I’ve not been blogging much today due to client work and also because I have been working at my wife’s office to help her through an employee transition, so I’ve also not been well connected to the news throughout the day, except for when I drove around west LA to run some errands for her. What I was hearing about the aftermath of Katrina on talk radio was not very encouraging — what I am seeing on the tube now is almost beyond comprehension.

New Orleans is in complete chaos. Two levies have suffered breeches and the effort to plug those breaks with enormous sandbags has failed, the water is still coming in, the pumps are failing and now the Mayor is saying ‘Everyone, get out!”, and that many areas will see 15 ft. deep flooding. This water’s not going anywhere until the levies are fixed and the pumps restored — days? Weeks? . . . It’s over 100 degrees out there — they’ve got alligators and poisonous snakes, too! And rats — lots of rats!

I used to be a big fan of disaster fiction — Lucifer’s Hammer, The Stand — I’m sure not feeling it any more. Now they are showing looting in The Big Easy. No one seems to want to take a shotgun blast for a bag of Nikes. But it’s getting dark, and the National Guard and SWAT is going in to try and keep order. Going to be Escape From New Orleans tonight, and for days to come.

The causeway on Interstate-10 is in pieces, and the driving deck looks like it is missing for miles. Reminds me of our own I-10 collapse in ’94 during the Northridge quake. And that is what weighs heavy on my mind — our (those of us that choose to live in the Los Angeles area) own future date with disaster — the 8-plus earthquake that is long overdue for our section of the San Andreas Fault. For many, many reasons, we out here should feel compelled to help our stricken brethren in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It’s only right –’cause our time is a comin’!

Instapundit has links to a myriad of relief agengies. Hugh Hewitt is calling for a Blog Beg for Hurricane Victims for Thursday. Okie will participate and will await details tomorrow before preparing the appropriate post. You don’t have to wait until then, just go to Glen’s site and click on any of the relief links. And please, don’t forget to pray . . . (db)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Disasters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |   Print This Post  |   Email This Post

Recently Posted:

• Two More Pro-Global-Warming Scientists Become Sceptics — Is Hell Freezing Over Yet?
• Merry Christmas Y’All — 2011!
• Pearl Harbor Day — the USS Oklahoma — a Post Redux “x” Five
• More Climategate 2.0 Shenanigans . . . What Else Would We Expect?
• Concrete, Sustainability & The EPA — A Nasty, Expensive Mix — Oh, Ya Betcha!
• Climategate 2.0 Emails – Real & Spectacular?
• Chemtrail Of The Day
• Giving Thanks to Our Veterans On This Special Day
• Victor Davis Hanson On The Upcoming Presidential Election
• SEIU Siphons ‘Dues’ From Michigan Medicaid Payments