Just clocked 175 MPH!! This is going to be a major issue folks!!

907 mb pressure at this time..

The BBC is already predicting a significant spike in oil prices.

 

They predict a significant spike in oil prices if an offshore oil driller stubs his toe and can't go to work for a day. Any excuse will do.

As for Katrina... god help thems in her way. The water temps in the gulf south of Louisana are in the upper 80's and 90 degrees was recorded at a buoy just off the Mississippi delta. Whew. With those kinds water temps, no wonder she's building steam.

George-

 

I moved out of Gulfport, MS. in 1984. I left a lot of good friends there. My prayers and best wishes go out to them and all the other folks down there. I WISH YOU THE BEST.

 

I saw a show where oil companies were actually pouring money into wetland restoration around the delta because so much oil pipelines run through there. The delta is dissapearing due to bad land management, and the oil companies are worried it will take their pipelines with it. This hurricane could really affect oil prices, of course they will find a way to make lots of money on it! I hope there are no oil spills and no toppled bee hives. And of course no deaths, but it looking rough. I'd head for the hills and take my hives with me. Likely a little late now!

 

I am in Louisiana and I just got me some honey during the storm. It was a helluva lot cooler in my suit than with it being over 100 degrees. The honey was excellent, I gathered four jars. I have a cover built over my hive to insure that my hive stays dry and will last longer. Plus I am sure the bees are enjoying the shade.

 

piroqueman......... Did you come out OK????

 

Despite the fact that we saw Katrina coming from a long ways off and had time to prepare for it... relief efforts seem to be taking a really long time to get going. Meanwhile, people continue to die.

What were they thinking?

George-

 

I was raised in Florida with hurricanes. What is different about Katrina is the standing water in New Orleans.
In Florida once the storm is past things dry out fast. Hurricane Donna was the worst I went through in the early 60's.
We could not get out our drive for downed trees let alone go a block down the street. Power lines were down all over the place.

St. Louis, Missouri has a similar water wall around the downtown area. In the flood of 93 the wall was leaking water but held. Had it not the scenario would have been similar to New Orleans.
People did not leave as the wall has always held.
Same in New Orleans.

The scenario in New Orleans is more like our midwest floods than a hurricane as far as search and rescue is concerned. Can you imagine the heat in some of those attics and how hard it would be to cut through a roof with out tools?

 

If you look at who's coming out down there, you can see abject poverty. New Orleans has no money and now, no taxes coming in. No businesses, nothing. How are they gonna pay for disaster drills?

Hawk

 

With this being such total devastation & New Orleans being in the "bowl" that it is I really wonder if it will rebuild? Certainly won't be the draw of all the history it had for tourists! Even seeing the pix on tv it's still hard to believe "it's real!"

Lew

 

I wonder about the common sense aspect of building a major metro area below sea level on the coast!!

The show I referenced in the first post of this thread stressed (before the hurricane) that this diasaster was not an IF but WHEN .

This can happen again, next year, or the next decade.

Question is....... Should we authorize dumping billions of dollars to rebuild below sea level? Or spend it to move (at least the residential section) above sea level?

 

New Orleans was above sea level until the levees were constructed. These required a pupming system on the land side & when the land was "de-waered" the town started to sink. So far it is dwon @ 20' from pre levee days, and is of course below sea level. If there is to be a rebuild, it needs to be done on fill which would take it back above seda level. But the fill can settle if de-watering continues. All in all, our attempts to control nature to support a capitalist system have just not been perfected.

 

New Orleans was above sea level until the levees were constructed. These required a pumping system on the land side & when the land was "de-watered" the town started to sink. So far it is down @ 20' from pre levee days, and is of course below sea level. If there is to be a rebuild, it needs to be done on fill which would take it back above sea level. But the fill can settle if de-watering continues. All in all, our attempts to control nature to support a capitalist system have just not been perfected.

 

I don't know how capitalism fits in, but beekeeping is obvious proof that nature can only be temporaily managed, not controlled. If there is anything a Yankee can do to help another beekeeper, email me at hwrigley@netscape.net

 

>The show I referenced in the first post of this thread stressed (before the hurricane) that this diasaster was not an IF but WHEN .

HALF of the Netherlands (Holland) has been below sea level for centuries before (and after) the beginning of New Orleans. The Dutch have a saying that "God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland." What they did, of course, was steal it from the ocean. Less wars with the ocean than their neighbors, that way.

And, as powersitbe pointed out, New Orleans was not below sea level when it was built. The delta keeps building up and the ocean level keeps moving up.

>This can happen again, next year, or the next decade.

Virtually anywhere near any river or any ocean.

>Question is....... Should we authorize dumping billions of dollars to rebuild below sea level? Or spend it to move (at least the residential section) above sea level?

It'll never happen.

 

I agree that it will not happen.

I just question the wisdom. If thought out rationally. Rebuilding there without raising the base (if even possible) needs some thought.

The Netherlands analogy would be a good one if they were in "Hurricane Alley".

I felt the same way here when the Red River flood of 1997. The cycle of building on a flood plain, getting destroyed every 50 years, rebuilding at public expense, needs to be examined.

Here in Devils Lake (which made Newsweek in the 90's) the lake has risen 50 feet since 1940. Takeing countless homes and communities with it. Homes and communities built on known flood plains. Not ancient communities mind you.

 

One other point. New Orleans is not on the ground. It is on a shelf of land jutting out into the water. There is nothing under it but water. Is all the weight being added with each new building not pushing the shelf a little further down into the water??

 

iddee; Kinda like continuing to build in LA and adding weight on a crack with out removing an equal weight from the area surrounding the crack. HUMMMMMMM, I'm no rocket scientist. But isn't that along the same lines?????

 

Or building on the NC coast when we are losing a foot or two anually to the sea and the feds have already forbid replacing sand or building a seawall.
Seems we have a lot of "smart????" builders around.

 

What common sense would dictate would be a fifty mile zone along every coast that is free of any buildings. But that won't happen either. I feel for the victims of this hurricane, but I can't feel sorry for their ignorance of nature for building in such a spot to begin with. Or for rebuilding after a distaster such as this one. People do stupid things, people die because of it, it's that simple. Maybe next time a manditory evcuation is issued, everyone will leave.

peggjam

 

I will never complain about blizzards, snow and cold again. Compared to what people are suffering with Katrina, old man winter seems like a boy scout. I have family in Florida, and my brother wishes he stayed in Michigan.

 

I think JP lives in Metairie or somewhere near there. Sure hope he is okay.

JP, if you see this note and were evacuated from N.O. Metro or affected areas and need a place to stay, give me a call at 225-803-5406 or drop me an email. I can cram you in with my coworker and his family/pets who were evacuated out of Slidell last Saturday. I still have no power at my home and I imagine it may be a week or so more.

I do have a generator, a few fans, propane grill, and ice is just becoming available in Baton Rouge, so the adult bevarages can be consumed ice cold from the coolers rather than hot.

As for me, my beekeeping adventure may be delayed well into 2006 or 2007. Need the power company and an arborist to remove 2 large trees overhanging the powerlines in my backyard first. I am just one of millions of folks needing trees and limbs cut and removed. Guess I could move the hive at a later date.

Personally, I can't see how N.O. could ever be completely rebuilt. So many lost so much (home, business, possessions, & paycheck). I-10 btwn N.O. and Slidell was completely butchered too. Guess the damage could have been much worse if N.O. took a direct hit or the eye was on the west side of the city. Although, I will try to be optimistic that it will be re-built.

Need some firewood??

 

Sorry to hear your plight James........... I feel kinda helpless up here......... seriously thought about hoping in my car and going down to help. I have little $$$ but want to help.

 

Bruce, I'm probably heading down that way tomorrow...I don't have any money, but I've got a chainsaw and a brain...maybe I can use both to help...or at least the chainsaw.

BubbaBob

 

Peggam,

A lot of people are so poor they did'nt have the money or cars to leave. Also this city was built along time before the current residents.
I think you are being a little harsh