August 29, 2005

[blogslut]

From the Times Picayune Blog:

Water tops 9th Ward levee system

On an early morning radio interview, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said that water was coming over the levee system in the Lower 9th Ward, especially in the Florida Avenue area. Nagin said that the Florida Avenue pumping station was not working, and there were unconfirmed reports of people standing on their roofs.

"There is a significant amount of water in the 9th Ward," Nagin said.

Nagin said that city officials had reports of at least five fires in the city and one collapsed building. The locations of the fires and the building were not specified.

Meanwhile, a 9th Ward resident reported that houses were taking in water on Reynes Street at the Claiborne Avenue bridge...

link: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_29.html#074715

[Swamp Rat]

1. So many of those houses are now gone.

All those people I knew are gone.

[blogslut]

2. So much lost

So very much...

[blogslut]

3. Entergy reports massive outages

Entergy Louisiana spokesman Chanel Lagard said Monday morning that the utility had suffered damage to transmission lines that connect communities to power plants, as well damage to distribution lines connecting substations to homes and businesses.

The result: Some 317,000 Entergy customers were without electricity as of 6 a.m., about half the company's customers in metropolitan New Orleans.

Utility workers were monitoring the grid electronically from the safety of the company's operations center, a windowless, bunker-like structure in Gretna.

Lagard said it will be hours before utility workers can venture outdoors to more accurately assess the damage to the system.

[Eagle_Eye]

4. I a waiting for little george to make another fly-by in Air Force One to survey the clean-up

He could have the pilot fly real low so he could wave out of the window to the people down on the street.

[blogslut]

5. From Talking Points Memo Katrina Timeline

Approx. 9:00 AM CDT: 6 to 8 feet of water covers New Orleans Lower 9th Ward.

Mid-Morning: President Bush makes emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana , Mississippi, and Alabama, freeing up federal funds.

Mid-Morning: En route from Texas to Arizona aboard Air Force One, President Bush calls Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss illegal immigration.

Mid-Morning: President Bush receives a briefing on Katrina from FEMA Director Michael Brown. The president receives a second briefing from Brown later in the day.

Mid-Morning: Members of the White House staff, including Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, participate in a Katrina video conference with federal and state officials from aboard Air Force One.

Mid-Morning: Katrina rips two holes in the Superdome's roof. Some 10,000 storm refugees are inside.

10:06 AM MST: President Bush participates in discussion of new Medicare prescription drug program at Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in El Mirage, Arizona. (see White House transcript).

link: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/katrina-timeline.php

[blogslut]

6. From the Picayune blog

Two fires reported in Tammany

Two fires were reported in Covington Monday morning.

A fire shortly after 7 a.m. destroyed the building housing Backyard Paradise in the 800 block of Rutland Street in Covington.

The building was burned to the ground. The cause is unknown, but officials suspect it is related to the storm.

St. Tammany Parish fire officials learned of a fully engulfed house in Covington early Monday, but crews did not respond. John O'Neil, superintendent of the parish's fire services, said he drove to the site in a car, but determined it wasn't safe for a fire engine to respond...

[seemslikeadream]

7. Oh think twice