The sheets of rain that will inudate the metro area will test the capacity of one of the world's finest drainage systems. But my greatest fear is the storm surge: in the south, the waters of Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico being pushed over what is left of south Louisiana's absorbing sponge of wetlands, which have been greatly depleted due to salt water intrusion that came with the creation of man-made boat channels. With those channels serving as express lanes for a storm surge, the New Orleans area could very well experience its own "Thai Tsunami."
And then there are the unlucky souls who live along Lake Pontchatrain, a large body of brackish water that borders the Ilse de Orleans in the south and the highly populated parish of St. Tammany to the north, who could be the first to lose thier homes in the calamity.
Mother Nature's unmericful fury on south Louisiana will leave in her wake a minor disaster scene under a best case scenario.
Having played (in my younger, less mature days), driven, worked, and performed inspections during hurricanes, I am generally not one who gets overly nervous about these storms. However, I had a bad feeling about this one and decided to leave town, at the request of my family, as there was little I could do otherwise.
Leaving by car was not an attractive option for me personally since my automobile has the tendency to overheat so I used an airline travel voucher I had to book a flight out of Louisiana. The sequence of events are worth noting as thanks to my friends who badgered me umpteen times that the scheduled time would luikely be canceled, I rebooked for an earlier time at 3 AM in the morning and just so happened to snag a seat that had just opened up when I called. Upon safely arriving at my destination, I checked the flight that was scheduled to depart at the slightly later time and saw that it was canceled. As I would have been stuck at the airport for the hurricane had I not been pestered by those looking out for me or had I not put in the booking call at just the right time, I consider my good fortune more of a blessing than a random instance of good luck.
And now begins the 15 hour gut-wrenching vigil for the evacuated and for the unlucky hundreds of thousands who never made it out of the New Orleans area due to being stubborn , occupational mandate, or physical or financial limits, a half-day period of physical survival if the worst case becomes reality.
A little over 190 years ago, the city of New Orleans found itself on the eve of its possible destruction by a different force, on that occasion coming in the form of the British army- the pillagers of Hampton, Virginia and the burners of Washington, DC during the War of 1812. Things looked bleak for the American defenders; a call to arms was made with the able bodied men making their way south of the city to the defensive line at Chalmette while the city's women went to church and prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on behalf of the city.
Their prayers were answered when Andy Jackson's force held the the redcoats at bay. The general, though not Catholic, assigned as much credit to the spiritual petitions made to the Blessed Mother as he gave the men he commanded.
At an hour sauch as this, where forces more powerful than man could destroy in one fell swoop a major American city, it would be appropriate that we also seek assistance from a greater power.
I'll check in again at 3 PM CST.
It has even been speculated that flooding could be so severe that downtown New Orleans could be submerged in up to 30 feet of water.
Between my writing this column and you reading it, one thousand or more people in south Louisiana could have died via drowning or other related hazzards created by the terrible storm known as Katrina.
Admittedly, these dire scenarios are an extreme take on what this category 5 hurricane could inflict on life and property in America's most fragile state over the next 15 hours.
Louisianans have often speculted about when the "Big One" would finally hit. New Orleans's reputation as being a city below sea-level is well circulated though not entirely true. The land near the Mississippi River levee, not just the earthen dike, is not below sea level, though Mid City, an ethnically cosmopolitan area of small businesses and upscale and downscale residences pending on what block you are on, is the lowest point in the city, or the bottom of the bowl that is New Orleans.
Though Katrina's full wrath has not yet hit New Orleans proper, it can be anticipated that wind gusts at 125 mph or greater will do considerable damage to many physical structures. The sheets of rain that will inudate the metro area will test the capacity of one of the world's finest drainage systems. But my greatest fear is the storm surge: in the south, the waters of Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico being pushed over what is left of south Louisiana's absorbing sponge of wetlands, which have been greatly depleted due to salt water intrusion that came with the creation of man-made boat channels. With those channels serving as express lanes for a storm surge, the New Orleans area could very well experience its own "Thai Tsunami."
And then there are the unlucky souls who live along Lake Pontchatrain, a large body of brackish water that borders the Ilse de Orleans in the south and the highly populated parish of St. Tammany to the north, who could be the first to lose thier homes in the calamity.
Mother Nature's unmericful fury on south Louisiana will leave in her wake a minor disaster scene under a best case scenario.
Having played (in my younger, less mature days), driven, worked, and performed inspections during hurricanes, I am generally not one who gets overly nervous about these storms. However, I had a bad feeling about this one and decided to leave town, at the request of my family, as there was little I could do otherwise.
Leaving by car was not an attractive option for me personally since my automobile has the tendency to overheat so I used an airline travel voucher I had to book a flight out of Louisiana. The sequence of events are worth noting as thanks to my friends who badgered me umpteen times that the scheduled time would luikely be canceled, I rebooked for an earlier time at 3 AM in the morning and just so happened to snag a seat that had just opened up when I called. Upon safely arriving at my destination, I checked the flight that was scheduled to depart at the slightly later time and saw that it was canceled. As I would have been stuck at the airport for the hurricane had I not been pestered by those looking out for me or had I not put in the booking call at just the right time, I consider my good fortune more of a blessing than a random instance of good luck.
And now begins the 15 hour gut-wrenching vigil for the evacuated and for the unlucky hundreds of thousands who never made it out of the New Orleans area due to being stubborn , occupational mandate, or physical or financial limits, a half-day period of physical survival if the worst case becomes reality.
A little over 190 years ago, the city of New Orleans found itself on the eve of its possible destruction by a different force, on that occasion coming in the form of the British army- the pillagers of Hampton, Virginia and the burners of Washington, DC during the War of 1812. Things looked bleak for the American defenders; a call to arms was made with the able bodied men making their way south of the city to the defensive line at Chalmette while the city's women went to church and prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on behalf of the city.
Their prayers were answered when Andy Jackson's force held the the redcoats at bay. The general, though not Catholic, assigned as much credit to the spiritual petitions made to the Blessed Mother as he gave the men he commanded.
At an hour sauch as this, where forces more powerful than man could destroy in one fell swoop a major American city, it would be appropriate that we also seek assistance from a greater power.
I'll check in again at 3 PM CST.
posted by BourbonConservative at 2:58 PM
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