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New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina
All About :: Photographs News Articles Weather Data Historical Data Time Line Pictures New Orleans Louisiana Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts and Damage
New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina
News Updates
:: Historical Combination
In New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved rocks and sandbags into the holes that broke open in the Industrial Canal levee as Rita closed in, flooding the already devastated Lower Ninth Ward. Workers believe that once the breaches are closed, the Ninth Ward can be pumped dry in a week.
Mayor Ray Nagin immediately renewed his plan to allow some residents to return to drier parts of the city. Those areas — including the once-raucous French Quarter — could eventually support a population of at least half of its pre-Katrina population of about 500,000 residents.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050926/ap_on_re_us/rita
Pictures News Articles Time Line Relief and Assistance Katrina New Orleans
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Hurricane Katrina and Rita Update 092605
Local Forecasts
Galveston, TX
Houston, TX
Port Arthur, TX
Cameron, LA
New Orleans, LA
New Orleans, already reeling from Hurricane Katrina, escaped the worst of the storm, but some of its poor neighborhoods flooded anew as engineers scrambled to repair weakened levees. Rescuers used boats and helicopters to reach hundreds of residents along the Lousiana coast, where the storm surge reached 15 feet.
...In New Orleans, rain drenched parts of the abandoned city early Saturday, straining the levee system damaged by Katrina and causing more flooding in already ruined and abandoned poor neighborhoods. But the forecast of up to three inches throughout the day was less than had been previously predicted.
"Overall, it looks like New Orleans has lucked out," National Weather Service Meteorologist Phil Grigsby said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/rita
Hurricane Rita has been downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Rita continues to grind northward through eastern Texas. As of 1 p.m. CDT, the storm was centered just south of Carthage, Texas. Rita, although weakening, remains dangerous. Damaging wind gusts, torrential rain and isolated tornadoes will persist along the path of the storm toward the ArkLaTex.
Despite the expected continued weakening of the system, excessive rain and inland flooding will remain major threats over eastern Texas, western Louisiana and southern Arkansas for the next several days as Rita is forecast to slow in its forward movement. Rainfall totals of 10 to 15 inches with localized amounts of 25 inches are likely. Isolated tornadoes will remain possible through tonight over far eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Arkansas and Mississippi.
Rita, as a Category 3 hurricane (120 mph) made landfall at 2:30 a.m. CDT today in extreme southwest Louisiana between Sabine Pass and Johnson's Bayou, La. Port Arthur, Texas, clocked maximum wind gusts of 116 mph, while Beaumont, Texas, measured 105 mph. Cameron, Louisiana, reported a gust to 112 mph before the anemometer failed. Storm surge flooding of up to 15 feet probably occured just east of where the eye thundered ashore. Surge as high as 20 feet may have inundated locations at the heads of bays and adjacent rivers.
Meanwhile, in the central and eastern Pacific, Tropical Depression Jova (30 mph) and Tropical Storm Kenneth (45 mph) are moving westward, while Tropical Storm Norma (60 mph), centered about 445 miles SSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is pushing toward the NNW. None of the storms poses any threat to land.
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/?from=wxcenter_news
New Orleans Pounded By Hurricane Katrina
See the hurricane
Hurricane Katrina is
pummelling New Orleans with howling gusts and blinding
rain, after sweeping ashore over the southern Louisiana
coast.
The storm has knocked out power and submerged
part of the low-lying city in up to 6ft (2m) of rising
water.
Katrina has torn part of the roof of a
stadium, where many sought refuge.
Mississippi
and Alabama are also being pounded by the violent storm,
which weakened as it swept inland, but brought winds of
105mph (170km/h).
Click here to see Katrina's
predicted course
The category-two storm flung boats
onto Mississippi, flooded roads in Alabama and swamped
bridges in Florida.
I hope I have a home to
return to
Alex Bush
Mandeville, US
Are
you affected by Katrina?
Fear and fascination
Katrina: Readers' pictures
The
National Hurricane Center warned the Louisiana city
would be pounded throughout Monday - and the potential
storm surge could still swamp the city, which sits some
6ft (2m) below sea level.
"It's capable of
causing catastrophic damage," director Max Mayfield
warned.
"New Orleans may never be the same."
'I want to live'
Correspondents in the
city say walls of water have been running down the
skyscrapers like waterfalls.
Palm trees have
been felled, shops wrecked and cars hurled across
streets strewn with shattered glass.
A police
officer told the BBC he had never seen anything like it.
"This is unbelievable," Jonathon Carol said.
Mayor Ray Nagin has said he believed 80% of the
city's 485,000 residents have heeded his order for a
mandatory evacuation of the city.
In
pictures
Those unable or unwilling to
leave are huddled in shelters, as emergency vehicles
patrol deserted streets.
Officials warn that the
post-hurricane surge could topple the barriers that
protect the city and its historic French Quarter.
There are fears New Orleans could be inundated
with chemicals from refineries, and human waste from
damaged septic systems.
Mayor Nagin said he had
received reports that some water had already breached
the barricades.
A man in the east of the city
said the water in his home was "rising pretty fast".
"Tell someone to come get me please," Chris
Robinson said via mobile phone.
"I want to
live."
The evacuation claimed three lives, when
three nursing home residents died after being taken by
bus to a Baton Rouge church.
States of emergency
Mississippi and Alabama have also urged
residents in coastal areas to leave their homes.
Katrina recorded a 22-ft (7m) storm surge on
Mississippi's coast.
"This is a devastating hit
- we've got boats that have gone into buildings," the
Gulfport fire chief said.
US President George W
Bush has issued a state of emergency in Louisiana and
Mississippi, freeing the path for federal aid.
The storm, which formed in the Bahamas, lashed
South Florida on Thursday, killing nine people,
uprooting trees, downing power lines and causing
extensive flooding.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4194698.stm
BBC.
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