It’s true that timing is everything. Though in the case of hurricane Katrina, the timing was everything bad. In fact, for the state of Mississippi and the city of Biloxi, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Though the media has chosen to fixate on the city of New Orleans, the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina actually covers a land mass nearly equal in size to Great Britain. Over 90,000 square miles. Biloxi, Mississippi is part of that mass of destruction.

Located on the gulf shore, Biloxi is home to over 50,000 people. The 2000 U.S. Census estimated there were just under 12,000 residential homes in Biloxi at that time. If reports of over 5,000 residential homes being destroyed by Katrina are accurate, it means nearly half of the city’s homes are in ruins. Now that Katrina has left her mark, some aspects of the city’s future are uncertain.

Biloxi, along with Venice, LA, is renown for its King Mackerel and Red Drum fishing. The Southern Kingfishing Association and the FLW Kingfish Tour regularly hold their championship tournaments in the now devastated city of Biloxi. Though they’d like to believe that Biloxi can recover in time to hold this year’s events (which are scheduled for later this year), both organizations are looking for alternate locations.

In addition to professional fishing tours and tournaments, commercial fishing has been a way of life for hundreds of Biloxi’s residents. Hurricane Katrina hit right at the peak of shrimping season, and the start of oyster season. What had been a $700 million/year Gulf coast industry is now all but gone. Initial estimates are that 2/3 of the previously harvestable oyster beds have been decimated. The undersea economy has been crippled, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has announced a “fishery failure” in the Gulf. The announcement was made through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which provides federal funding for relief and research after natural disasters, and through the Inter-jurisdictional Act, which makes funding available directly to affected fishermen.

There are currently over 300 federally licensed fishing vessels in the state of Mississippi.

NOAA has plans to conduct extensive studies of the water and marine life, beginning this week. It’s research vessel, the Nancy Foster, is already in the Gulf, conducting surveying cruises. Biologist aboard the vessel will take water samples, look at sediments in the Mississippi River, and test fish and shrimp for toxins and pathogens.

In addition, the EPA’s environmental aircraft (ASPECT) is being used to survey spills, and other damage, from the air.

Typically, during a hurricane, fish and shell fish are not only killed, but also washed out to sea. In time, the ones that are washed out usually return. But EPA and NOAA officials are concerned that contaminants in the Gulf water will contaminate returning sea life as well, making it unedible and therefore unmarketable. As the floodwaters have receded in Biloxi, they’ve carried industrial chemicals, petroleum, human and animal bodies, and dozens of cubic feet of solid waste. The FDA has stated that “anything that was potentially exposed to flood waters would be unfit for the human food supply and would have to be destroyed.”

Officials are also worried about the condition of the overall marine eco-sytem. Initial surveys of the Gulf have turned up everything from sunken boats to cars and roofs. Many of the boats and cars are leaking oil and fuel. There is also concern about radiological contaminants from universities and hospitals, and chemical spills from coastal businesses.

Not only has the water been contaminated, but the Gulf is also largely non-navigable. The coast of Biloxi was lined with floating casinos, which have been destroyed. The debris from those, and countless other structures, is now bogging down coastal waters. So even if the fishing was still good, the boats couldn’t maneuver well enough to do anything about it.

In addition to the hard hit Gulf waters, the EPA estimates the following affects in Mississippi as well:

• Over 500 drinking water systems affected
• Over 450 water systems have “boil water” notices
• 45 waste water treatment facilities affected

All things that add up to unsanitary, unsafe conditions. At one point, a Biloxi shelter was evacuated for fear of a dysentery outbreak.

Because NOAA is just beginning it’s research, the environmental affects of Hurricane Katrina won’t be fully known for some time. Though specifics are not yet known, the consensus seems to be that some of the damage is permanent. While water systems and treatment plants are repaired, and businesses rebuilt, the local fishing industry may never be what it was prior to Hurricane Katrina. And marine life and eco-systems may never fully recover.

Sources:

• Sun Herald
• http://www.biloxi.ms.us/
• http://www.usgs.gov/katrina/
• http://www.epa.gov/katrina/
• http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2506.htm

In June of 2004, Geologists at LSU released a study which summarized the last 100 years of hurricane landfall and the associated storm frequencies on the Atlantic Oceans US Coastline. Geologists found that the top three likely places for a hurricane to make landfall include southern Florida, the North Gulf Coast between East Texas and the Florida Panhandle and surprisingly, the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The study showed that the storm frequency in South Florida is lessening, while in North Carolina, specifically at the most easterly stretch of the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras, the number of storms and subsequent hurricanes that make land fall is increasing.

The 90 mile stretch of barrier islands that compose the Outer Banks, stretching from the Virginia Border and ending at Cape Hatteras, has seen more than its share of hurricanes. The islands are not anchored to any land mass or coral, they are merely sand bars peeking through the ocean. As “free floating” islands, with an irregular coast line and a severe continental slope, the Outer Banks have all of the geographical properties that attract a Hurricane. At Cape Hatteras, the furthest easterly point, the Banks extend 13 miles into the Atlantic Ocean from the nearest land mass and are a mere 40 miles from the Gulf Coast Current – the “highway” used by most hurricanes.

With Hazel, in 1959 (a category 4), in 1996 Fran (category 3) and in 1999 Floyd (category 2), the frequency, the severity and the further odds of tropical storms hitting North Carolina continues to keep meteorologists on the look out, according to the State Climate Office. The SCO, like the geologists at LSU, used history as a precursor for determining the storm future of the Outer Banks.

“North Carolina has a long and notorious history of destruction by hurricanes. Ever since the first expeditions to Roanoke Island in 1586, hurricanes are recorded to have caused tremendous damage to the state. Reliable classification of the intensity of tropical cyclones began in 1886. Since that time, there have been 951 tropical cyclones that have been recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 166 or 17.5% of those tropical cyclones passed within 300 miles of North Carolina

The coast of North Carolina can expect to receive a tropical storm or a hurricane once every four years, while a tropical cyclone affects the state every 1.3 years.” SCO

What Does the Future Hold?

With historical information in hand, the SCO focused its studies on the increased storm activity during the last thirty years. Not only has the frequency of tropical storms increased along the North Carolina Coast, but also the intensity (measured by the amount of damage) has increased. Their hypothesis is that future storms will be far greater in quantity, and far more intense. Their objectives included studying the effects of El Nino and La Nina on the sea surface temperature (SST). Noted by the SCO was the logical increase of the number of tropical storms and subsequent Hurricanes during El Nino. A Hurricane derives its power from the heat and condensation of the water over which it travels; a warmer water temperature like that experienced during El Nino “fuels” a tropical storm and increases the probable intensity of a powerful hurricane, like Katrina.

What would happen to the Outer Banks after a Category Five Hurricane?

North Carolina has never seen the likes of a category five Hurricane with sustained winds of greater than 155 mph and sea surges of 15-18’ feet. A hurricane of this magnitude along with associated sea surges is likely to eradicate all or portions of the islands. Many times during the past century, the islands have been inundated, leaving only traces of sand and protective dunes, and this during category two hurricanes.

The Outer Banks are less than ½ mile wide in many spots, and a 15-18’ storm surge, has the potential to completely flood the barrier islands, causing them to disappear from the coastline. The coastline is so fragile, and the continental slope is so severe that scientists seek grants from agencies such as Sea Grant to fund an ongoing study to track the shape of the coast and the erosion every five years. The studies show the current position of the islands via satellite photos and compare them for loss of coast line to the previous picture.

Reviewing these maps shows that the coast line is receding from .5 to 1.5’ each year and that the islands are migrating to the south. Rising sea-levels and prevailing northeast winds, cause the Outer Banks to move towards land. During a hurricane, the winds wash away homes, and form new inlets while closing others and the entire coast line can change in a matter of hours as the sand is swept further out to sea. One category five hurricane could remove the all of the protective dunes, man made improvements and cause ocean water to enter the estuaries destroying much of the islands beauty and eco-system, leaving behind sand bars visible only during low tide.

Where would the people go?

There are about 49,000 year round inhabitants of the Outer Banks. This number swells to 250,000 during the summer and beginning of hurricane season. The evacuations routes are simple – one way onto the islands, and one way off. Visitors are asked to familiarize themselves with the well marked routes when entering the Outer Banks. The state of North Carolina has a strict evacuation policy and requires that those who stay behind and refuse evacuation sign a notification form listing next of kin. This is enforced by public officials going door to door during an evacuation procedure.

In the case of category two hurricanes, millions of dollars of damage is incurred, in the case of a category five hurricane, North Carolina can expect nothing less than a complete rebuilding of the Outer Banks.

Eden Island is practically, though not technically, a barrier island. It sounds like a safe place to be, but a barrier is the first thing an unstoppable force goes through.

If you live near one of the 280 barrier islands that protect Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas from the rising seas, you can expect rocks, sand, and storms. During low tides, they can be a hazard to navigation for fishermen and can quickly alter your vessel’s hull, in the bad way. Big storms can wipe out whole ways of life. The marina in the above image has been reorganized by Hurricane Katrina.

Powerful storms are a hazard in many low-lying coastal regions in the world. People usually cooperate to plan for huge storms, like Hurricane Betsy, the previous most-powerful-storm to hit the Gulf Coast. Through planning, cooperation, and communication, large numbers of fatalities can be avoided when the next 40-year storm hits.

“New Orleans’ worst hurricane disaster happened 40 years ago, when Hurricane Betsy blasted the Gulf Coast. Flood waters approached 20 feet in some areas, fishing villages were flattened, and the storm surge left almost half of New Orleans under water and 60,000 residents homeless. Seventy-four people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.”
Deseret News

People like to quantify or measure things with numbers because it provides a convenient way of comparing two different things. In the first recorded civic societies, people used numeric icons made of clay to keep track of the different promises they’d made to one another. Think about how difficult it would be for ebay if you could only swap your old stuff for other people’s old stuff.

The result of this is the drive to measure, to record, and to summarize, in order to be able to understand the cost of things. If you can’t understand the true cost of something, then you can’t tell if it is a fair exchange for your resources.

“Estimates put the cost of Katrina to taxpayers at around $100 billion and possibly more. At this point, it is estimated that the Katrina operation on a daily basis is costing more than a day at war in Iraq. “A disaster of this magnitude can be hard to comprehend,” U.S. Representative Chris Shays said in a speech to the House of Representatives. “Convinced of our mastery of the physical world, we too often underestimate nature’s horrible, irresistible power.”
Patricia Mc Cormack, Greenwich Citizen

“New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has said that the number of dead, when it comes, will shock America and the world. When asked to estimate the death toll the other day, President George W. Bush who was vacationing at his ranch in Texas when the hurricane struck and who delayed visiting the site, said: “It’s lots.”
Patricia Mc Cormack, Greenwich Citizen

Just 10 days after Hurricane Katrina lashed South Mississippi, crumbling thousands of homes and lives, the airport opened for commercial flights Thursday.

“You can now access the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We are back,” airport assistant director Ken Spirito said with pride.

Meera Pal, SUN HERALD

Click these images to zoom in and download the high resolution versions.

Nothing illustrates the power of Hurricane Katrina better than a giant [blue] concrete and steel casino barge marooned on the inland side of a wide beachfront road, hundreds of metres from where it used to be moored.

The barge, part of the Grand Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi, was tossed ashore by Katrina’s 25ft storm surge as if it was no heavier than a bath toy. Wrecked slot machines and arcade games are piled up outside the vessel.

Financial Times Business News

Mike Van Grinsven worked as a bartender at the Beau Rivage before the storm. His house in East Biloxi was taken by the surge that put water in two floors of his place of employment.

“There were goats hanging in the trees near my house,” he said. Van Grinsven lamented that he lost a new $3,500 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty and all his other guitars to Katrina.

Michael Newsom, SUN HERALD

“I’ve heard, although I need to explore it further, there is a need for addressing some of the mental health individuals that have affected lots of individuals,” Cheney said. “I’m not an expert in that area by any means, but it’s an issue that I will look at that needs to be addressed. Obviously, it’s a traumatic experience.”
…
When asked what it was like meeting the Vice President, Meier responded “I don’t remember what he said. I haven’t slept much since the hurricane hit.”

Tom Wilemon, SUN HERALD

“Right now we’re just assessing damage to our projects and finding what needs to be built back while the roads are cleared, while the building companies — the Bailey’s Lumber and the Home Depots — get back.”

Story By Pete Tattersall, SUN HERALD

Most of the sludge from the Aug. 29 hurricane had dried to dust by the time Cheney arrived in Gulfport, but he saw piles of debris, fallen tree limbs and concrete slabs where nice homes and immaculate lawns once stood.

By Natalie Pompilio, Susannah A. Nesmith and Martin Merzer Knight Rider Newspapers

“The whole area just looks like it was taken and put in a washing machine,” said Steve Swartz of Springville, an Alabama Power Co. employee helping to dry out the Gulfport Mississippi Power office. “I came here Monday, and it does look 10 times better than what it did then.

Laura McAlister, Selma Times Journal

Many more comparison satellite pictures showing conditions in the Big Easy before and after Hurricane Katrina are available at GlobalSecurity.org.

But what about the rest of the coastline?

This is the town of Biloxi, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Read on to see before the hurricane struck.

This is the town of Biloxi, Mississippi before Hurricane Katrina demolished it.

Congresswoman Mary Landrieu personally experienced a very political response to the crisis.

Louisiana’s US Senator Mary Landrieu:

“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government.” source

This is cut of the exact same cloth as the response to 911: a failure to be candid with the world about the situation and instead trying to use it for petty advantage.

You have to go to the foreign press to read that New Orleans will be shuttered for at least 9 months, before ANY reconstruction can BEGIN. And more likely to be 2 years. This from FEMA’s Director of Recovery.

FEMA is the agency of the U.S. federal government that used to be responsible for disaster preparedness and disaster recovery. It was an agency that was created by Jimmy Carter’s administration and elevated to a cabinet level position by President Clinton.

Following the reorganization under Bush/Cheney that created the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s job was changed to be disaster recovery only. In other words, their mandate was cut in half. The seat was removed from the president’s cabinet as disaster preparedness took a backseat to foreign warfighting.

Hurricane Katrina [Newborn], refugees from the renegade bus, originally uploaded by slight clutter.

How does one recover from a disaster if not by preparing for it in advance?

When the city’s high-powered pumps became innundated because of Katrina’s extensive and sustained winds of over 150 mph that battered the city on Monday, the end result was catastrophic in nature. The real flooding of New Orleans had begun.

This precise scenario was predicted in an article published in Scientific American in October 2001, entitled Drowning New Orleans.

The boxes are stacked eight feet high and line the walls of the large, windowless room. Inside them are new body bags, 10,000 in all. If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water. “As the water recedes,” says Walter Maestri, a local emergency management director, “we expect to find a lot of dead bodies.”       read the rest

As Katrina’s fury passed, chaos began to reign freely throughout New Orleans. Looting, carjacking, gunfire, and lawlessness were becoming prevalent.

The firearms department of a Wal-Mart superstore in New Orleans was one of the first places to be raided by strategic thinkers. Canal Street’s tourist district did not escape the looting crowd either as clothing and jewelry stores were ransacked for anything of value. Even the Children’s Hospital became inundated by marauding gunmen whose apparent goal was to take anything and everything they could take from it.

Biloxi and Gulfport, two of the hardest hit towns in Mississippi, also did not escape the ransacking and violence associated with the looting crowd as demolished casinos were invaded with hopes of finding some cash inside the slot machines. Stores and homes were broken into in search of anything of use, substance, or importance.

Like food, water, flashlights, anything.

Throughout the demolished coastal cities, the police and the National Guard made small attempts to intercede in the violence and looting. This, however, prompted several gunfire exchanges, one resulting in the shooting of a policeman. At this point, all uniformed officers and troops were still under direct instructions to keep survivor rescue and care as their main focus. It was not yet a war zone.

Therefore, in a lot of cases of rampant looting and further destruction, the police and Guardsmen had to choose what they would and would not react to – the looters or the helpless, dehydrated, and desperate hurricane survivors.

For the city of New Orleans, in order to put a stop to the ever-rising floodwater, the key task for city officials and members of the Army Corps of Engineers has been to repair the broken levee walls which have been allowing the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, to the north of New Orleans, as well as another breach located along the 17th Street Canal, at the eastern end of the city, to gush out in record proportion. Concrete barriers and sand bags have been dropped at strategic places, but there is still so much more that has to be done, and done quickly.

As many already know, New Orleans is approximately 12 feet below sea level which obviously put The Big Easy at a great and constant risk of Gulf of Mexico flooding. But, what you might not realize is that the city of New Orleans is also at least 20 feet below the surface of Lake Pontchartrain. The incredible risk that this causes is that, if the levee is ever breached or seriously fractured, the basin (New Orleans) will actually fill up like a giant soup bowl.

The water will pour from the lake and fill the basin between it and the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans becomes the New Atlantis.

By Wednesday, August 31st, flood levels in the lowest areas of New Orleans had already hit 20 feet. Additionally when the tide began to rise, reports of swamp critters, such as alligators and venomous cottonmouth snakes, as well as sharks that came in with the rising tide began to surface. And, as the tide continued to rise, areas that were previously spared much of the tidal devastation, especially the historic French Quarter, were starting to see escalating water levels. It seemed as though the water just would not stop.

New Orleans is a wild land once again.

Approximately one million people are believed to have escaped the New Orleans area shortly before Katrina made landfall. However, it is also estimated that as many as 200,000 did not. The people who left were the people who had their health, money, or a car. They left.

Thus the ongoing rescue effort focuses on saving the lives of the very people who should have been evacuated from their respective parishes first: the old, the sick, and the poor.

A massive rescue and recovery maneuver has been coordinated with about 30,000 National Guard members, with support from every possible local, state, and federal organization. The federal government has sent five ships with helicopters, hovercrafts, eight maritime rescue teams, as well as much needed relief supplies including MRE’s (military-issued “meals ready to eat,” necessary medical supplies including MRE’s, clean drinking water, and well the list just goes on and on. Many civilian agencies, such as the American Red Cross, are in the process of preparing to care for the massive influx of displaced refugees. The number of surviving refugees is estimated to be well over one million, although it could end up being closer to double that amount. Additionally, the Department of Transportation has supplied 400 water trucks, generators, tarpaulins, mobile homes, and forklift trucks.

Help is on the way, but due to the mounting health threats and escalating looting, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, finally had to issue a total evacuation of the city Wednesday, August 31st, emphasizing that it might be weeks or even months before New Orleans will be safe for human life again. Until then the area will be effectively off-limits, and under martial law. “Shoot to kill,” said the governor of Louisiana. “Zero tolerance for looters,” said President George W. Bush.

Nagin emphasized that he believed that the looting began with people seeking food and water.

So, the evacuation of the remaining desperate residents began as buses were brought in and the migration from the Superdome, the make-shift refuge for what continues to grow to well over 60,000 frantic souls, got underway. This should be a good sign as it means that Katrina’s survivors will soon be getting the food, water, and other help they need as they are bused to another giant sports stadium in Houston, Texas – the Astrodome.

Hurricane Katrina [Awaiting our Guests], uploaded by slight clutter

However the focus on the beloved city of NO must not take effort away from the huge area of coastal Lousiana and Mississippi, where thousands are stranded without food, clean water, electricity, or medical attention.

As Wednesday progressed, the looting and violence seemed to progress too. In the evening, a medical evacuation helicopter attempted to set down at a hospital in Kenner, a nearby town, the pilot stated that close to 100 people were on and around the landing pad. Some had guns and the pilot was too afraid to land. The frequency of gunfire aimed at the Chinook helicopters, which are there to help, has apparently increased as the days have worn on. Also on Wednesday, a National Guard troop was shot while serving in the Superdome arena, which has become the main collection site for refugees and whose conditions are steadily declining. As many as 60,000 people sought refuge at the Superdome during and in the wake of the ferocious hurricane.

The scene along Mississippi’s coastline was not much different than New Orleans. Many of smaller settlements are just simply gone – nothing left to prove these were once thriving coastal areas. The high-water marks left by Hurricane Katrina are much higher than those marks left by the devastating Hurricane Camille of 1969. Camille, up until a few days ago, was considered the region’s most horrific natural disaster. There are areas which used to be home to block after block of homes and buildings; however, now there are 10 to 20 block patches where there is nothing left.

Haley Barbour, Mississippi’s governor, reported on Tuesday that about 90 percent of all structures in certain areas are gone. They have just vanished as if they never existed.

The evacuation of the Superdome, however, was temporarily and unexpectedly interrupted Thursday, September 1st, after a gun was reportedly fired at a U.S. Chinook helicopter. Although no injuries were reported, evacuation operations were suspended until those in charge could regain control of the Superdome. The National Guard was able to continue loading and busing hurricane refugees to Houston’s Astrodome.

It is also important to note that the Superdome is not the only place in the New Orleans area that is experiencing such strife, violence, and need for rescue. The Convention Center in New Orleans and area hospitals where doctors and nurses are working with flashlights trying to keep patients alive are just a couple of places that need evacuating. In fact, at the Convention Center alone, there was but one nurse to be found among the greater than 15,000 person refugee population.

The sick are in need of evacuation before the healthy, and there are at least seven area hospitals that must be evacuated due to the extensive flooding and power outages. This, although understandable and necessary, slows down the migration process and seems to be hampering other relief efforts.

Of course, not all of New Orleans’ sick people were in hospitals during Hurricane Katrina. Many people who have serious health problems, such as heart conditions, diabetes, need daily monitoring and/or medications, are now without their necessary medication and without access to a physician. In the Superdome alone, medical professionals and volunteers are attempting to treat a wide range of health problems, including kidney failure, heat stroke, diabetic shock, and dehydration.

In the very near future, the public health workers along the ravaged southern coastline will also have to contend with common difficulties that occur after all hurricanes. Some of these problems include car accidents resulting from no power for traffic lights, injuries resulting from falls from roofs, trees, railings, and carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of running gas-powered generators indoors.

In the meantime, the first herd of buses caring the initial wave of Superdome refugees arrived early Thursday at Houston’s giant Astrodome. Here these tired, hungry, and thirsty refugees will be sheltered, be given a cot to rest upon (until they run out), and be supplied with “comfort kits” which contain various toiletries and a meal.

The process of evacuating and caring for the displaced hurricane survivors has begun; however, it has just begun and will take a lot of time and extra amounts of patience from everybody involved. It will take even longer for the floodwaters to recede and power supplies to be restored. And, even during this time, the floodwaters will quickly be turning into an extremely toxic soup of consistently churning and mixing ocean water, human and animal fecal matter, industrial chemicals and petrol, along with decomposing bodies and a whole host of potentially deadly bacteria.

This infectious saltwater cocktail of contaminated water, a general lack of cleanliness, and the still hot southern temperatures are capable of prompting the spread of a several dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. These infectious waters could also be a carrier of epidemic-causing illnesses such as typhoid fever, cholera, and leptospirosis. While these diseases are quite possible under the conditions wrought by Hurricane Katrina, it is believed that a more serious risk will quickly become mosquito-driven ailments such as West Nile virus, malaria, and dengue fever.

In an area like New Orleans, where swamp land is prevalent, mosquito-born diseases could materialize fairly easily; and, of course, the very young, elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune system will be at a significantly elevated risk of getting very ill if any of these illnesses do materialize.

The lasting consequences of Katrina’s destruction will likely be felt across the United States, since The Gulf of Mexico represents one quarter of the total oil output in the USA.

Katrina’s massive sustained winds, storm surge, and sheets of pounding rain resulted in the shutting down of an estimated 95 percent of the crude production and 88 percent of the natural gas output in the area. And, the result of this higher prices for everything as convenient energy becomes more dear.

It has been projected that the price may reach as high as $4 or more a gallon before it starts to go back down again. If it ever does.

As the days turn into weeks and the weeks eventually turn into months, the rebuilding and restructuring of New Orleans will begin. It is, however, going to be a very long time, a staggeringly long time, before anyone who has been severely affected by Hurricane Katrina to feel normal again. Safe again. To be able to return to New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport, or any other community hit hard by Katrina’s ferocity and be able to call these once lively, energetic places home.

So, as I’ve been watching the coverage from the safety of my couch, I can’t help but wonder what these people are really feeling. They have no way to hear the news.

As another day closes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I am moved by the very thought of all of those helpless people sitting in the dark waiting for someone, something, anything. And, although help is truly on its way, I wish they knew that it was coming.

Major connection bridges between NO and the rest of the world are unpassable with two major ones out of service for at least a month. All houses in NO and Slidale, Louisiana, are flooded. Bay St Louis has not been mentioned in the news so we are at a loss as to what the situation really is. Rumor has it that the bridge between Bay St Louis and Pass Christian was destroyed which would cut the tiny island off from the rest of Southerm Mississippi. Bad News if true.

Levee broken, the Big Easy is flooded by the waters of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River floods the city of New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It happens during large storms from time to time, since the city is below sea level. This particular storm isn’t the result of global warming caused by human activity, but globally, storms are getting worse.

This satellite image from the Nasa Earth Observatory taken yesterday shows much of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana submerged.

As preparation for the natural onslaught, the Waterford nuclear power plant was shut down, as were the refineries and gas pipelines. Winds of more than 150 miles per hour were reported when the storm hit the coastline.

Hurricane Katrina enters history as almost the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the United States. This was the first time a mandatory evacuation was ever ordered for New Orleans in the city’s history, and a million people could be homeless for several weeks.

This terrifying warning message is what NOAA sent out the night before Katrina made landfall. Sorry about the all caps — not shouting — that’s the way it came:

AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. MANY WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW POSSIBLY TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. MANY WINDOWS WILL BLOW
OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES MAY LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MANY POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED.

Atlantic hurricanes have been increasing in intensity lately as a result of a natural 20-30 year cycle, and not as the sole result of human activity. So the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina has little to do with global warming. Instead it is the predicted upswing in the Atlantic hurricane cycle.

However, only about 11% of hurricanes worldwide happen in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s important to look at the global record when you are looking for a signal of global warming in the noise of climate measurements. One recent study shows that when you look at storms worldwide, they are getting stronger.

According to a report by leading hurricane researcher Kerry Emanuel, published this month in Nature, the fact that around 90 large storms happen worldwide every year hasn’t changed. Many decades ago scientists had theorized that the frequency of storms would increase as the climate changes. Instead, something else is happening worldwide when you measure the total lifetimes of hurricanes worldwide.

However, the hurricanes are getting worse, in that they are lasting longer — they are maintaining a higher intensity level over time. “We now have clear evidence that global warming is having an effect on hurricane activity,” he stated in an interview yesterday with Amy Goodman.