I didn’t realize that the fantastic Susannah Breslin had moved to New Orleans, but I’m thankful to learn from Xeni Jardin that she’s safe. As suggested here repeatedly, donating to the Red Cross is among the best things you can do right now to help out.
At the present time, the French Quarter is battered but not broken. But as Rory notes, one of BT’s friend has reported that a levee has burst and water from Lake Pontchartrain is causing the flooding to rise. With the machinery to pump out this water now out of commission, it appears that what we all feared is now, in fact, happening. CNN reports that 80% of the city is flooded and some areas are now under 20 feet of water — much higher than the initial Katrina strike. Not good at all.
[UPDATE: Kathryn Cramer has several before-and-after photos up.]
It seems to be getting worse all the time; I said yesterday that I thought the worst was yet to come, the very worst. Someone supposedly committed suicide inside the Superdome Disease and Death Trap. And they’re moving MORE people from elsewhere (like the hospitals) to inside the Superdome, which, as far as I’ve heard, is seemingly becoming a giant human toilet bowl, with no fully functioning toilet facilities, little clean water, garbage piling up, etc. The Superdome’s also surrounded by water, and I think City Hall is being evacuated–one of the government buildings, and maybe more. Martial Law’s supposedly been declared too.
There are a lot of threads with links at http://www.democraticunderground.com
I feel so terribly disturbed today because of all of this, can’t imagine how horrible it must be for all those directly affected….