Late Night Katrina Update

File Under: The Aftermath of Katrina

For the night owls, or the early birds who want to stay up-to-date on all the happenings of Katrina, here's a late-night cap on what's going on with the aftermath of Katrina:

- Attempts to seal the breach in the levees with sandbags have failed, and water continues to rise in New Orleans. In some places, water is up to 20 feet deep. Waters could rise by up to an additional 15 feet by the time it's all done. But officials hope to try again.
- Jeff Parish residents will probably be allowed back in town in a week, with ID only. They will only be allowed to get essentials and clothing, then will have to leave, and are asked not to come back for one month.
- Harrison County, Mississippi, home to Biloxi and Gulfport, fear that the death toll is at least one hundred, and officials fear that the final toll is going to be a lot higher. 30 of those victims were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water. 11 people died as a result of Katrina hitting Florida days before.
- Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour toured the region, and said that it looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped. Such an analogy is not that all far off.
- "We're not even dealing with dead bodies," said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He said that the search-and-rescue people are "just pushing them on the side", as they try to get to those stuck on roofs and in attice.
- Looting has broken out in some neighborhoods. Police are trying their best to stem the situations, but as you can imagine, it's very, very difficult for the police to be everywhere and doing everything during this time.
- In New Orleans, there is no safe drinking water at all.
- Water keeps rising inside of the Superdome, where an estimated 10,000 are taking refuge. There is no air conditioning inside, and early this evening there came word from the mayor that the people inside there and the other shelters would have to be evacuated.
- Hundreds of inmates were seen standing on a highway because the prison had been flooded.
- "What I saw today is equivalent to what I saw flying over the tsunami in Indonesia. There are places that are no longer there," said Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, after she flew over the damaged areas.
- The Coast Guard said that has rescued 1,200 people by boat and air.
- In Alabama, the cement foundations are all that stand of former homes. Damage in some areas may actually be worse than what they got from 2004's Hurricane Ivan.
- 3 floating casinos in Biloxi, Mississippi, were picked up by the storm surge and carried up to 200 yards inland.
- Katrina is now a tropical depression, with maximum sustained winds of around 35 mph.
- The 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery, based out of Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, has been deployed in Iraq for close to 17 months. Their tour ends September 7, but many in the unit don't know if they have places to come home to. (read)
- 3,000 people have been rescued to-date.
- FEMA is sending in 2,000 officials to help bring in food, aid, supplies, ice, tarps, and whatever else they can use to help in this situation.
- This is actually from this morning, I just forgot it: Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes are all now under martial law. Meaning? The military can assume control over civilian forces.
- Here's a New Orleans local news station's news blog.
- The Army Corp of Engineers took time for a quick print Q&A on unwatering New Orleans. (read)

The Human Side

Here at the Delta Institute, we try to bring you the latest news. And it's very difficult to go through wire story after wire story, trying to find a nugget of new information, because it is all these heart-wrenching survival stories. TDI would not be doing a good service if we just ignored all these stories. And there will be hundreds more stories coming out in the weeks and months to come. So, for additional reading (which you'll want to d0), here are a few sites with some incredible stories to tell:
- MSNBC has a 2-page article, with survivor stories. (read)
- A Louisiana site follows the exodus of 4 brothers as they rode the storm out. (read)
- "I Love You... We're Going to Die" - a family's frantic journey to contact each other during the wake of Katrina. (read)
- Survivors in Biloxi... (read)
- CNN has a bunch of stories from people in Biloxi, who swam for safety as flood waters continued to rise. (read)
- Click here to see a photo essay, showing many rooftop rescues.

Finally. here's a site with a list of many, many charities that are helping victims of Katrina out, and instructions on how you can help donate. (continue to list)

I haven't picked out a charity yet (I'll need to do my homework first!), but I plan on donating. With a storm of this magnitude, with this perhaps being one of the biggest US relief efforts on record, I want to be able to help out in any way I can. And really, the only way I can help up here in Grand Rapids, MI, is to donate money.

Unless I can squeeze in a morning update at some point, there won't be any updates until Wednesday night, after 9. Stay tuned to your news outlets of preference for all the latest on Katrina's aftermath, and the danger that New Orleans is in right now, as flood waters continue to rise, and the risk of the entire city being submerged becomes a very real possibility.