French Quarter is toasted on its survival

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 3:10pm

It look like the French Quarter was spared the worst.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1473502/posts

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 3:22pm

YAY! It's a miracle! After a day of tragic news, this comes as a silver lining.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 3:28pm

No more - From reports that I've read, the quarter has started flooding. Last I heard 9" and more coming all the time.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 3:42pm

Well there goes that silver lining. I hope the French Quarter survives this catastrophe.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 3:56pm

Sadly, I think you should adjust the name of this thread. 80% of the city is submerged. Lives lost, homes destroyed, businesses ruined, memories only.

And what in heaven's name were you doing at FreeRepublic.com, Windy?

Posted: 8/30/05 at 4:24pm

Looks like I'm gonna cancel that Southern Decadence trip.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 4:31pm

wca, i think the toast is premature. water levels are rising and while it could certainly have been worse, until they find out for sure where all the water's coming from they have no chance of stopping it.

Posted: 8/30/05 at 4:41pm

Aren't we used to water killing people yet?

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 5:05pm

Right now there is conflicting information about the French Quarter.

Some locals are comunucating with each other via the internet at:

http://www.nola.com/forums/vieuxcarre/

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 5:12pm

Oy! The governor just ordered the evacuation of ALL of New Orleans... waters continue to rise. Everyone in the Superdome and other shelters (apparently tens of thousands) would have to be evacuated... this is getting worse by the minute.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9130254/

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 5:26pm

It's good thing we have the troops near the Green Zone in case a hurricane strikes Baghdad.

Posted: 8/30/05 at 5:35pm

DD, I read about that on IMDb... something about Lucy Lawless and the movie she's shooting. It took her nine hours to drive 60 miles. Wow.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 7:46pm

This just breaks my heart. Snippet:

---

French Quarter bears scars as Katrina pounds New Orleans

Mon Aug 29, 6:49 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Shattered glass, fallen brick walls, smashed up cars and trees ripped up by their roots littered the storied French Quarter of New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina tore through.

The intimate maze of narrow streets, quaint houses and bars, normally filled with the aroma of Creole cuisine, snatched notes of jazz and tourists from the world over, looked like a war zone.
French Quarter bears scars as Katrina pounds New Orleans

Updated On: 8/30/05 at 07:46 PM

Posted: 8/30/05 at 7:50pm

Just curious guys. Why does papa change subject lines to small case letters? and why does it bother pal so much? Both you guys are smart, well informed posters. What's up?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 7:54pm

Check your PMs

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 8:00pm

I still haven't heard from any of my friends there.

I'm so sad.

Posted: 8/30/05 at 8:05pm

I just heard where one of the organizers at the Cindy Sheehan protest has not heard from his daughter. That seems to be the case for a lot of people. The uncertainty and the waiting is just terrible.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 8:49pm

6:03 P.M. - N.O. Councilman Oliver Thomas: "What you see on TV, you have no idea what the level of devastation and frustration is on the street."

6:04 P.M. - Thomas: Most sobering moment - being told to leave the dead bodies, because there are people to rescue.

6:05 P.M. - Thomas: Saw at least three dead bodies during his rescues. Whole families were among those rescued.




Updates as they come in on Katrina

[loudasthehelliwant]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 9:03pm

Jesus Christ, things are bad down there.

Prayers and positive thoughts to EVERYONE down there.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 9:44pm

CNN is reporting that the National Guard is being deployed to the New Orleans French Quarter to combat growing violence. Journalists are being shot at and cars trying to get out of the city are being targeted for carjacking. Prisoners are rioting trying to escape and holding hostages.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 9:57pm

My sister's is in Baton Rouge and are safe. No electricity, but not under ten feet of water!

Where is the President? Homeland Security - where???

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 10:50pm

The night before Katrina hit there was a previously scheduled special on National Geographic Explorer about the apparent worsening of natural disasters that I happened to watch. It covered tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes. For each of the topics they focussed on one place on earth where not only were people extremely vulnerable to these disasters and not likely to survive them (like the foolish citizens who keep moving to Naples who will not make it through the inevitable eruption of Vesuvius) and for the hurricane section they said that New Orleans was destined to be destroyed by a hurricane.

They talked about how the series of levees that the army corps of engineers erected to "protect" the downtown area they call "the bowl" because it is below sea level, would probably not work if the city took a direct hit from a category 2 or 3 hurricane. It was at that point I said, "Uh oh." When CNN showed interviews yesterday with people who rode the storm out in the French Quarter and who said after the storm passed that they "knew the old house" would hold up, I thought, "I dunno... the problem is the water."

I wasn't anywhere near the media throughout the day today, but I have to say, after seeing that special I am not suprised by any of this. There were some experts who didn't think New Orleans would be able to recover for years if they took a smaller hit than this... that the compromised drinking water alone could actually make the place unihabitable.

It was a bleak scenario, and it seems to be coming to pass.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 10:54pm

You're right, Namo -- it was always a kind of Russian roulette to build a city below sea level. What I want to know is, is Los Angeles also a tragedy waiting to happen?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 10:56pm

They focused on LA and San Fran as the two big doomed earthquake cities.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/30/05 at 11:34pm

It's one thing to move into a major city that might be hit by a huge disaster at some unknown point in the future. What I really don't get is people who build their houses (and worse, beach homes) in flood zones over and over again, or insist that their vacation homes need to be in the middle of a fire-prone forest or landslide-vulnerable mountains. In the end, they always need to be assisted at taxpayer expense and it's just annoying.