Safe in Crowley, La.

[Cybrludite]

Hiding from Katrina with relatives off to the west of the storm. Hopefully I'll still have an apartment and a worklace after tomorrow.

[Sea Tyger]

Stay safe. Hopes and prayers.

[Hugh Casey]

Keep safe, CL... our thoughts are with you guys down there.

[RaconteurX]

Hang tight, Cybrludite. Thank goodness Katrina lost some steam and turned east before she made landfall. The winds along the western eyewall of a Catergory 4 are something like an order of magnitude less intense than those along the eastern eyewall of a Category 5. The potential for catastrophic damage is still there, but the likelihood and severity will both be much less than they could have been.

[Phoenix]

I just saw an image from New Orleans this morning, it's a lake now. Cybrludite, dude stay safe please. Same goes for anyone's friends or family near there.

[Cybrludite]

80% of the city is underwater, up to 20 feet deep in parts. The High-Rise (I-10 over the Industrial Canal) was smacked by a barge in one of its main supports, and they aren't sure if it's structually sound. Uncertain if the Causeway is sound. The Twinspans (I-10 over the Lake) are GONE. The Southern Yacht Club burned to the ground. 3 large ships aground. Oil tanker aground and leaking. Major levee breach at the 17th street canal. Both airports are underwater. All of Slidell and most of Metairie are under water. Many gas leaks, several of them are burning. We're pretty much FUBARed.

http://tinyurl.com/akt2t

[Karg]

Amazed at the amount of damage down there!. Stay safe!

[Tobian]

Phew just watched that, that's some nasty stuff that happened there. it's always tough not to go into false sentiment, but mywishes go to everyone, and my condolences. I wonder if any of the board members who rarelly frequent the boards are there right now.. if they were i severelly doubt we'd here from them from a while.. Internet is probably not a priority for government right now!

[Captain Blake]

Glad you made it.

and

Damn. That sucks. Stay safe and take care, everyone.

Alex

[Pericles]

I'm still numb from the stuff I've seen on TV. Having been to Africa, I know what you see on TV doesn't prepare you for how bad things are over there, so I'm certain the stuff on TV simply can't convey what it's like on the Gulf Coast either. Godspeed to all.

[black campbellq]

Power of nature. It's always awe-inspiring.

I'm more pissed about the enviro-people exploiting it for political capital.

[Tricky]

I watch the images, and it's almost unreal: We live in this mindset where WE are the masters of our domain, and only OUR daily concerns matter.

But then we are given a reminder that we are not the masters, but just another part of the whole, and that, in the blink of an eye, what was most important to you (the big car, that new tv, landing that big promotion) becomes an insignificant abstraction.

Just this morning, safe in my little world, I have see scenes of utter destruction, crushing saddness and the baser urges of survival. But also, I have seen bravery, compassion, and, despite the increasingly bad news, hope.

and black campbellq is right; everyone IS exploiting this for their own agenda. Rather than using our hands to 'point the finger' at each other, better to 'lend a hand' and help our brothers and sisters out.

[First of Two]

Power of nature. It's always awe-inspiring.

I'm more pissed about the enviro-people exploiting it for political capital.

Enviros... weren't they against building the big wall around New Orleans that might have prevented this devastation, because it might have disturbed the hairy-chested toad or something?

And the looters.

@#$%ing looters.

Well, okay, I can understand somebody going into an abandoned grocery store for food in this situation, and maybe a drugstore for medicine, because there's no where els eto get that, and it keeps you alive.

But these SOB's running around carting trash bins full of electronics and TVs and crap...

And any more comments I have on the issue might drag the thread into the part of the board I can't access. Bleah.

[Eric R.]

Yep there's a difference between the poor guy taking some bottled water from a wreak of a convinence store to taking a 27 in TV from a Walmart that was otherwise left untouched by the storm!

My cousin who use to live in Mandeville, which is directly across the lake from New Orleans has been in contact with people from Tameny Parish and who she use to live around and they told here that for the most part Mandeville did not flood but got hit hard by wind, in fact the house she and her family lived in had a tree fall ontop of it spliting it in two

All pryors and wishes to those directly involved in this disaster. Have strength, have courage and above all have each other.

[black campbellq]

Enviros... weren't they against building the big wall around New Orleans that might have prevented this devastation, because it might have disturbed the hairy-chested toad or something?

Yeah, but to be fair, the feds also cut a bunch of dough to a levee upgrade the Corps of Engineers were going to do. Guess the money was needed in that bloated piece of $#!% highway bill....$286 bil. So much for the Reagan & Gingrich-era cheap GOP.

The gas prices are already too bloody high, and that's where the enviros are really in the thick of it -- this disaster's really gonna hit me next week; helping a friend move from PA to NM. Gas is going to be ridiculous. If the feds would override these stupid multiple formulations of gas, so we can get economies of scale and shipment of gas from one place to another, that would help; the reason for this? Enviro-nuts. How about some more friggin' refineries? Oh...can't build those. Why? You guessed it. Here's one...take the bloody gas taxes off for a while. Oh, certainly can't do that! Why, that'll probably clear up the budget deficit, at these prices.

...And the looters...Well, okay, I can understand somebody going into an abandoned grocery store for food in this situation, and maybe a drugstore for medicine, because there's no where els eto get that, and it keeps you alive.

Looting for TVs and jeans, then proudly proclaiming "this is the People's store now"...I shoot 'em. But food that's going to spoil, medicines needed? I'll look the other way. The insurance claims should cover it. (Ain't that gonna be fun for the whole family..?)