I was one of the first to mention the fact that the levee to Lake Ponchartrain was breached just before midnight in New Orleans and had a 2 block wide gap which was causing water to rise at a rate reported at 12" an hour by the Vice President of Tulane University Medical Center. I was one of those that were not impressed by the spin on Monday that the city was spared, I knew it was extremely bad.
This was a perfect storm in that it did what it had too do to destroy New Orleans while using it's main force to cut a 200 mile wide swath of destruction to four states.
Katrina's impact is being minimized because it was not a direct hit from a cat 5 but I think this is the media backtracking after spending twenty-four hours dolling out doomsday scenarios.
Katrina hit Bastion Bay LA which is home to the major portion of the gulfs refining and oil pipelines. This cause flooding in South of the Mississippi and the storms westerly winds in the northern half pounded New Orleans from the east for 8 hours until the eye passed the area. Then Lake Ponchartrain spent another 12 hours with winds out of the north bashing it's levee protecting the city, not to mention that prior to that it had been pouring water towards the populated areas West of the lake.
No matter how mush the media likes to show the effect of the winds, not to mention how we love to see Geraldo falling on his ass or Shepard having the shit beat out of him, the biggest problem from as far as danger to life and property come from the flooding not the wind, and this storm was a perfect storm in the way it caused flooding to the vulnerable areas.
Then we have the Mississippi and Alabama coasts which, while less vulnerable then N.O. actually bore the brunt of the storm.
This was a perfect storm in that it did everything necessary to destroy New Orleans, while still slamming three other states with enough force to decimate an area 100 miles wide and God knows how deep.
Latest reports. 80% of new Orleans flooded, 75% of the buildings in Gulfport MS had major damage to their roofs. 8 refineries shut down with 50% of the nations refining capacity. 50 cents per gallon wholesale price increase.
What does the future hold. Parts of Southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama should see the flooding should recede so that people can get to work assessing the damage and rebuilding the coastal region, but New Orleans is a different story. With 80% of the city currently flooded and the water rising as we speak this will not end soon. It will take weeks to get the levee repaired, the power restored and the pumps into operation to clear the water. First we will see the rescues and the pictures of the damage, what we won't see is the biological and environmental contamination caused by flooding of major metropolitan areas. Then when the damage assessment finds 90% of the cities buildings condemned due to water and wind damage.
This was a perfect storm and we will find that out in the days to come.