Hurricane Katrina Devastates The Gulf Coast.

[TexasEagle]

Throw in more than a few corpses, a whole bunch of fuel, and refuse of all kinds. Simmer under direct heat for three days and Prego!

Yeah, and add in dead animals, aligators and snakes, mosquitos... plus no heat, no power, no food... Oh yeah, and no buildings. Most of NO is going to need to be flattened because of all the water damage to the structures.

[JTrotter Fan]

I may be headin down to NO eventually here with our department.  We're trying to work something out to get down there and help.

[Phanatic]

The company I work for has sent over 1 million cans of drinking water to the area. They are also matching any donations given by employees to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in addition to making a hefty donation. I'll probably make a donation at some point. I wonder if there will be a New Orleans when this is done.

St. Louis would become the largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country.... Sad but true...

[WEST is GOD]

Anyone see this? It's hilarious.

[Father Demon]

I just read link on another board that the French Quarter is on fire.  With no water pressure, it's gonna burn to the ground.

(no link)

[PhillyGirl]

So one of my clients called me this morning to let me know that he and his family were okay. They had a beautiful, HUGE home in NO.

He and his family packed up their minivan and a small trailer hitched to the back over the weekend. Packed up all of their photo albums and important stuff they didn't want to lose. Also as many suitcases with clothes as they could fit and some boxes of food and water just in case...along with an emergency kit. They drove over to Texas and just got a hotel room there so they could wait it out.

They had NO clue what their house was going to be like, and got a huge dose of reality this morning. CNN had aerial views this morning of parts of NO and lo and behold, they saw their neighborhood. Its gone. Every single house, as big as they were, gone. I felt awful for him, but thankful that he was smart enough to pack and leave.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

That's been mentioned already, but it never hurts to make sure to try to incite some more racism.

[WEST is GOD]

It's not racism. You don't consider bread looting because it's food, but soda isn't something you need.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

It's splitting hairs.  Personally, I think the captions were almost certainly written by two different people, and it's a meaningless difference anyway.  Both were finding, both were looting.

[TexasEagle]

It's just one store burning right now and they have some water going (sucked from the street) but only one engine and that might not be enough since smoke's still pouring out of the building.

[Eagles76ersFan]

Hah..I was talking to someone I know who was going to be a Freshman at Tulane this fall. He said school is cancelled indefinitely. Indefinitely?...as in permanently?! Seriously, call a state school and inquire about late entry. I mean, the best case is to transfer back to Tulane...Fall '06.

[4and26]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-31-katrina_x.htm

I just find all of this so unreal:

"Nagin estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people remained in New Orleans, a city of nearly half a million people. He said 14,000 to 15,000 a day could be evacuated."

And sad:

"Police officers were asking residents to give up any guns they had before they boarded buses and trucks because police desperately needed the firepower: Some officers who had been stranded on the roof of a motel said they were being shot at overnight.

[Rome]

Anarchy, plain and simple.

National guardsmen should be brought in from all over the country to contain the situation.

Unfortunately, they're busy elsewhere right now.

[PhillyGirl]

Another big probem right now is that some people who HAVE cars and are getting out of there are being carjacked and shot so the gunman can take the car and get out instead.

[PhillyGirl]

Todd Pinkston has been unable to reach his family in Mississippi.

Quinten Mikell is from New Orleans as well. I hope his family is okay.