Basically, here’s what I can gather…

Most everything from City Park Avenue up to Robert E. Lee (Lakeview) is underwater, due to a breach in the levee. Rescue efforts are being hampered by the lack of radio communication. Many had to flee to rooftops or patches of high ground, though some were able to snag rides on passing boats.

Uptown, water damage is much less. I’m reading/hearing Uptown suffered mainly from downed trees and other wind-related damage. HIgh water in the 9th Ward similar to Lakeview. I have seen little or nothing about the Mid-City area.

Structural damage to nearly every bridge over the lake, particularly the I-10 bridge to/from Slidell. That’s still being assessed, and there’s no word yet on when or how evacuated residents might get back in, depending on where they’re coming from. I”ll get more detail on that later today.

Still, all in all, we’re feeling pretty lucky. We’re packing one bag with a large sense of humor and another with an extra supply of patience, since recovery is going to take a while. But we’[ve got some fine examples in watching all that happened in Florida last year, after folks there faced FOUR hurricanes in one season. They’ve pushed through it and we will too.

“French Quarter Battered but Unbowed”

“In the courtyard behind the 278-year-old Cathedral St. Louis, two massive oaks toppled, their roots pulling up a 30-foot section of iron fence. Carrie Hanselman marveled at how the branches straddled a marble statue of Jesus Christ but, miraculously, knocked off only the thumb and forefinger on its outstretched left hand.”

Will that creepy shadow on the cathedral ever be the same?

We’re getting word from a couple different sources that a brick building collapsed near Laurel and Washington, which is two blocks from our house.
While this isn’t encouraging, we’re buoyed by hearing that flooding isn’t as bad as it could have been Uptown. It seems the problems Uptown are more from the wind, though there’s still no way to call in and get this confirmed firsthand.

You gotta figure it’ll be at least Wednesday before they allow residents to begin returning. While conditions are tough enough in Orleans Parish, those returning from the north and east will have to pass through some areas (Slidell, etc) that retained a lot harder hit than New Orleans itself.

I’m not sure if it’s the not knowing or if it’s the knowing that’s worse.

The Superdome area of downtown does not look to me to be flooded very badly…water is not even up to pickup truck doors. It appears to be maybe a couple of feet high on the yellow concrete pilings at the garage entrances to the Superdome itself. Still lots of broken office windows.

Looks like St. Bernard and Chalmette are really slammed. Chalmette High School has people on the second floor, the government building on Judge Perez has 8-10 feet of water.

Kenner officials are saying that Williams is flooded north of I-10 but that the lake didn’t top the levee there.

I have a second-hand report that an apartment building on Manhattan has collapsed and that the Shell station at Manhattan and the West Bank Expressway was leveled. I hope that, if accurate, it’s an indication that the West Bank isn’t seriously flooded.

Conditions might be good enough before sundown for some good inspections of damage.

The imagey doesn’t look so bad, yet…the I-10 trestle as the split is, of course, completely flooded, and stupid people have obligingly driven straight into the approx. 16ft. of water for our amusement. But it’s hard to tell from that how bad other areas of the city might be. I haven’t seen imagery from St. Bernard or Kenner, yet, although the Superdome looked like it was scalped.

City Hall confirmed a levee breach along the 17th Street Canal at Belaire Drive in Lakeview.

LOOTING! People have been captured by a WDSU news crew removing items from a warehouse, loading things like beer and cleaning supplies into shopping carts and onto hand-held carts. No info on the location of that warehouse. Ridiculous.

Looks like Covington had some serious flooding.

There’s just not enough people on the ground able to get many images from the area. Everything I’m seeing is from downtown or high locations in Mid City with limited sight lines. With winds still keeping rescue and recovery workers off the street for now, it might be tomorrow before a comprehensive picture emerges.

Another report from the 9th Ward confirms people trapped in their attics.

Mayor Nagin’s press conference:

• Some 200 people are trapped on their roofs.
• There are several bodies floating in Bywater.
• Up to 20 buildings have collapsed throughout the city.
• Residents might not be allowed back in for up to 48 hours.

Update:

• Roof blown off Gretna City Hall
• An intrepid webmaster in St. Bernard has updated the parish’s website. Nice, especially if he’s local. (I’m in North Mississippi at the moment).

I’m annoyed that there’s so much Mobile coverage. The reason is pretty simple to figure out: things are so bad in Southwest Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana that they don’t have — and can’t get — much to work with. But while there are people on their roofs in Chalmette and the Ninth Ward, we’re hearing about flooding “halfway up the parking meters” in Mobile. At least tell people that you can’t get anything from New Orleans.

Update II

• More looting reported at Coleman’s (between Earhart and I-10) by Times-Picayune reporters. Dozens of people and reportedly the crowd is growing, hauling off clothes and shoes and, I suppose, whatever else they can carry. These are the people that should be trapped on their damn roofs.
• Politicians are swooping in for attention, while local politicians are too busy. President BUsh and Vitter both made pretty useless and self-serving statements
• Mary Landrieu took a nice shot at President Bush, though indirectly, taking the opportunity to point out the importance of the Port of New Orleans to the rest of the country and the role wetlands have in protecting the port from severe weather like this, wetlands Bush has no interest in spending any money to protect.

Update III (via Eric)

• “While Pres Bush and Sen Vitter focus on providing emergency aid to hundreds of thousands of Lousiana residents, Democrats Mary Landrieu and Joe B. politicize the tragedy to take cheap shots at them.”

Here we are 200 miles away from all this weather-created mayhem and just proud to be this far away, at least in one sense.

But it’s frustrating to have to sit here and watch all this on TV or hear it on the radio and not be able to turn the camera one way or the other to get a better sense of what’s going on. Reporters (and I was one for over 30 years) have a tough job — trying to tell what’s going on while also dealing with the weather itself, demands of higher-ups for more drama, etc etc. As frustrating as it is, I’d rather be here than in the middle of it all.

There’s no way to get a cell phone call into anyone who can give an accurate picture of what’s going on closer to our house (in the Irish Channel) or into what’s going on in Mid-City. We’re being told it will be at least another couple of days before we can even think about going back home, and this is understandable given the situation. For now, we have to be content with a larger view, and it’s not good. But, on the other hand, not as bad as it could have been for the city itself. I have no love lost for the Corps of Engineers, but it appears most of the levee system has held. Good job y’all — and thanks..

Those poor, poor folks in Biloxi, Waveland, Slidell and Gulfport. And points north.

For now, nothing we can do but feel helpless. Not for ourselves, but because we’re not there to be able to tell others what’s going on firsthand. We’ve talked to neighbors who have also left town and they’re also clueless about details. I can’t wait for us all to be back on the same street and working together. We were becoming a pretty tight group before this — and I imagine it’ll be even tighter once the recovery begins.

St. Bernard

• Some houses in Chalmette have water past the second floor. The Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries ahs approx. 60 boats ready to go out to rescue people from rooftops where necessary in St. Bernard Parish (and 200 throught SE Louisiana. Some people were reportedly trapped in attics. You’d think everyone would know by now, BRING AN AX TO THE ATTIC. I don’t care if you’re in Nebraska. If you go into the attic, you bring a damn ax.
• Water as high as 10 feet on north side of Judge Perez Drive.
• Chalmette High damage confirmed, people in hallways away from broken windows.
• Roof of Civic Auditorium was blown off.
• An actual levee breach IS being reported, now. Flooding that was thought to be only from water going over the tops of levees in St. Bernard and Lower 9th Ward is now being blamed on an actual breach along the Industrial Canal (different agencies and news teams are still receiving conflicting reports – in most cases we have government agencies reporting what they’ve been told has happened, not what they have actually seen and documented)

Jefferson Parish

• Diesel fuel leak in Gretna
• “Boil Water” alert in Jefferson Parish
• Dept. of Irony officials report that officials at the Jefferson Parish Water Dept. report no water pressure
• Phone systems throughout the metro area have largely failed. Cell may be the best current option, since many towers have on-site-backup power available. But those back-ups are not long-term.

Orleans Parish

• Department of Irony officials report that the Entergy Command Center (downtown in the Hyatt) is without power! Heh. Must be because they had to take out that cable so that larger cruise ships could dock in the Port Authority Cruise Terminal.
• Floodwaters seem to not be a big issue in Riverbend, but then, if I remember correctly, that area was pegged as one of the places projected to be under the least water in a report from the Corps of Engineers sometime in the late 90s.
• Officials are asking people NOT to try to return to the New Orleans area tonight. They claim that rescue and recovery operations will only be hindered and take longer.

Evacuees should wait until they are told it’s ok to return. At this point, despite all these reports, there is no comprehensive snapshot of exactly what the flooding situation is, what the building damage situation is, and what the utility situation is. Winds have to drop further before we really get hard coverage of how much damage the area has taken and how long the immediate recovery (power, water pressure, flood water pumping) might take.

Other People’s Misery

• Water has reported reached the second floor of the Beau Rivage Casino
• Flooding in Mobile is 10 feet in places
• Heavy flooding and no power reported in Biloxi

Update:

• Two large oaks in Jackson Square near St. Louis Cathedral are down
• AP is confirming building down on the Westbank with people trapped (apparently) inside. Rescue crew as yet unable to reach the scene. Probably the Wright Ave. location, but it doesn’t say, so it could be the one on Manhattan.

Update II:

• Two people have reported that the Quarter did not get significant flooding, and one says power came back on at 5am. But, at the same time, Entergy is reporting that basically their entire service area (reported as 700,000 customers) is without power.
• A spokesperson for Memorial Hospital claims they lost some 2nd and 3rd floor windows but that the walkway has NOT collapsed as reported by the city earlier. And it is Uptown, I obviously confused it with another hospital downtown.

Observers in City Hall are reporting broken windows in buildings up and down Loyola Ave., including the Amoco Building, which is right across the street from them.

The Coast Guard says they’ve gotten calls from vessels in in Southeast Louisiana as well as people who can’t get through on 911 lines (probably because they’re still down) with reports of people on roofs at Villere and Louisa streets and on Almonaster Drive. Those calls are going to local law enforcement via the Coast Guard because the Coast Guard can’t respond to those calls, yet.

Walter Maestri, the Emergency Management Director for Jeff. Parish, said they still can’t get out to verify reports of flooding. (as of about 8:45 am)

There’s reports of a building collapse on Manhattan Boulevard (West Bank — this area has been built up a lot in just the last two years, no indication what block it might be, but large apartment complexes and retail shopping centers are all along the main stretch between Lapalco and the Expressway) and a roof being blown off an apartment building at S. Judah and Ames Blvd. on the West Bank.

Maestri said, “Right now, the east bank calls are outrunning the West Bank calls by 3 to 1,” he said.

Flooding in Lincoln Manor in Kenner (I think this is one of the more notorious Kenner flood-prone locations)

Breach of a levee reported by officials near East Jefferson Hospital. “The word we get is that it is not a break but must be spray from tidal surge that has overtopped the levees,” he said.

The East Jefferson Levee District confirms water had breached sand bags on Airline Drive at the St. Charles Parish-Kenner line. “They tried then to drive all the levees but were just could not,” he said of levee district workers.

Maestri warned we might get hurricane force winds until 2 p.m. and tropical storm force winds until 7 p.m. The storm track likely means flooding will be worst on the East Bank of Jefferson Parish.

National Weather Service has reported 12-15 foot waves in Lake Pontchartrain.

Storm downgraded to Category 3, landfall in Gulfport. Boats reported in buildings in Gulfport.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded storm surge predictions for New Orleans to 15 feet from the earlier 28 feet projection. Still enough for severe flooding. That was about 9:45am, so I expect we’ll get solid info on how severe the flooding is city-wide soon. Although I think winds have to drop below 60 mph before they’ll send out any crews, so potentially that could be another 9 hours according to Maestri, but more likely 4 or 5 hours if the storm keeps up its pace.

Hopefully we won’t get smacked too hard by the remnants here in Columbus. But, it’ll be the third hurricane after-effects we’ve gotten this year already, so hopefully there’s not too much left to blow down.

Orleans:

• Levy topped, not breached, at Industrial Canal near Tennessee St. (I think that’s near Holy Cross) on the Chalmette Side of the canal
• Charity Hospital on emergency power, lots of blown windows
• The Po-lice on backup power
• Up to 4 ft. of water on St. Claude near Jackson Barracks
• 4 pumping stations knocked out by tidal surge. One has been able to resume operation
• Bridge to parking garage at Memorial hospital reported collapsed (I think this is block or two east of Charity Hospital downtown, and about two blocks north of the Dome, but I’m not positive)

Other areas:

• Jefferson Parish: Building collapse in 200 block of Wright Ave. in Terrytown (this could be apartments, a car dealership, a clinic, or even part of Oakwood Mall — that’s everything at that corner). People reportedly inside
• Significant flooding in St. Charles on the east bank
• Arabi: “We’re telling people to get into the attic and take something with them to cut through the roof if necessary,” said Col. Richard Baumy of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office. “It’s the same scenario as Betsy.” Up to 8 feet of water there. Baumy said hurricane winds were preventing rescue efforts.
• Bayou Bienvenue reporting levels at twice normal (9.5 ft.)
• Fire station in Gramercy has been damaged
• Power outages everywhere

More conflicting Superdome reports: Water reported pouring in through damage in roof, 2 sections missing, people moved from a section of Dome floor (I thought they weren’t allowed on the floor already because of flooding concerns??? — this whole dome report might be inaccurate) and people moved to the end zone and up into concourses.

Update:

• Oschner Hospital reports flooding according to WDSU, patients being moved to upper floors.

Update II:

• East Jefferson Hospital, too, reports water on the first floor.

At Tennessee Street on the Industrial Canal on the Chalmette side of the canal. Flash Flood warnings have been posted. 3-8 ft. of flooding expected in this area as a result.

While this is good news, severe flooding due to the enormous amount of water pushed into the marsh and Lake Pontchartrain by Katrina over the last 12 hours is still a real possibility. What it might mean is that more people will have homes that survive the wind. The storm is very close to “as close as it will get” to New Orleans.

• Flooding is already occurring across the metro area, mostly in areas prone to flooding from severe rain. Some areas have been experiencing 3 inches per hour.
• 80% of Jefferson is already without power.
• Reports are sparse, according to officials because upwards of 60% of residents may have evacuated out of the area or to shelters.
• Two shelters in St. Bernard have suffered major damage according to officials there. Chalmette High is losing its roof and St. Bernard High has a lot of broken windows and glass. You’d think they’d have put plywood on windows in shelters, at least! 300 refugees said to be affected.
• Entergy says 317,000 customers were without power as of 6 a.m.
• Cleco reported 40,000 without power in St. Tammany Parish.
• Air conditioning out at Louisiana Superdome due to power outages. But they did get MREs delivered by Orleans Parish workers early early this morning. Something like 350,000. But wow, 30-40,000 people in a building with no A/C. They will be asked to stay there if there is prolonged flooding. 15 semis of bottled water were delivered, as well. I estimate the interior of the dome s under a Category 4 Misery watch and may see Category 6 or 7 Misery levels before they are able to leave.
• St. Bernard Parish officials say most of the parish has no power.
• CNN is apparently reporting that a portion of the Superdome roof is peeling away, but this is likely just the outer layer of foam, not the underlying steel roof panels.