It's starting to look as though some of the worst predictions for New Orleans are coming to pass, even though they missed the worst of the winds. The north levee has been breached, and the city is filling with water from Ponchartrain. More could die if they can't evacuate the city from the rising waters. In addition, many homes in the city are on fire, with no way to put them out, other than perhaps helicopter or aircraft water drops. It reminds me of San Francisco in the 1906 quake, and it's going to get apocalyptic pretty quickly.

Now martial law has been declared. I don't think this was the nightmare scenario (direct hit), but it was pretty darn close.

I guess this illustrates how all things are relative. The hurricane itself may have been weaker than people thought, and weaker than past hurricanes that hit New Orleans, but New Orleans is (was? should we be talking about things in the past tense by now?) a lot less prepared for this storm than 1965's New Orleans was for Betsy.

Although the Martial Law claims make for good stories and movies, they're false claims.

I reserve any mention of the recovery costs, gas prices, etc, until it's all over. Anything else would be wild and irresponsible speculation.

I told my wife yesterday evening (while the news services were talking about 'now that this is over'), that it wasn't. A whole lot of water has been dumped into the areas surrounding New Orleans, and much of it is draining into the lake...

A whole lot of water has been dumped into the areas surrounding New Orleans, and much of it is draining into the lake...

Not to mention the rain being dumped into the Ohio River Valley as the storm makes its way north... River floods eventually work their way back down to... you guessed it, New Orleans.

i can,t believe the devasation that is going today and no one seems to be listen we need too change our ways and mother nature is telling us too wake up

i can,t believe the devasation that is going today and no one seems to be listen we need too change our ways and mother nature is telling us too wake up

Yes. Stop putting your valuable real estate in flood plains and other high risk regions.

At least in the case of New Orleans - It's valuable *because* it's in such a high risk location. It's a major port, a major refinery, etc.. etc.. Commerce and geography determine why land is valuable and where cities end up being built - not what is 'safe'.

Very little of our continental landmass is actually safe from any kind of disaster, whether seasonal or geologic. (Keep in mind that the largest earthquake in US history happened in Illinois, not California.)

Keep in mind that the largest earthquake in US history happened in Illinois...

If you're referring to the New Madrid quake, that was actually in Missouri and Arkansas, though it was certainly felt in Illinois (and reportedly rung church bells all the way to Boston).