Gustav

[Chevelle2]

I don't know anything about anything really, but should New Orleans be abandoned permanently?

[MJZiggy]

No, it shouldn't. They do need to abandon the lowest parts of the city, though. There are places it was insane to think that they could keep an ocean out and then they went and rebuilt after Katrina.

The fact that they've had the good sense to take this hurricane seriously and skip town is encouraging.

[packinpatland]

Let's ask the GOP.......
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080831/pl_politico/13025

[Badgerinmaine]

I don't know anything about anything really, but should New Orleans be abandoned permanently?
No more than San Francisco should be if they get a repeat of 1906. That said, Ziggy's points are very well taken.

God bless the people of Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast. My prayers are with them.

[texaspackerbacker]

Having Jindal as governor instead of that inept Democrat lady will make a helluva lot of difference. The school buses are carrying people to higher ground instead of parked and flooded. The levees are shored up; The pumps are upgraded; The Federal Assistance is ready, and there is a governor that with the brains to let it in.

Just the same, my expert analysis says that the most likely place for the storm to come ashore is about 175 miles west of New Orleans, right at the Texas/Louisiana border, and it will be downgraded to a mid range Category 3. . Neither New Orleans nor Houston will be severely affected. The worst flooding will be in the ArkLaTex area about Wednesday. Deaths may not reach double digits, and certainly not over 50.

Remember, you read it here first.

[Kiwon]

Let's ask the GOP.......
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080831/pl_politico/13025

The issue was never "the competence of the GOP," it was the incompetence of government at all levels, particularly at the state and local level.

It was a natural disaster. It doesn't care which political party is running the show.

PIP, would you want Nagin for your mayor or Blanco for your governor? What's it say about the people of New Orleans that they reelected Nagin as their mayor?

The Dems are so shortsighted in their criticism. I guess they think that there won't be any hurricanes once Obama "the Messiah" gets into office. Of course, this is the political party that wanted to sell out the Iraqis and hand over Iraq to al-Qaeda a few years ago.

MJZ, I've said for years that the wisest thing to do, particularly environmentally, is to let the Mississippi River take its natural share of New Orleans and eliminate the majority of the levees.

It's insane the amount of money wasted through fraud, corruption, and foolishness to try to prevent and then repair after failure when flooding occurs due to natural events.

The politicians are cowards, though, and won't make the tough decisions. You and I will again have our tax money poured right back into New Orleans to rebuild and sustain a community with parts located below sea level and is threatened every year with disaster.

They take the risk and yet we're the ones responsible for it. :roll:

[packinpatland]

Why can't we implement something like this?
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/thames/323150/335688/341764/

Yes, it would cost $........but how many Katrinas or Gustavs can we take?

It's the storm surge that ususally causes the most damage, not the wind.

[texaspackerbacker]

Why can't we implement something like this?
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/thames/323150/335688/341764/

Yes, it would cost $........but how many Katrinas or Gustavs can we take?

It's the storm surge that ususally causes the most damage, not the wind.

I heard on the news this morning that they have done exactly that in New Orleans.

[oregonpackfan]

Kiwon,

You forget that it was the Bush administration who appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. His qualifications for that important position? He managed a horse breeding company and was a loyal Republican! :roll:

Yes, the local and state governments mismanaged the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe as well. At the federal level, the mismanagement by someone hardly qualified to run FEMA was just gross incompetance.

[MJZiggy]

Why can't we implement something like this?
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/thames/323150/335688/341764/

Yes, it would cost $........but how many Katrinas or Gustavs can we take?

It's the storm surge that ususally causes the most damage, not the wind.

I heard on the news this morning that they have done exactly that in New Orleans.

Heavens I hope they know what they're doing....If they put a block like that on the river, won't the water just spill over into the marshes on the delta and flood from a different direction?

[BallHawk]

Well there are two possibilities:

1. Everything turns out relatively OK and there isn't too much damage or death.

2. Katrina all over again.

[MJZiggy]

There's this little part of me that's hoping that the thing completely misses NO (I'm hoping for that anyway) just because McCain virtually canceled the Republican National Convention for a hurricane that doesn't do any damage. I'm not so anit-McCain as I think the irony of it all would be kinda funny.

[BallHawk]

I must say, the McCain camp must be loving that Bush has had to cancel his speech because of Gustav.

[Kiwon]

Kiwon,

You forget that it was the Bush administration who appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. His qualifications for that important position? He managed a horse breeding company and was a loyal Republican! :roll:

Yes, the local and state governments mismanaged the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe as well. At the federal level, the mismanagement by someone hardly qualified to run FEMA was just gross incompetance.

OPF, I have watched hurricanes hit the Carolinas and Florida for years. I have helped with relief. NO ONE is EVER satisfied with FEMA. NO ONE EVER gets all the aid from the government that they think they deserve.

I don't know Brown's background. It sounded pretty thin, but I assume that he was vetted by Congress or those in authority. He certainly was lousy at PR.

It's funny to note, though, how the importance of how qualified one is, or unqualified one is, changes with the Dems.

Most Dems in Congress have almost no military expertise but they suddenly became experts on strategy when the war in Iraq was unpopular.

In addition, they want Gitmo detainees tried in the federal court system by American citizens who are grossly unqualified to even begin to understand the circumstances under which enemy combatants were detained.

Of course, a community activist with 143 working days in the Senate is qualified to lead the most powerful country on earth. Joe Biden didn't think so four months ago but now he's convinced.

[Partial]

I've got some friends down in Galveston, Texas and evidently they only have a 30% chance of rain tomorrow. Weird.

[texaspackerbacker]

Why can't we implement something like this?
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/thames/323150/335688/341764/

Yes, it would cost $........but how many Katrinas or Gustavs can we take?

It's the storm surge that ususally causes the most damage, not the wind.

I heard on the news this morning that they have done exactly that in New Orleans.

Heavens I hope they know what they're doing....If they put a block like that on the river, won't the water just spill over into the marshes on the delta and flood from a different direction?

They actually showed the thing just now on Fox News. The storm surge that threatens most of New Orleans doesn't come from the Gulf directly. It comes in the back door as Lake Ponchartrain surges into the downtown canals. They now have walls and pumps to block the surge and pump it back into the lake.

I'm still predicting--and the experts are now starting to come around to this point of view too--that the storm will come ashore well west of New Orleans, and be a lot less strong than they were predicting a day or two ago--more like a weak to moderate Category 3. That, of course, would still be fairly bad, but much less severe than Katrina or what they were predicting earlier.

[mraynrand]

I have friends in Slidell, just north of the city on Pontchartrain. During Katrina, they hung out for almost a day and a half on the top bunks in the upstairs boy's bedroom, as the waters rose just above the lower bunk. A family of 6, the kids and the wife got the beds and the dad spent most of his time wading in the water watching snakes and fish swim by. This year, they are nowhere near as worried.

[Kiwon]

I have friends in Slidell, just north of the city on Pontchartrain. During Katrina, they hung out for almost a day and a half on the top bunks in the upstairs boy's bedroom, as the waters rose just above the lower bunk. A family of 6, the kids and the wife got the beds and the dad spent most of his time wading in the water watching snakes and fish swim by. This year, they are nowhere near as worried.

No sharks or 10,000 dead bodies as MSNBC reported in 2005?

[Badgerinmaine]

Kiwon,

You forget that it was the Bush administration who appointed Michael Brown as head of FEMA. His qualifications for that important position? He managed a horse breeding company and was a loyal Republican! :roll:

Yes, the local and state governments mismanaged the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe as well. At the federal level, the mismanagement by someone hardly qualified to run FEMA was just gross incompetance.

All true, OPF. Hopefully we all learn from our mistakes and bad experiences in life, and it seems like there's been a better round of planning from everyone this time. It seemed like Mayor Nagin in particular did a heckuva lot better getting people out of NO this time.

I haven't seen the updated tracks this time, but it sounds like it could be closer to the path of Hurricane Rita than Katrina.

[mraynrand]

I have friends in Slidell, just north of the city on Pontchartrain. During Katrina, they hung out for almost a day and a half on the top bunks in the upstairs boy's bedroom, as the waters rose just above the lower bunk. A family of 6, the kids and the wife got the beds and the dad spent most of his time wading in the water watching snakes and fish swim by. This year, they are nowhere near as worried.

No sharks or 10,000 dead bodies as MSNBC reported in 2005?

No. And he's a physician in the city. The truth about those who did die is tah many chose to stay, and unfortunately, for a number of those who died, they died not from the effects of the hurricane, but from being unable to get treatment for pre-exisiting, life-threatening medical conditions. A lot of deaths could have been very easily avoided.

[MJZiggy]

That's the only benefit that hurricane had is that it will be a long time before people in NO ignore an evacuation warning again.

[BallHawk]

Poor media. They are trying to make the coverage as dramatic as possible, but Gustav has really let 'em down. CNN must be quite unhappy right now.

[HowardRoark]

Anybody know when Oprah will be doing her show from New Orleans this time? I want to make sure to record it. Don't want to miss it!

[red]

Poor media. They are trying to make the coverage as dramatic as possible, but Gustav has really let 'em down. CNN must be quite unhappy right now.

it sure seems that way. weather channel too

[MJZiggy]

Let me guess. Reporters standing in the wind and rain, reporting that it's windy and raining?

[Harlan Huckleby]

Fox News is the worst. They spent 48 hours SCREAMING about every bent bush.