Hurricane Katrina

[lil lady lax fan]

Jay,

Any word on Billy Tauzin?

[FormerTiger]

No, but seeing as how Billy does not live inside the levees....I would venture a guess that he is just fine.

Many of the people who you see being rescued from rooftops are there because they had no transportation to leave (close to 100,000 people). There are a lot of people who sit back and think about how dumb these people were not to leave, but many of them just had no place to go and no way to get there.

I got some really good footage from the plane today. If any of you would like to see some, PM me and I will email it. (not for the faint of heart)

[bste_lax]

Jay,

Any word on Billy Tauzin?

He posted in the LSA Forum:

http://forums.uslia.com/viewtopic.php?t=2396

[Brent Burns]

Billy Tauzin, as he said in his post in the LSA Forum, said that Thibodaux was spared. Thibodaux is somewhat "far removed" from New Orleans. I am sure the guys in Baton Rouge and the guys around I-20 in northern part of Louisiana are fine, too except for some trees down, etc. I also read this morning that LSU has its classes cancelled until September 6. I understand that most of the buildings are being used to treat people.

I know that there is a group called Texas Rescue & Recovery team coming out of College Station on its way to Louisiana.

The folks in Louisiana, especially in Mississippi, Alabama, parts of Georgia, and parts of Florida definitely need our prayers.

[Tarzan]

Thibodaux is safe and has been spared. Lots of wind and rain, but we are ok despite lack of power. Today New Orleans is being abandoned. Here is what my co-worker in New Orleans wrote:

"The NOPD have given up and they are leaving the city. The criminals have taken over. Those with guns are getting all the food and water; it is very dangerous. They are raping women and children -- it is like a war zone. We're trying to get our people out."

We had 4 buses of people show up at NSU to sleep in the gym which doesn't have AC...It is in the 90's today. Also, they had to frisk the people coming off the buses for guns.

If you want to see the best pictures of what is going on in NO:

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/photos/

You can actually see pictures of people looting and people being saved. This thing has brought out the best and worst in people!

This has been the natural disaster we have been predicting for years. The nation needs to wake-up and notice that the erosion of Louisiana’s coast has left New Orleans without a land barrier to soften storm surge and intensity. Sorry about my little soapbox there, but for more information:

http://www.americaswetland.com/

[lil lady lax fan]

Tarzan,

Glad to hear y'all weathered the storm OK. I know there are a lot of people outside Louisiana who are worrying about friends and relatives in the storm-ravaged area. We were relieved to hear some friends of ours evaquated to Dallas before Katrina hit. They're not sure yet if they have a home to go back to.

On a brighter note there are many people far removed from the action who are doing their darnedest to provide any support they can. The president of our company is trying to find out how we, as a company can pitch in. He has told us to use our volunteer days to help out in any way we can on a personal level.

Our prayers and thoughts are with all of you out there.

[TexOle]

My favorite picture was on CNN. The guy standing on his front porch watching the water rise with his dog as he drank a beer. It was just screaming redneck.

CNN reported one guy there who just wanted survive a hurricane. I have no clue what that guy was thinking. My family went to Florida one year for vacation. We were staying near Naples with our grandparents. Just a few miles from shore the winds picked up to hurricane strength. It was later ruled a hurricane. It was not a fun storm to experience. The devastation is not even close to what we are seeing here. The clean up and other problems take tons of time.

I hear all sorts of strange stories. I also love the reporters that go down there and the extremes they go to for a story. They are an odd breed.

I wonder how many people will rebuild and how the insurance industry will respond.

[Tarzan]

Remember what I predicted (before the storm hit) about gas prices going up:

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/weather/i ... =hurricane Click see photo to see the picture.

It gets worse:

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp ... tml#075424

Stock up on gas now!

Darn Bush and his weather machine!

[Brent Burns]

I know there is some kind of tropical storm or depression forming in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. Any word on that? There are two typhoons piggying back each other in the Pacific Ocean- one is heading toward Taiwan and another one toward China. Would that involve the Bush weather machine?

[OAKS]

Got this email today:

> Earlier this morning students from Tulane University arrived on the
> Georgia Tech campus. In an effort to assist our colleagues and
> friends in the New Orleans area, we are serving as a refuge for these
> students until they can connect with their families throughout the
> U.S. Some of these students will be with us for an extended period
> until it is safe for them to return to their home campus.
>
> [...]
>
> Wayne Clough
> President
> Georgia Tech

[lil lady lax fan]

See, that's what happens when you give someone like that a new toy to play with--they invariably say "What does this button do?" as they press all the nice shiny disks on the pad...

And he thinks global warming is a myth... HAH!!
(My own little soap box--I'm stepping down now)

[Rob Graff]

www.weatherunderground.com

Go to "Blogs"

Go to Dr. Masters or Steven Gregory's blog - both are very good at following/predicting hurricanes

There are two TD's in the atlantic, but right now, per the above, neither should come near american coast. That, of course, is always subject to the whims of mother nature.

Rob

[Tarzan]

lil lady lax fan, Interesting video that counters that opinion on www.foxnews.com

Science of Storms
Is global warming to blame for Hurricane Katrina?

The scientist dismisses the claim that storms are supercharged due to Global Warming....Higher temp = El Nino which weakens storms. Too many factors to place blame in one direction or another.

[Rob Graff]

Short excerpt from "The Economist" at their website - Sonny if this is a problem - which I think it is not - let me know and I'll delete. Link below:

The Gulf of Mexico provides about a tenth of all the crude oil consumed in America; and almost half of the petrol produced in the country comes from refineries in the states along the gulf's shores. The Department of Energy reports that nine refineries, processing 1.8m barrels per day, have been shut down, though it is not known how long they will be out of commission. Oil companies are busy assessing how much damage was done to drilling rigs, refineries and port facilities; but even if the infrastructure is largely intact, shipping delays threaten to idle refinery production.

This is bad news considering that refineries have been running flat out in recent months to keep up with high demand. The White House has said it will tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to supply refiners caught short by the hurricane, but the pipeline and refinery shutdowns in the region mean that petrol may hit $3 a gallon heading into this weekend's Labour Day holiday; motorists are already paying that much in some cities.

Link: http://www.economist.com/agenda/display ... 9&fsrc=nwl


I'm not sure if the link works for non-subscribers.

Try http://www.economist.com if the above does not.

[Tarzan]

Best way to help everyone in New Orleans:

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

Red Cross is doing a lot down here, so send your help through them!!