HumidCity

Dear New Orleanians,

While the Corps of Engineers refuses to give up its storm surge prediction results, other branches of the government are not nearly so stingy.

The U.S. Geological Survey USGS), obviously a far more open, service-oriented organization, is setting up real-time surge level monitors on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and other places around the New Orleans area starting tomorrow (Aug 30) as Gustav approaches. The public will be able to track what happens in the lake and elsewhere across the metro region in real time.

Not only that, but they are making the data available to the entire world via a super-easy Google Earth interface, available here.

There’s more detail in this USGS press release.

Here’s the USGS’s complete Gustav page.

Meanwhile, here’s the Corps’ online efforts in advance of Gustav, a self-congratulatory newsletter of use to no one.

The New New Orleans, a place where nothing is certain. Nothing in this case including access to the internet. For some reason I have have trouble lately with the internet, to wit: trouble accessing certain sites. Google and its various adjuncts will not load, the connection times out every time I try to access them.

The upshot of this is that I am without access to my email. If you have tried to email me over the past few days leave me a comment here on this post and I will get back to you. In the meantime has anyone else been experiences these oddball access issues? (For troubleshooting purposes I am uptown and am using Cox broadband).

There are a few other sites here and there that are giving me problems, http://www.planewalker.com being one of them. This is maddening, but then what isn’t these days?