New Orleans and Katrina - Cause and Effect

[El and Bill]

A geological note -- New Orleans is below sea level because of the pumping of ground water from the urban area and the land subsidence resulting from the land settling as the water pressure is removed. As the city has sunk, levees were built around the city to prevent either sea water or the Mississippi from flooding the city. The Mississippi, passing through New Orleans, is higher than the city. Any breaching of those levees will result in virtually all the city going under water. This is not ordinary flooding, that subsides with time. The city is below sea level and will remain under water, until the levees are reconstructed and the water pumped out of the submerged city.

Holland, with its renowned dikes (and little Dutch boy with the finger in the dike) and below sea level farmlands, is better known as a below sea level region -- but geologists have long feared and warned of the result of levee breaches at New Orleans. Either a Mississippi River flood breaching the levees or a direct hit from a storm surge associated with a hurricane would inundate the city beneath the Gulf.

Katrina, if it stays on course, dumps the predicted rain and has the predicted storm surge, will cause a breaching of levees both by Mississippi River flooding and storm surge.

These are the comments from a hydrogeologist who has studied the land subsidence at New Orleans -- the damage from the high winds associated with a hurricane are a whole different (and potentially tragic) story that is not part of my expertise -- just my fears for the people of the coastal area.

Our prayers are with those in danger tonight and tomorrow, and in the aftermath flooding of the coastal area and inland rivers. El and Bill

 

[El and Bill]

Some additional geological comments about the tragedy that is New Orleans.

New Orleans was not built "in a bathtub" as the press is stating. The Cajun folk aren't dumb. New Orleans was built on land above sea level. Not much above sea level since all that land is very low. It is built on a pile of sweepings from the continent, washed down the Mississippi River and dumped as a delta along the Gulf Coast.

New Orleans missed the direct hit of Katrina -- that horror was placed on the Mississippi, Alabama coast where the high winds and storm surge flattened homes and destroyed most everything along the coast. That's an area we know well, and have friends there, and are deeply saddened by their plight and the devastation.

New Orleans had relatively little wind damage from Katrina. The problem there is from flooding. Now, this isn't ordinary flooding from high water pouring in from high rivers or a storm surge related to sea water shoved up on land by hurricane force wind. No, it is a human caused problem taken advantage by high waters.

The human problem is that the settlers of New Orleans pumped ground water from the urban region, and, with hydrostatic pressure removed from the pores of the underlying soft sediment, the sand grains settled and the overlying land subsided. The same has happened in Las Vegas, Houston, Sacramento -- but those towns merely have cracked houses, streets, and sewer mains. New Orleans, just a few feet above sea level, gradually sunk below sea level -- so folks and later the Corps of Engineers built levees around the city. So, the town and individuals continued to pump out the ground water, and the city continued to sink. They built levees higher, city kept sinking, etc.

To compound it, the Corps straightened out long sections of the Upper Mississippi River to shorten the transportation corridor for barges. With a straghter course, the river had a shorter distance to go but still the same elevation drop, so it went faster. That scoured mud from the bottom of the river and the sediment load of the Mississippi (mostly flowing through glacial outwash of fine sand and mud) greatly increased. All that mud had to go somewhere and where it went was to the Gulf, where the gradient decreased and the mud and silt was deposited in the river bed -- thus causing the river bottom to rise and the river to flood surrounding land. So the Corps built levees -- all along the lower Mississippi (that's what makes the lower river so boring to cruise by small boat). So, the bottom of the river kept rising, the river levees kept getting higher, and soon the river was tens of feet above the surrounding land.

Now, there sits New Orleans -- now sunken twenty feet or so below sea level by human activity. Protected from Lake Ponchartrain to the north (and higher than the city) by levees, from the higher Mississippi River by levees, and from the Gulf of Mexico by levees. We've boated all through that area, and its interesting to be above land almost everywhere -- interesting as a boater, but tragic for residents if a levee breaks.

The Corps kept building higher and higher and it was inevitable that someday a storm would breach the levees somewhere. Geologists held meetings to document the problem (that was part of my old job) and warn city officials, civil defense, FEMA, and anyone who would listen. By the way, similar meetings have been held about the horrible landslide hazards in San Francisco that will destroy large parts of that city after the inevitable big quake and about the horrific hazard to Salt lake City and Provo from earthquake and ... well, many other geological hazards to urban areas.

And, to the frustration of many, the warnings were largely ignored .. "Well, someday we'll do something about it ..."

Well, now New Orleans is suffering the terrible fate long since known and predicted. If the levees had failed during a direct hit by Katrina, with storm surge and high winds, the devastation would have been unbelievable. Fortunately, the city was spared that. Now, the city slowly goes under water as the water from Ponchartrain (and hopefully not also the Mississippi River) pours into the city.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds -- will the dikes be reconstructed? ... the huge pumps re-installed to pump out the seepage water that lifts up under the city and thus cause yet more sibsidence?... in other words, reinstate that charming city as it was a week ago? And then, wait ... until the next major Mississippi flood or hurrican-related storm surge or heavy rain breach the levees again.

Probably -- no engineering structure would insure total protection for New Orleans. Therefore -- it is imperative, if the city is re-occupied, that emergency procedures -- shelters, evacuation plans, civil authority, food and water, health and medical services -- be in place and well-rehearsed. Sadly, this was not so for this long-predicted disaster.

Sorry to write so much -- but thought some might want to hear a geologist's perspective about this tragedy.

 

[Sneaks]

Sorry to write so much -- but thought some might want to hear a geologist's perspective about this tragedy.

AFAIC, apologies unnecessary. It's a viewpoint the talking heads ought to be acting on, but won't.

I have a friend who bought a home just 30 days ago in Petal MS, near Hattisburg. He was in North Carolina during the storm and just got back to Petal last night with much trepidation, facing gas shortages and seeing overwhelming damage the closer he got. Petal and Hattisburg are war zones even though they're some 75+ miles from the coast. No power, no phones, water untrustworthy. Fortunately his home was on flat fairly clear acreage and all he lost was a gutter. He bought a new generator and hauled it down, but forgot to buy extra gas cans. None to be had anywhere near the damaged areas so he's gonna be siphoning real soon, but he's now self sufficient. Something that cannot be said for tens of thousands in MS.

 

[Sea Wolf]

Bill-

Nice analysis and very informative!

I suppose it would be too simplistic and unworkable to replace the lost ground water through pumping to "raise" the land back up with all the infastructure that has been built at the lower level. Wouldn't solve the river and sedimentation problems, either.

Biggest problem is all the economic interests of all those people who won't stand for the city to be abandoned, so I guess we'll all pay through taxes to salvage this sinking ship called New Orleans. Joe.

 

[k3nlind]

Reference Bill's geological note...

I can validate much of what Bill stated. My work deals directly with several of the areas Bill mentions. I have lived in Sacramento and now reside near, but not directly on, the Salt Lake City fault line. Here in Utah, because of the mountains and their tributaries, we don't need to pump ground water out of the sand upon which so many people have built their residence. So I don't think the sand in lowering to any extent. However, there is much concern, or at least talk about liquefaction. We are building hugh data warehouse buildings INSIDE even hugher concrete "bathtubs" in order to insure they do not sink into the sand. We are protecting our data, but not our citizens!

As for the Mississippi having been sped up... there is no doubt. The exact same thing has happened to the Jordan river where it flows between Utah Lake and that dead sea, The Great Salt Lake. Now we have commissioned, at great taxpayer expense, a federal entity (the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission) http://www.mitigationcommission.gov/index.html whose job is:

1) Assemble existing information on the natural values of the Jordan River.

2) Use this information to identify areas along the River that still provide important wildlife habitat.

and, 3)Recommend actions that can be taken to maintain and promote the natural values of the River, as well as adjoining wetlands and upland habitat.

The Jordan River starts at Utah Lake and flows into the Great Salt Lake. The River is approximately 44 miles long, and travels across three counties and through fifteen different communities. In addition, several state and federal agencies are landowners or have programs along the River. The Jordan River system is a remnant of ancient Lake Bonneville, and functions as a conduit for Wasatch Mountain water reaching the Great Salt Lake. With the decline of Lake Bonneville, beginning approximately 16,000 years ago, the Jordan River emerged by snaking its way through unconsolidated lake sediments enroute to the shrinking Great Salt Lake. As the Great Salt Lake diminished, the Jordan River lengthened, and was enlarged by the canyon tributaries. Eventually, the River developed a natural meander corridor and associated floodplain and created numerous oxbows, marshes, sloughs, and pothole ponds. These riparian zones replaced the lake habitat of Lake Bonneville, and provided a home for a diverse community of wildlife However, since settlement, the River has been significantly degraded by human impacts and many of its natural values lost. The River has been regarded as a convenient dumping ground and in the past deemed a less desirable place to live and recreate. Nevertheless, given the River’s strategic location between Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake, as well as an oasis between the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains, it is still an important corridor for the support of avian wildlife.

In other words the commission is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to put the crooks and crannies of the Jordan River back after we already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to straighten it out! And, the commission has been doing this since 1992.

I would just bet that there is some of this 'water' related stuff going on everywhere... Like in Kesterson... How little we know and pay attention to...

 

[El and Bill]

Only by admitting to mistakes, can one learn and improve. The human-caused disaster that is New Orleans is no more a natural disaster than if I walk outside into a predicted winter blizzard in my t-shirt. For the past few days I have been researching the recent history of the Corps in the New Orleans area and the Federal Emergency Managment Agency (FEMA). Although many individuals and agencies are responsible for the catastrophe in New Orleans (where people are suffering and dying because of slowly rising water from a breached dike, days after the storm), the primary responsibility for the botched emergency management lies with the federal government - the buck stops there, in my opinion.

 

[Seeker]

I speak as one who lives here and has seen this thing unfold, This tragedy is the result of lack of leadership on the local, state and federal levels.

The mayor pleaded with those people to leave, they did not because they knew he would open the Super Dome, and they would get free lodging and food there.

The only plan the local and State government had was to get those folks into the dome. There was no mobilization plan to get them out.

Folks here have heard about hurricanes coming for centuries, and have become complacent; not heeding the warnings.

To be honest and fair about all this, if the people would have heeded the pleas to evacuate, this tragedy would never have happened. And this group of folks, for the most part, spend their lives depending on the government to take care of them.

The people you don't hear about, are those who took the responsibility to leave, some at great cost and sacrifice; sleeping in their cars in rest areas or other less than comfortable places; some walked out. These people are alive today and not subject to being cared for by the government.

You can think what you want, but that is the truth of the matter.



Law

 

[rogerbum]

I speak as one who lives here and has seen this thing unfold, This tragedy is the result of lack of leadership on the local, state and federal levels.

The mayor pleaded with those people to leave, they did not because they knew he would open the Super Dome, and they would get free lodging and food there.

In some cases people either didn't have the economic means to leave or a way to do so (e.g. there were some tourists who were trapped when flights were canceled).

The only plan the local and State government had was to get those folks into the dome. There was no mobilization plan to get them out.

Yes - a definite problem - sort of reminds me of another situation in the world where things initially seemed good but the plan for what to do after the initial phase was completely lacking or mismanaged.....

Folks here have heard about hurricanes coming for centuries, and have become complacent; not heeding the warnings.

To be honest and fair about all this, if the people would have heeded the pleas to evacuate, this tragedy would never have happened. And this group of folks, for the most part, spend their lives depending on the government to take care of them.

The people you don't hear about, are those who took the responsibility to leave, some at great cost and sacrifice; sleeping in their cars in rest areas or other less than comfortable places; some walked out. These people are alive today and not subject to being cared for by the government.

You can think what you want, but that is the truth of the matter.

Law

Your truth - not mine and not necessarily an objective truth. I personally would like to give some the benefit of the doubt as to their reliance on the government. Poverty in the US and welfare are complex topics that have roots that involve many causes. It is not a random event that many of the people remaining in New Orleans are both poor and black. The poor were the least able to arrange for transportation out and due to a long and unfortunate history in the US, the poor are disproportionally black. There are many different causes for this but the bottom line is that the cycle of poverty is a difficult thing to break. It's worth noting the racism is still alive and well in the US though thankfully it is on the decline. It is also worth noting that we are less than one full generation past the time when many forms of racism were official local and state gov't policy (e.g. segregation) and only a few generations beyond the point in history when many forms racism were Fed. gov't policy. Again - cycles of poverty are difficult to break.... I personally find it offensive to suggest that the people stranded in New Orleans are individually responsible for their own fate or are there simply because they thought the gov't would house and feed them. In particular, there are large numbers of children, elderly and sick/injured people who can't in anyway be blamed for their fate.

Roger on the SeaDNA

 

[Pat Anderson]

Thanks, Bill. We need to get you on CNN to explain all of this!

But the big question, what to do next? I doubt abandoning New Orleans is likely to happen, Gen. Strock (?), the Commandant of the COE, was on TV last night, justifying why the Corps only built levees to withstand a category III hurricane rather than a category V - he said the IV or V has only a 0.5% chance of occurring in 500 years, so they were 99.5% confident a levee for category III was good enough. They are already no doubt planning on reconstructing the levees and restarting the pumps.

So assuming the reconstruction of New Orleans, and the inevitability (in geologic terms, not Corps-speak) of this happening all over again, it sounds like it is just better emergency management planning? What to do for San Francisco? The other cities? Is there a solution, or only a dire future?

Some additional geological comments about the tragedy that is New Orleans.
[SNIP]
Sorry to write so much -- but thought some might want to hear a geologist's perspective about this tragedy.

 

[gljjr]

Law,

I was very glad to see your post and that you survived the initial storm OK. The hard part will be surviving the next couple months with the lack of "services" as you put it.

We can all point fingers at the Goverment saying they didn't do this or that. But the enormity of trying to evacuate that many people in the amount of time they had to do it is mind boggling. I can't imagine that there was much the government could do to get the people out faster. The only way that would happen is if there were more roads out of the city. Perhaps that should be addressed in all cities. In Seattle there are only 3 freeways out of the city. If we had to evacuate Seattle for some reason the millions of people here would simply be stuck on the freeways going nowhere.

I do agree that in the aftermath there doesn't seem to be strong enough leaders to make sure that people get looked after well enough. But again, I think the enormity of the situation simply causes this. Time will tell I guess. I just hope that we learn from these mistakes so that next time it is better.

Take care!

 

[Sneaks]

Although many individuals and agencies are responsible for the catastrophe in New Orleans (where people are suffering and dying because of slowly rising water from a breached dike, days after the storm), the primary responsibility for the botched emergency management lies with the federal government - the buck stops there, in my opinion.

Very true, and the present administration from the Presidency all the way down to local state officials will suffer the brunt of the backlash come election day in spite of the fact that the complacency stretches across political boundaries and has done so for decades.

I kinda believe it's all a form of "Triage" at a very high level. I can't believe Seattle is prepared for a major Mt. Rainier or Tsunami disaster, though they are inevitable, just as a major earthquake is due in Missouri and Los Angeles.

For us in So Cal, that storm was put in perspective for me by the local weatherhead. If my home town (Encinitas) took the center of Katrina, the area of total distruction would reach from Ensenada Mexico to and through Los Angeles, stretching inland well into the desert. Major effects would be seen as far north as Santa Barbara. That was a World Class Storm!

I don't see how we could economically afford to be prepared for such a major disaster yet fund everything we normally expect from the Feds.


Don

 

[El and Bill]

The hurricane strike zone and intensity were known a week ago. There are still people in danger in New Orleans. The consequences of such a strike on New Orleans was known 35 years ago. Two years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared that New Orleans was one of the three most endangered cities in the US. Do you think an emergency plan should have been created years ago, ready to be activated immediately? -- or, at least, within a week of a breach in dikes, known to be inadequate?

I think there are two different scenarios often mixed by the media -- there is the horrific damage to the coast of Mississippi and Alabama (witness Gulfport and Biloxi). That was pure hurricane damage -- incredibly high winds and storm surge. The damage there could not have been avoided -- that's like the horrific storm that hit Galveston at the turn of the century. That is a natural disaster.

Then there is the scenario that is New Orleans -- wind damage much less. Vulnerable primarily if the slowly sinking levees are breached. The consequence of not building higher levees was well known (the fed has CUT funding for years for those dikes, with the highest cut (more than 80%)made last year. A cut of 44.2% this year from 2001 funding. A Corps director resigned in protest several years ago over funding cuts). OK, so a decision to keep the low dikes was made by the federal government.

Then, if the dikes aren't to be adequate, there should be an emergency plan, coordinated with local, state, and federal governments and military, well organized, funded and ready to go to handle the result of the breach in the dike. That is FEMAS's job. The last two directors of FEMA had no experience in emergency preparedness (the current director is a lawyer, the former was a campaign manager). In March 2003, FEMA director was no longer a cabinet position. In the summer of 2004, FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests.

For New Orleans, there were decisions made by humans that sealed the fate of the city. The Corps didn't necessarily fail -- they did what they could with the funding they had. But, a decision was made not to fund. FEMA failed. David Vitter, Louisiana's Republican senator, gave the federal government an F on Friday for its handling of the aftermath of the storm.

So, back to my original statement -- if we can't locate the source of errors made, and admit to those mistakes, and fix them then there will be similar inadequate responses to terrorist attack, earthquake in San Franciso, etc. Of course you can't plan for everything, and we can't avoid a disaster like Gulfport and Biloxi. My concern is not political -- this has nothing to do with either political party -- But, surely this country is smart enough to have an adequate Emergency Preparedness Plan that can function in any disaster, anywhere -- and not still be trying to save lives in New Orleans a week after a levee failed.

 

[El and Bill]

Don --

Your point about funding is well taken. Is it possible to fund an Emergency Preparedness Plan? One that with computer linkage to resources already available nationwide (emergency response teams exist, on a relatively small scale in virtually every city and the military has many very efficient, effective teams). Each segment rehearses its role, as they already do for local response, and know their responsibility if called upon for a coordinated national response to catastrophe. The leadership pyramid would be well established, with each individual and agency knowing their role. One doesn't necessarily need new resources -- coordinate the excellent ones we already have. Identify gaps (maybe we need stockpiles, strategically located, for food, water, medical equipment), although the military probably already has such stockpiles.

I am very familiar with large-scale software that coordinates military efforts on a scale similar to that we are discussing, although not for emergency preparedness. I believe such an emergency response coordination program would be a fraction of FEMA's budget, and a micro-fraction of that of Homeland Security. Now, executing such a plan would be VERY costly -- but that is only done in the event, and that cost would probably reduce some of the costs involved in an uncordinated, leaderless mess like we are witnessing - and would save lives.

 

[katkt]

Based on what happened after Ivan, and the much larger area that was damaged by Katrina I think its going great. Thats why they call these type of situations a catastrophe.
Trying to out guess mother nature is a mistake. Since we have built in the Pcola area they have reevaluated the flood levels from storm surges twice(8 year period) after Ivan FEMA raised the base flood elevation in our area.
Is the answer, to keep pouring money into the dikes and hope they work or move the people out.
The people in NO should be happy that the midwest is having a drought, if the Mississippi had been running alot higher, what effect would that have had when it was combined with a storm surge of 28 to 30 feet.
Theres alot of grumpy people in NO, but if the storm had shifted more west, we wouldn't have heard much complaining from them. :shock:
One other thing we are seeing in NO is that dikes hold water in as well as keep it out.

 

[Pat Anderson]

The federal "system" that could have really helped in New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama exists - it is called NIMS (National Incident Management System). The feds mandated that all local jurisdicitons adopt NIMS as the official emergency management program to be eligible for any DHS funding. Instead of purposefully designing and implementing the program, the feds themselves have spent the last two years debating definitions, standards, training criteria, etc. I just completed the NIMS IS-700, which is basically designed to get locals familiar with acronyms. It was obvious the feds were not ready to use any of the of the NIMS principles when the real thing hit - interoperability and resource management, as I think anyone who has been following this would agree, can only be described as awful.

 

[Seeker]

Thank you Pat for showing us efficiently and effectively our government is handling catastrophic event planning for us.

It is comforting to know that with all the mandates, programs, assesments, overflights, meetings, conferences, surveys, seminars, appropriations, press conferences, and acronyms we are being so well cared for and looked after.

However, if you get a chance to pass along a suggestion, at the next acronym class you attend, on our behalf, that they just send in the military first to take care of business on the ground.

This would free up all those poor, overworked, overpaid acronym writers and teachers of acronym understanding classes from being bothered with all the messy little details such as disaster relief.

Millions of us here, with out much of a life for the foreseeable future, would deeply appreciate it.

And, who knows, your neighborhood could be next.

Well, got to go now, I'm kinda tired after spending the night fitfully sleeping with two loaded guns and the flash light burning, waiting for the looters. Of course thats not to say I've been lazy; I did spend the first half of the day looking for, and waiting in line for fuel for the generator.

All the Best,

Law

 

[El and Bill]

The high water that breached the levees a week ago (one broke in exactly the same place breached previously) has receded. Consequently, the water that had flooded into New Orleans actually had a higher level than Lake Ponchatrain after the lake levels dropped. Therefore, the breach was allowed to remain open to help drain New Orleans. So, the water is actually dropping slightly in the city. However, since large areas are below sea level, that water will remain until pumped out. The breaches will be repaired after all the water possible has drained from the city.

 

[TyBoo]

The following quote was posted to the initial Katrina thread to remind us of the discussion's real purpose. The thread sort of took off in two different directions, both of them valid and worthy, where they distracted a bit from each other. The posted messages that strayed from the intitial Katrina thread's purpose have been split off from the original discussion, creating this new discussion.

Wow... and this started out as a prayer request... Go back to message one. It turned from a Cat II do not worry about it to a no $hit CAT V...in less than 8 hours...during the night while most were asleep...just thinking about going on with business as usual the next morning when they woke up....and... like we learned from history...it will more than likely hit somewhere in a 250 mile wide path...somewhere on the southern coast.. Folks had to start paying attention when she skipped across the southern tip of FL...not many enter the gulf and head south...particuarly with the hot water making for a turbo charger for these things.
Then, just as I found out in a very short period of time, that this NOW KNOWN TRAGIC strom grew from what the locals (those of us close enough to the coast that we really need to watch out) would call (Cat I & II) ......and were way comfortable to just sit it out... clean up the yards, put a few boards up...do the hurricane food and water drill... and watch the weather channel. ... TURNED FROM A CAT II to a CAT V !!! and we still did not know where she was going to hit with enough accuracy....to empty the towns.. of everyone. Having been on the evacuation planning side of this... when and where do you ENFORCE MARSHAL LAW... and shut down business, re-route the flow of traffic to only out-bound, other than emergency vehicles coming in bound...?? AND....even then.... what are the FREE Americans of our country going to do in response?? Get out your atlas, draw a line about 50 miles inland across and parallel with the southern coast... Now, which of those cities south of that line do you shut down and empty .... Remember: PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES....and their lives are going on. Not all of them are home. Some travel for business. Some would love to leave, but are not capable for what ever reason to move themselves. We still have parts of Alabama where 2 or 3 families share ONE small economical car like a Toyota that on a good day you can get 5 people and basically what ever the trunk would hold in there. ... and they are all colors... and not all of them are the healthiest either. Toss color and racism when things like this happens. It goes away until we get back to our "normal" lives...and then there is even racism within the same races...... red-neck or preppy white folks, lighter or darker black folks... it does not matter. Laws change and have, people to some point have changed...but we never will totally accept every person on this earth as one... I can not. I try daily, and I pray for help with that. Now back to the hurricane... OUR GOVERNMENT, and those Americans who make up the population in the great country of ours... simply can not, will not, do not want to have systems in place to cover every emergency. How many folks still live in the "known earthquake fault lines'?? Those just do not show up on the weather channel. So, like those of us who live down here, as over there on the west coast, we know there is potential for bad things to happen. Our government, no state, county, city, or even family....can be all ready for all things... I have received emails from Sunday school members who went down to pull their elderly kin folk out from MS...and one of them even refused to leave... with family there to take them north, where there is running water, there is electricity, there is grocery stores open with no lines.... AND THEY STAY THERE....IN THEIR HOME. Now, on the other hand... when we get where we can tell that a hurricane is going to hit "RIGHT HERE..." ...go ahead and look at that atlas again... it still takes DAYS.... to empty about a 25 mile wide area... So, look for more of this to take place...more than likely before the month of September is over. SO...Lets get back to praying, stop pointing at things that can not be fixed, and help any way each of us can.

 

[El and Bill]

My friends with emergency preparedness are concerned with the possibility of disease -- sure hope the local, regional and fed folks do a better job preventing a predictable possible secondary disaster from occuring than they did with the predicted secondary disaster of a levee breaching.

 

[rogerbum]

El and Bill (and all),

Just one small bright note - on NBC's coverage of Katrina tonight they showed that the French Quarter is largely intact - including yours (and mine) beloved Cafe Du Monde....

Best,

Roger on the SeaDNA