HumidCity

Remember the promises to rebuild infrastructure, promises that three years later remain unfulfilled.

Remember us in your thoughts as Gustav and Hanna approach.

7AM CDT — KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]

7:30 AM CDT — BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH: The administration finds out that a levee in New Orleans was breached. On this day, 28 “government agencies, from local Louisiana parishes to the White House, [reported that] that New Orleans levees” were breached. [AP]

8AM CDT — MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE: “I’ve gotten reports this morning that there is already water coming over some of the levee systems. In the lower ninth ward, we’ve had one of our pumping stations to stop operating, so we will have significant flooding, it is just a matter of how much.” [NBC’s “Today Show”]

11:13 AM CDT - WHITE HOUSE CIRCULATES INTERNAL MEMO ABOUT LEVEE BREACH: “Flooding is significant throughout the region and a levee in New Orleans has reportedly been breached sending 6-8 feet of water throughout the 9th ward area of the city.” [AP]

MORNING — BROWN WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION OF KATRINA: In a briefing, Brown warned Bush, “This is, to put it mildly, the big one, I think.” He also voiced concerns that the government may not have the capacity to “respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe” and that the Superdome was ill-equipped to be a refuge of last resort. [AP]

MORNING — MAYFIELD WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE TOPPING OF THE LEVEES: In the same briefing, Max Mayfield, National Hurricane Center Director, warns, “This is a category 5 hurricane, very similar to Hurricane Andrew in the maximum intensity, but there’s a big big difference. This hurricane is much larger than Andrew ever was. I also want to make absolutely clear to everyone that the greatest potential for large loss of lives is still in the coastal areas from the storm surge. … I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.” [AP]

MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue [immigration], so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.” [White House]

MORNING — BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN [White House]

11AM CDT — MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE: “Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ‘this near catastrophic event’ but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ‘Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.’” [AP]

LATE MORNING — LEVEE BREACHED: “A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north.” [Times-Picayune]

11AM CDT — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [White House]

4:30PM CDT — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.” [White House]

8PM CDT — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.” [Editor & Publisher]

8PM CDT — GOV. BLANCO AGAIN REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM BUSH: “Mr. President, we need your help. We need everything you’ve got.” [Newsweek]

LATE PM — BUSH GOES TO BED WITHOUT ACTING ON BLANCO’S REQUESTS [Newsweek]

To see the full Think Progress Katrina Timeline, click here.

Syndicated from the mass email by Loki, HumidCity Founder

A collaboration has been formed between Beacon, LCIA and Episcopal Diocese. We have started a fundraising campaign for the flood victims of Iowa. We will buy gift cards to give to displaced residents that can be used for clothing, food, water or building materials. On-line donations can be made through our website: www.lakewoodbeacon.org using PayPal or Just Give. Please make checks payable to Beacon of Hope and write Iowa in the memo. Checks can be dropped off or mailed to: 6268 Vicksburg Street, NOLA 70124 or 145 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Ste. 210, NOLA 70124. All donations are tax deductible as we are a qualified 501(c)3. Donations received will not be spent on our travel expenses.

Connie Uddo, Al Petrie and me, Denise Thornton, are going to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 13 through 17^th. The Episcopal Diocese and Vineyard Church have already set up a distribution centers and camps in Quincy and Cedar Rapids. There are approximately 5,000 displaced residents in Cedar Rapids. We’re taking Chef Mark Uddo to do a community dinner, New Orleans style. The distribution center will get flyers out in advance of our arrival. We will hold workshops like contractor fraud & mold remediation. We will hand out the gift cards at the dinner in exchange for their contact information and we’ll start a database and try to identify a Beacon Administrator and a Volunteer Coordinator. We’re taking the Beacon Procedure Manual. We will make contact with government leaders. I have obtained letters of support from our city council and police department which will give us instant creditability in that arena. Connie’s 18 year old daughter is going with us and she’ll try to start a Youth Recovery Program which will involve the high school(s). We have learned so much about our own recovery that will be helpful to them long after we’re gone. If any of you have any thoughts or ideas on how we can make this trip more productive, please let me know.

This content is syndicated from the email by Matt McBride, formerly at the helm of Fix The Pumps. -Loki

Dear New Orleanians,

The Corps has released the preliminary version of their category 5 study:

http://lacpr.usace.army.mil/default.aspx

or the direct link:

http://lacpr.usace.army.mil/default.aspx?p=LACPR_Draft_Technical_Report

They had promised this to the public (after missing their 12/31/07 deadline) on February 8th, as seen here:

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/Video/WLAE_Col_Lee_080115.wmv

I went and checked on March 7th, and it hadn’t yet appeared on the LaCPR site. But it’s there now.

By the way, the study doesn’t actually make any recommendations. In fact, here’s an excerpt from the end of the report:

“Efforts to date do not point to a single effective risk reduction strategy. No single strategy for comprehensive hurricane damage risk reduction, other than entirely abandoning communities in South Louisiana, will guarantee safety for the population along the coast.”

Basically, what this study has done is just collect all the alternatives, so that more meetings can be held. The Corps has placed a paragraph in the report meant to blunt criticism that the public was expecting recommendations from this report, and there are none (and, yes, I am aware that was reported earlier, but that doesn’t mean that every member of the public in South Louisiana will remember or care about it):

“Congress also directed a technical report rather than a reconnaissance or feasibility report as described by normal USACE policy. The technical report will contain many of the same components as a reconnaissance or feasibility report, such as presenting the results of the formulation and evaluation of alternatives. As outlined by the Congressional direction, the technical report will contain a ‘comprehensive hurricane protection analysis and design…to develop and present a full range of flood control, coastal restoration, and hurricane protection measures…for comprehensive Category 5 protection.’”

Expect to see that argument when people start asking, “why are there no recommendations other than, ‘have more meetings?’”

Matt

Mayor Approves Parking on Neutral Ground

NEW ORLEANS, LA (October 22, 2007) - Due to severe flooding conditions that are expected to persist throughout the remainder of the day and later in the evening, New Orleans City Hall and all city government offices will close at 3 p.m., today. Essential offices will remain open.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has granted permission for the citizens to park on the neutral ground this evening. Citizens will not be ticketed for parking on the neutral ground and the city will not be liable for any damages to private property due to expected flooding or storm related hazards. Normal parking enforcement will resume at 9 a.m., Tuesday, October 23.

The National Weather Service reports that the city can expect a lull in the weather until approximately 5 to 6 p.m. This will provide the time for the Sewage and Water Board pumps to clear the streets. The pumps dispense one inch of water in the first hour and an half an inch every hour after. The city can expect another round of bad weather from approximately 5 to 10 p.m. During that time we can expect one to two inches of rain per hour. So far, the city have experienced anywhere between 3-6 inches of rain with the chance of 10 inches of total rain before tomorrow morning. The EOC is at a level one activation (OEP Staff Only).

As of 1 p.m. this afternoon, the Sewage and Water Board reported that all pumping systems are fully operational and working properly.

The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness recommends the following:

* You should monitor forecasts and be alert for other warnings.
* Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.
* Ensure ditches and catch basins are cleared of debris.
* If you have to drive in a flooded area take care. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH WATER IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF THE DEPTH.
* Don’t drive through fast-moving water, such as at a flooded bridge approach - your car could be swept away
* Drive slowly and steadily to avoid creating a bow wave, and allow on-coming traffic to pass first.
* Keep the engine revving by slipping the clutch otherwise water in the exhaust could stall the engine.
* Modern vehicles are fitted with catalytic converters in the exhaust system. The catalyst normally works at high temperatures and may crack if it is submerged in water. Replacement catalysts are expensive.
* The air intake on many modern cars is located low down at the front of the engine bay and it only takes a small quantity of water sucked into the engine to cause serious damage. All engines are affected but turbo-charged and diesel engines are most vulnerable.
* Be considerate - driving through water at speeds above a slow crawl can result in water being thrown onto pavements, soaking pedestrians or cyclists.
* If your car stalls, immediately abandon it and climb to higher ground. Watch your footing. Just six inches of fast-moving flood water can sweep a person off his or her feet.
* Test your brakes as soon as you can after driving through water.

I do not have much time to write before leaving to go to work, but there are two issues that I ran across this morning that almost made me choke on my coffee. Acording to the Daily Advertiser our illustrious House of Representatives has voted for a bill authorizing raises for the Gov. and various other State Gov. officials. Have these lackwits earned a raise? In the Governor’s case a 40K raise pushing the job 10K above the national average for State Governors?

When the bill came up for a second vote Wednesday, 22 lawmakers who voted against it or were absent in May switched their votes and supported it 57-42. Another 13 who voted for it or were absent last month voted against the proposal.

The vote exchange puzzled even Speaker of the House Joe Salter, D-Florien, who said, “I can’t explain it.”"I don’t think some people knew what they were voting on,” said Rep. Monica Walker, D-Marksville, who with Rep. Kay Katz, R-Monroe, voted against the raise both times.

Katz agreed “some people weren’t paying attention.”

The bill, which now goes to the Senate for consideration, seeks to increase the governor’s salary from $95,000 to $135,000 and the salary of the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, commissioner of insurance and commissioner of agriculture from $85,000 to $115,000.

Does this seem like a well deserved raise? Does this seem like people who are supposed to be steering the state (HA!) were paying attention? Does it seem like a bad acid flashback? Is there any sanity left in Louisiana?Was there any to begin with? And what about Naomi?

So as I’m choking on my coffee reading this I get another jolt. I wish I could say it was a shock, but it was not. More like getting confirmation from your doctor that you have cancer…

The Corps. Deception. Corruption. Reckless endangerment of every life in New Orleans. Hardly new news, but the scope of things as revealed by their own internal investigation is something out of a delusional paranoid’s fantay world. The unfortunate thing is that it is not. I have leave and go t a contract job so I will steer you over to Fix The Pumps to get all the gory details from an actual engineer.

Top points
The Corps New Orleans District has lied to New Orleans and the nation for over a year.

• The pumps are far from ready.
• Millions of taxpayer dollars have been misspent or are unaccounted for.
• Multiple cover-ups have taken place.
• New Orleans remains nearly as vulnerable to flooding as it was immediately following Katrina.

His article includes excellent documentation and reasoning as well as a link to the Corps Report itself. Prepare to become nauseous as you read.

Big Hat Tip to Greg at Suspect Device for the info on the raises. Huge bow on bended knee to Matt at Fix The Pumps, our very own homegrown NOLA Sperhero!

Xposted on  the Livejournal New Orleans Community

watch this video by ScoutPrime over at First Draft. Go ahead, you can do it…

From the Livejournal New Orleans Community:

Calling anyone who witnessed the flooding near Oak and Carrollton on Decmeber 21, 2006. Can you please send me an email attesting to having seen un-drivable conditions in that area around 8:30am?
AND/OR
If you have pictures of that area that would be even more fantastic!
Specifically, if you witnessed:
–A truck stuck in the water in the middle of the street near Capital One, abandoned due to water level.
–Car lined up on the Neutral Ground in that area.
–Untravelable water levels on Carrollton and St. Charles.
–Cars stuck in water anywhere in that area.
–Water levels on Oak (going into businesses).
–Water levels on sidestreets.

It doesn’t have to be detailed, just: “On 12/21/06, I witnessed ___________,” or “I was unable to travel to work from ___________ area myself because of __________.” I know other people couldn’t get to work from that area, I just need proof.

If you feel comfortable signing with contact info, that’d be great. If you are a business owner in that area that would be WONDERFUL.

Much appreciated. THANKS!

To see the various responses and add one of your own please go to the original post:
Here

A new Katrina Refrigerator post here. Its title is Walking to New Orleans.

This is Walking to New Orleans II.

Last night, while my grandson and I were playing a game, my husband and daughter were sitting in the front room watching TV and talking. The rest of the story comes from my husband as I didn’t know about it until today.

They heard a knock on the door. My husband opened it to find a 60-ish, emaciated, black woman standing there. She asked him if he could ask his wife to make her a sandwich. She had walked and walked to get to our neighborhood because she was so hungry, but found the church (probably the one up on the corner of Rampart and St. Anthony) closed. She was clearly unaccustomed to knocking on random doors in search of food, and according to my husband, clearly in need of the food. She didn’t look like a substance abuser, just a desperate, very poor, very hungry woman. My husband packed her a sack lunch with a sandwich, some chips, some peanut butter crackers, whatever he could find in our kitchen and gave it to her. When he gave it to her he said she was crying and then she disappeared into the night.

There are so few services here that we couldn’t think this morning of where we could have sent her and we’re going to look into putting a list together of shelters, etc. so that we will have that information for someone who needs it.

As unaccustomed as she was to knocking on random doors in order to eat, we are also unaccustomed to having our door knocked on for that reason. It is shocking to us. I wish we knew who she was, where she was. Maybe we could help her in some other way than just a sandwich and some chips if we knew that, but the whole thing transpired fast and my husband, in his shock, didn’t get any information from her. How many others like her are there out there?

For sure they’re “out there”—-not in an apartment.

There was help for the very poor right after Katrina, but now so many services are just not up and running, and there are grants for homeowners coming through, but this city has been a city of renters for a long, long time. There has been no help at all for renters (Section 8 aside, but that’s another story). We regular Joe’s in the middle are at the mercy of “the market.” There is no chance for a woman like her to find an affordable apartment as rents have doubled in many cases, and the number of apartments available has declined.

Yesterday’s Times Picayune had an article on rising rents. While I understand that some landlords have extraordinary refurbishment expenses, there are others out there who clearly raised the rent to a number that would be close to what the Section 8 voucher amount is, even though the apartment would have rented for half that much last year, or certainly the year before Katrina.

Businesses can’t get workers, workers can’t find affordable housing. Without the workers there is no business—-who’s not GETTING this? It seems so obvious.

No one is saying that landlords should give away their rentals free, (there is a story in the article of one landlord who waived the deposit—that’s fabulous! What a novel idea!) but as one woman in the article said, who was now making $500 more a month than she was pre-K, she thought she could do better and fears she “missed the market.” C’mon! You’re already making more than you were before so what are you griping about? The rest of us are paying you all the money we have to keep a roof over our heads. And Entergy is raping us for the rest of our paycheck. Throw in paid utilities and maybe your apartment would be worth it.

I fear that if something isn’t done to cap rents in this city, that our labor issues will only get worse, and more people will leave, especially those who work in the service industry. The tourism and convention people need to get involved in this or they’re gonna tout our culture and music and party town only to have the conventioneers find that they hafta make their own hurricane at Pat O’s and bring their own pots to make red beans. There won’t be anyone here to make it for them. The bartenders and cooks won’t be able to find an apartment.

The woman who knocked on our door last night might be a harbinger of things to come if we don’t get services together, figure out what HANO is thinking, and get some rent controls in here.

None of that makes you think? Okay, how about this: What if that woman was YOUR mother?

-NOLA Slate

We are too much a rabble, leaderless and increasingly dispirited. I heard nothing in the mayor’s 100-day remarks Wednesday to remedy that. We lack the charismatic leadership we need to see us through this dark hour, our Henry V to rally the tired few to the great battle that will remake the world. Instead, we get Mayor Hamlet, Prince of Denmark or somewhere, anywhere else but New Orleans, wandering the ramparts of Perdido Street and wondering how to proceed.

I see more and more on-line commentators, and some in the newspaper, remark that they are starting to have thoughts of moving on, of leaving the city, of giving up. No one I know personally is ready to leave, and people I thought lost to Texas continue to trickle in despite all the challenges. Still, the conventional wisdom of the street points to the sprouting forests of For Sale signs as indication that many who haven’t yet returned, and more than a few who are back, are making other plans.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this sort of chatter in August. The first serious month of hurricane season was filled with an endless tide of contrary news, the threat of a storm in the Gulf, and the looming anniversary. Even for the most heavily medicated population in the developed world, it was a depressing prospect. Can we make it, people asked each other with the breathlessness of exhausted swimmers struggling to make their way to the shore.

The mayor and his circle give us no confidence. Leadership is the rescue we need now every bit as much as the people on the roofs of last year, watching the helicopters circle then leave; the 100-day promise was another lifeline tantalizing dangled before our eyes and then withdrawn. Perhaps we should drape our houses in bedsheets roughly lettered: Mayor Nagin, Please Help Us.

I remain convinced the city will survive. We the 200,000 who have come home can be enough if we do not surrender, if we insist that our leaders step up to the difficult challenges we face as a city, as a collective. We only ask they they work as hard and as ingenously as those who labor all day to save their businesses, and still go home at night to work on ruined homes, that the mayor and his cohorts navigate the paths of Entergy and RTA and recovery finances in the same way the majority of us hack our way through the jungle of insurance, SBA and LRA.

The rousing speech Shakespeare puts into the mouth of his Henry V is something I have carried with me through the years, the product of most of a degree in English Literature from the University of New Orleans, and a number of years spent working alongside a Shakespeare enthusiast. Henry’s position was bleak. He was at the end of a long land campaign, surrounded by the French who had cut off his line of supply and retreat, facing a choice between victory and defeat, with no place for retreat. It is a marvel of motivational speech, a statement that rings true to the American ear across the centuries with its martial setting and its celebration of exceptionalism.

It is the speech I would hear from Perdido Street, but have no reason to expect; the sort of speech we must demand of our own leaders, if they wish to be counted among the 200,000 who saved the city. It is the speech we must all give to ourselves, should post on our shaving mirrors or on the doors of our new refrigetarors, to remind ourselves we are here because we have chosen this place to fight.

Its opening words are the best response I could offer to Mayor Hamlet’s vacuous remarks, and the truest antidote to them. If you read this blog, you are among the 200,000, the happy few. I do not mean to indict those who have not returned, by choice or happenstance. It is mostly beyond their control. Instead, I mean to remind the 200,000 that they are living through a special place and time in history, one that will be long remembered. When people look back on this time, they will read of the president and the governor and the mayor and laugh, or perhaps cry in catharsis at the tragedy of hubris strutting to its doom. There’s nothing we can do now to remedy the leaders who hobble us, except to prove them wrong, to write for ourselves the scene that ends not in tragedy but in triumph.

…proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
-Mark Folse, Wet Bank Guide 

Reuters AlertNet - Army leader who admitted New Orleans errors quits

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who in June admitted that design flaws in the levees his agency built to protect New Orleans caused most of the flooding during Hurricane Katrina, has asked to retire, the Army said on Thursday.

Why is it that no one oputside of Louisiana seems to know about the admissions of failure made by these people? They did a “heckuva job!” on my city…

I wonder who the new idiot will be?

As DC gets a little water many here in NOLA have made snarky comments on the subject. Only natural considering the fact that DC was the city that abandoned us in our time of need. Now I realize that seems harsh, unsympathetic and downright mean, but the point missed is that the vitriol is aimed at the seat of (ineffectual) government, NOT the population of DC itself. ScottyNOLA on LJ makes some very good comments on this (read the whole post on his journal and definetly read the commments!):

Queer and Loathing in America - Here Comes the Rain Again

I want to make one thing perfectly clear about my amusement at the flooding of DC:

My snide remarks were directed at every single member of Congress, or of the current administration, or whatever yahoo from wherever, who has made some similar remark about the rebuilding of New Orleans, and most especially that snotrag Orrin Hatch.

I have nothing but the utmost sympathy for those who are losing their homes, possessions, and in some cases, their lives. Having been through the same thing, and knowing what they are facing–I feel very sorry for them. FEMA and the insurance companies–better to suffer the plagues of Egypt.

I do wonder, though, why no evangelical (paying attention, Pat Robertson?) has not called attention to the idea that perhaps God is punishing Washington for its sins against the American people?

That’s right, Katrina was divine punishment for the sins of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast; this is merely “God moves in mysterious ways.” Gotcha.

Thanks to ScottyNOLA

Collaborative Local Filmmaking Effort to Present Duality of Life in Post-Katrina New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — In a new approach to telling stories from the front lines of post-Katrina New Orleans, the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC) has collaborated with local filmmakers to produce a series of short documentaries on the people, culture and spirit that make New Orleans an American city worth rebuilding. In addition, NOVAC is producing a one-hour documentary called The Drive. It’s an extensive driving tour through four of New Orleans’ most devastated neighborhoods supported with maps, interviews, and an original score by Emmy nominated composer, Gil Talmi (http://www.giltalmi.com/ ).

“A painful irony is how few people throughout the country understand the extent of what has happened to New Orleans. In many respects, things are progressing. Families are moving home, cultural activities are abundant and, in some neighborhoods, life has a sense of near normalcy; however, a short drive in almost any direction provides a
different picture. The magnitude of flooding was incomprehensible and nearly 10 months later, New Orleans has many challenges to overcome. We hope that this project conveys the duality of life in post-Katrina New Orleans and presents New Orleans as a city worth rebuilding,” says Tim Ryan, NOVAC director/producer.

The documentaries are available for free viewing on YouTube.com -
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8080681AD2517F7E  (keyword:
NOVACDOC).

The entire series is also available on DVD at cost ($4.75 + shipping)
through a partnership with Customflix.com - http://www.customflix.com/210796 .

In addition, FriendsofNewOrleans.org - http://www.friendsofneworleans.org/ - a non-profit devoted to the rebuilding of New Orleans, features a trailer of The Drive on their website.

The project is funded by the Greater New Orleans Foundation; Newman’s Own Foundation; The RosaMary Foundation; Matt, Suzanne, Andy and Betty Wisdom; Cambridge Community Television; and other private funders. NOVAC continues to accept tax-deductible donations to support ongoing production.

For more information and links to view project, visit http://www.novacvideo.org/

Now I am not sure seeing as how it is an aerial view, but isn’t that the levee that ended up flooding the 9th Ward? This is a NASA satellite photo clearly showing a barge thrown up on top of “a levee south of New Orleans”

Someone see if you can verify the exact location this photo is showing, I am lousy at that sort of geographic verification. Still, even if it isn’t, this is a hell of a pic:

http://earthsciences.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.pl?id=2730&isa=Newsitem&op=show

I mention it because of the rumors (we all know about rumors and veracity) going around the net that a barge was responsible for the original breach. Just Google “Barge Levee,” and you’ll find tons of them. Help out with the research, only verifiable facts are valid.

Metamorphoses- Just reported (with current media links) that the 9th Ward is flooding again.

Joseph Conrad put it best, “The horror, the horror.”

I agree with her analysis, a levee breach is on the way. Like a battered housewife New Orleans takes another blow to the face. That neighborhood was where I met my fiancee, in a club that now no longer exists call the HiHo Lounge. Damn. Words fail me.

A dispatch only just now received…

Aug. 31, 2005

This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist
who recently moved from Wilmington:

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers.
I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you
as to the situation here. I don’t know how much information you are getting
but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost
everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from
reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to
send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss.,
and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans.
I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good
wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street
that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained
significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be
evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today.
Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is
indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I
have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to
care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that
remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are
on generator and losing food and water fast. The city now has no clean
water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications.
Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried
about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective
communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel
that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough
because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These
are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no
food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families.
Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots
frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low
threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The
looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We
are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many
people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have
unusual diseases. There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this
hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandeered the world famous
French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of
about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be
the major medical facility in the central business district and French
Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police
escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the
entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police
escort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of
prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine. In all we are faring well. We have
set up a hospital in the French Quarter bar in the hotel, and will start
admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We
are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and
acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major
problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear
jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the
rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly
focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of
life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care
physician. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I
don’t know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all,
this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the
loss. And how long the rebuild will take. And the horror of so many dead
people.

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THINK MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DISPATCH
from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their
collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile
gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a M.A.S.H.

Greg Henderson

Okay everybody, our progressively more and more surreal stay in West Memphis is coming to a close. We have managed to find quite a few people (the post below has a list) who made their way out in various directions, we are also still looking for many (another post right below this one).

Alexis and I have experienced an amazing array of good fortune all of a sudden. I have made contact with my Mother, Father, Sister, and Grandmother and they are all okay. We have also made a very bizarre discovery about the state of the city.

On a lark I tried my landlord’s landline and it worked! He had stayed to ride it out and had no idea that he was in the middle of one of the most massive disaters in American History ™. It seems that the area around St Charles and Napoleon are almost unscathed. He said that the power was out and he was just waiting for the people to return and the powert to come back on. He had no idea of the violent chaos a mere 20 minute walk away at Canal St. He is currently there with about 4 other people. I told him where the food stores, water supplies, booze, and parlor games in my apartment were and told I would get him updates. I then proceeded to explain what the newcasts were saying and caution him about the verious hazards. I’m contacting FEMA and letting them know here he is to try to get him out.

From what can gather it is going to be months before we can return and even then it will be a harsh envirnoment. Current projections say 4 months till people are allowed back in and 6 mos. til the water is pumped out, that is assuming we don’t get another storm our way before the end of Hurricane Season. That would make us dry at just about Carnival time. If the city is open I WILL be there to march with my Krewe Mardi Gras morning and there will be a Rumpus Toast even if I have to make it myself!

As far as returning I do not know how viable that may be. Even with the majority of the physical work done the economic factors as well as the truly assinine level of violence may preclude it. Our current plan is headed for Bloomington, IN to see my fiancee’s family and then off to NYC where some dear friends have set us up with digs and work. If we have to permanently relocate Bloomington is probably going to be it. Time and recon will tell.

This evening was an odd one, we went to a local Baptist Church that was putting on a dinner for the refugees. The Doodler, Lex, Esther, Gina Forsyth and I joined the large and varied crowd of New Orleanians for some really good fried chicken and some classic southern style proselytizing. Fortunately the later was in sparing amounts, and it did me good to see church folk actually living up to the values they espouse. Being from N.O. most of my interactions with the extremely religious have involved microcephalic fire and brimstone at Mardi Gras and Baptist ministers with huge diamonds, huge waistlines, and really expensive cars. This was a very nice change of pace.

Gina Forsyth brought her guitar and fiddle and did a few cajun tunes for those gathered to eat. We had rescued her cats, car and guitar from the city on our way out (incidentally allowing us to get more people out), and she joined us here yesterday direct from touring Denmark. We then made our getaway right before the Bible Study. Many thanks to those good people, but I prefer to skip the God Talk(tm). Debating beliefs is something I will have time for later. Fantastic chicken though!

Now for that request: please survey the lists below and pass the info on. We should let as many people as possible know who we have found and have as many ears to the ground about the missing as possible.

Be safe and take care of each other.

Okay, here’s the current skinny. According to what we have just seen on MSNBC the CBD Marriott has taken 13 ft of water. The roof of the Superdome has been partially ripped off although I do not know the details (I do know that last nights newscast talked of the Dome creaking under the force of the winds.) There has been talk of looting in the city although any sort of photo evidence is in short supply other than one shot of a destroyed money machine.

All in all I am very glad that we ran. I have never fled a hurricane until now, I think I picked the right one to flee.

Please, if you are reading these please post a reply, no matter how brief. Especially friends. This seems to be our only reliable way of staying in touch and finding out the situation, and I promise I will do my best to post anything pertinent to ourselves or New Orleans natives as soon as I can.

We have just gotten up a few minutes ago after way too many hours awake on the road. Once I have caught up on news and gotten some food into my fiancee’s stomach I shall post more thoughts.

In the meantime wish us luck, pray for us, or do whatever your own vews and beliefs dictate but please wish us well. Keep those who were unable to run in mind as they are currently inhabiting a disaster area akin to Waterworld (And we all know how much that movie SUCKED!

Peace and Survival to ALL!