Mayor Nagin: Twin Spans bridge IS TOTALLY DESTROYED

[steve2470]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4503167&mesg_id=4503397

he also said 80% of NO is underwater.

I think this is a map of Twin Spans area:

[kestrel91316]

1. But, but ................Brian Williams on NBC said it really wasn't all

that bad! He looked cheerful as he stood outside at the Superdome. And the French Quarter wasn't underwater..........so everything is really just ok.

Now about that missing girl in Aruba..........

[wli]

5. of course he doesn't think it's so bad, it's mostly brown Democrats

He's probably cheering while the cameras are off. More "compassionate conservatism."

[fleabert]

26. I thought it would take longer, but there was an update on her today...

they are obsessed.

[applegrove]

2. Wow! I'm still thrilled loss of life seems so low. I hope it remains so.

[daleo]

13. I gather it is in the 50's now (overall, not just New Orleans)

I think by the time is all said and done it will be in the several hundreds at least. It's a lot better than the worst case scenario, I suppose.

[Nothing Without Hope]

14. 50 confirmed deaths in just one county of Mississippi. I'm afraid

that as the water and debris are removed and missing persons are found not to have evacuated, the toll will be much higher.

[daleo]

15. Yes, much higher I think

Now that there seems to have been a levee breech, it could be very bad for anyone left in the city. Dark, cold, water, wind. It must be awful.

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. Plus sewage, fire ants, snakes, contaminated drinking water, and high

heat and humidity.

And so much fear and confusion. The national media, so far as I've seen, have NOT distinguished themselves in the coverage of this disaster. They are far behind what we see here at DU and they seem so resolutely "oh, it's much better than we feared!"

Well, the worst is far from over, and now water is pouring unopposed into New Orleans just as feared.

[daleo]

24. Lots of people could be running out of drinking water soon

So, there will likely be quite a bit of sickness from being forced, by thirst, into drinking the floodwater. I guess it depends how many people are still trapped by the floodwaters.

[Nothing Without Hope]

40. After the water main burst, people in some NO areas were told to boil

their water before drinking it. But if their homes are flooded and there's no electricity, how could they do that? And the heat has been very bad day and night. Yes, they need drinnking water.

[geomon666]

42. There are reports of gasoline in the floodwaters

Boiling is not going to help if they have to drink it.

[Nothing Without Hope]

43. This was one of the fears discussed before the storm hit. Horrible,

beng trapped by flooding in terrible heat but not being able to drink the water.

[donsu]

34. the loss will be in the thousands

nt

[applegrove]

39. Yeah - now that the numbers are coming in - I depressed. Tis still

very dangerous.

[dchill]

47. I don't think ANY figures are out...

for anywhere in Louisiana...
Reports of "floating bodies" in NOLA...

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. Isn't 80% about the same proportion of New Orleans that is below

sea level? Going to make it very hard to get rid of that water quickly.

I'm afraid that the death reports are delayed because the water is still so high. It's when it's drained away that you find a lot of the bodies - that's past experience like the old Galveston Hurricane and the Indonesian tsunami. As it is, with all the confusion and flooded homes, and uncertainty about whether some people left the city, it will also be a while until everyone is accounted for.

[WiseButAngrySara]

4. Exactly...it might be days before those who are missing and presumed to

have evacuated might be found dead instead.

[geomon666]

6. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week

And he's not going to for quite awhile.

[WiseButAngrySara]

7. Is Metarie included? What about Slidell? I lived in NO for one year

and have friends all over the City. (Met., Lakefront, Uptown, Slidel etc) I lived on Canal Blvd near Lake Ponchartrain...lovely old neighborhood; I bet its submerged.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. One of the other NO threads - sorry, don't remember which - said that

Slidell is in very bad shape.

[WiseButAngrySara]

11. I read that too; that it was devastated. One of the kindest women I've

ever met lives there, and works at Tulane Medical Center. I hope she's OK....

[blueeyedpupil]

16. two block long levee break

they are evacuating tulane univ hosp about 1000 patients by helicopter. also charity hospital across the street. water from the levee break is rising a foot an hour. white caps on canal water is coming so fast. ]

Sorry for the bad news. CNN says they should have statement from authorities soon.

Oops now they say they are delaying the evacuation of tulane

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. The NAtional Guard should be there with all their resources. Maybe

they could have helped with the levee too, who knows. But they sure as hell can't do anything stuck half the world away being cannon fodder in an immoral war of choice. Thousands of Guards have family in this area and they must be frantic with worry. Usually it's their families that are frantic about them - now none of them is safe.

[saigon68]

20. They are in IRAQ-NAM protecting Negroponte and the corporate criminals

Let the police handle it-- OOPS they are after and arresting marijuana smokers.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. One Post Suggested It Was "Gone"

The reference in that post (sorry don't remember which thread) described Slidell as the worst hit area.
The Professor

[Oilwellian]

12. I saw in another thread...

that Slidell was under chest-deep water from the lake to Old Spanish Trail. That's approximately 2 miles inland. My husband's sister lives between the lake and Old Spanish Trail and we've yet to get in touch with her.

Also, the twin span is between Metairie and Covington. There are two different bridges, the one depicted on the map is the one between NO and Slidell. Usually, I've heard it referred to as the 5 mile bridge. The other bridge is called the Twin Span and that's much longer, about 25 miles total.

On Edit: My mistake, the twin span is between NO and Slidell.

There's also very little reporting from St. Tammany because communications are down. The lack of news makes it all the worse.

[ClintonTyree]

21. Meterie and Slidell are both under water..........

Eden Isles, near Slidell fared pretty well. East New Orleans is under water and a two block section of the 17th street levee is damaged and water continues to pour into the city. All of those beautiful, hundreds of years old Live Oaks are down and clogging every street in the city. A barge full of diesel fuel is leaking and there are underground natural gas pipes that are shooting fire from beneath the water into the air. It's hell on earth.
Anyone, like Brian Williams, who thinks that things are just dandy are off their freaking rocker. This is a catastrophe of biblical proportions and will take months, possibly years to get back to any sort of "normal". I wish the MSM would just go away, they're doing more harm than good. Let the local Media cover it, they know what the hell they're talking about.

[CottonBear]

27. The local media thinks the MSM are freakin' insane

LIVE NEWS LINK: http://www.wdsu.com/video/4909353/detail.html#

The local anchors said that can't believe the MSM says it's not so bad. They say it is worse than anyone could have ever imagined.
:cry:

[Nothing Without Hope]

46. The MSM is covering for Bush and laying the groundword for ignoring NO

as much as possible. As anther poster here (Newswolf56):

The poster who speculated Homeland Security (FEMA) is trying to suppress the story is probably correct: note how the National Weather Service guy just interviewed on CNN weaseled out of answering all questions about the levee failure. Depending upon the depth to which the lake drains, this could destroy the city, something that would reflect very badly on Bush given (1) his seeming indifference, (2) his slashing of N.O.'s relief and levee-maintenance budgets and (3) severe depletion of the National Guard by Iraq.

[CottonBear]

25. Slidell is destroyed. You can boat down Hwy. 190 to Lacombe.

The twin Span Bridges are out. The 24 mile bridge is OK but only open to emergency services and police. St. Tammany Parrish is closed to all incoming and outgoing traffic and there is a curfew.

The storm surge came after the hurricane went over and people came out of their houses. In less than one half hour they were on their roofs if they were lucky. My in-laws are there. All we know is they are not dead. Somehow they got a message to us through a ham radio operator. Many people may be dead in St. Tammany. The animals left behind (horses, livestock and family pets) are no doubt dead or drowned in 10-15' flood waters.
:cry:
See this forum for local eyewitness news:
http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=37d65c376f671954c2fb00658b13c1f6

[WiseButAngrySara]

38. Dear Cottonbear...I followed your posts last night until I finally went to

sleep with the TV on, covering NO catastrophe. Heard first hand of the levee leak and the potential damage to Tuland Medical Center and Charity! Evacuating by helicopter thousands of already compromised patients brought me to tears. This a.m. it seems to be not quite so dire....(the hospital situation at least)

I'm so glad your (and Mr. CottonBears) in-laws are allright! Weeping for you and yours and all those who are suffering...

[jpak]

29. The video I saw last night was from Metarie - completely underwater

Several fires too - the ? Marina burned to the ground and there were several other fires as well.

Several more fires today.

The local Mobile TV news people were stunned...genuinely shocked.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. Fires occurred during the Grand Forks, North Dakota flood, too

due to broken gas mains

[Bridget Burke]

41. There was once a city in Texas named Indianola.

Located down on Matagorda Bay, it was the state's number two port--after Galveston.

A hurricane almost destroyed it in 1875, but the people of Indianola were not defeated. They rebuilt.

Another hurricane struck in 1886. During the storm, most of downtown burned.

I believe a few historical markers now record where Indianola stood.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. You mean the bridge

over Lake Pontchartrain?

[ClintonTyree]

22. Yes, the one from Slidell to East New Orleans.........

gone, so they say. Just totally gone. I've traveled that bridge many times, probably never again though.

[WiseButAngrySara]

10. 30 confirmed deaths in Biloxi Mississippi...CNN confirmed....n/t

[blueeyedpupil]

17. 30 deaths confirmed in on condo building

those 30 deaths are in one building apparently. MS reporting now up to about 54 deaths.

cadaver dog teams are being brought in tomorrow .

Not good news.

[steve2470]

23. kick nt

[liberalpragmatist]

28. Shit - I thought they said New Orleans dodged a bullet?

I'm guessing that the flooding came later. Also, I suppose that as bad as it was, it wasn't the doomsday scenario some had feared (there's a link on washingtonmonthly.com from the Washington Post that described how the city could be completely flooded for months and be utterly destroyed.

[markus]

30. They lied.

If this is true, Interstate 10 is now closed until further notice, and the value of suburban property in Slidell, La is worth about as much as a liquor store in Basra, minus inventory.

Slidell today only exists as a bedroom comminity, and it is totally innundated. Why rebuild, when you can't get to work from there anymore. A town of 25,000 will possibly shrink back to 2,500, or whatever it was before the Twin Spans and the easy commute, and take all of the business to server those 25,000 people with it.

I'm glad I'm at work so I can't watch CNN and MSNBC, if they still think "we dodged the bulleet". I'd explode

[liberalpragmatist]

32. I'm so sorry

Where in the area are you from? I hope you and all your loved ones - friends, family - I hope they're alright. Where are you right now and when do you think you might be able to get back?

I guess by "dodge a bullet" they mean that New Orleans avoided the absolute worst-case scenario. But that's small comfort for the hundreds of thousands who are affected, small comfort for the (probably) hundreds dead, and small comfort for New Orleans residents - this may not be absolute worst case scenario but it's terrible nonetheless and trying to brighten the mood by saying it "could have been worse" in this case is like pouring salt into an open wound, implying that people should be thankful.

[markus]

33. Well we dodged the bullet

in the sense the the level of destruction of property would be comprabale to detinatin a fission rather than a fusion weapon. Lucky N.O. I've lived away since '86, just another expat from the oil price crash diaspora.

My family is out, and I've found most of my friends, but cell service to 504 is very spotty and will likely remain so for a while. Everybody with a 504 cell phone is busy calling everyone else with a 504 cell phone to make sure they're ok.

I grew up in the area backflooing from the lakefront breech, was a reporter and editor for a small newspaper in St. Bernard, and used to live behind the Quarter in Treme. I know all of the heavily impacted areas well except for Bywater/Holy Cross (the original levee breech area).

Even 20 years and 1,000 miles removed, this is a tremendous psychic trauma.

This will be a measure of our nation. If we can't save New Orleans, then we might as well disband homeland security and stop pretending, because we won't be able to save anywhere else.

[MildyRules]

36. My Mom and Dad are out

One of my Uncles, one of my Aunts are as well. The rest (three more sets of Aunts and Uncles and assorted cousins)live near Paris Avenue...haven't heard from them. Getting very scared.

[liberalpragmatist]

37. Oh God

I really hope that they're okay. I can't imagine what you must be going through. Glad to hear that your parents are safe though.

[jim3775]

44. It did. If the dry air hadn't weakened the storm and pushed it N...

the tall buildings downtown might not be standing.

[Nothing Without Hope]

45. There was one honest "expert" in a CNN video early in the storm

when they were talking about the full force of the storm at Category 5 levels not hitting NO. The interviewer tried to get hiim to say something optimistic, and he looked at the camera with a dead-serious expression and said "maybe it will be like being hit by an 18-wheeler instead of a freight train." Not the absolute worst possible, but such a terrible devastation it was foolish to be so optimisitc, he was saying, but the cork-headed reporter didn't get it or stuck to the prescribed happy-happy script.