Hurricanes...

[sabotabby]

The thought that there might not be a New Orleans anymore is too big and apocalyptic to comprehend.

I've never been there. Always meant to go. Hope I'll be able to go, one day. I'm hearing conflicting things about the probable extent of the damage and that some people hadn't been evacuated and can't be accounted for. I feel very trivial right now, sitting safe at work and reading about sheep hearts while the tides are rising.

Comments

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

They totally lucked out. New Orleans was merely extensively damaged but not destroyed; the catastrophic swamping of the levees didn't happen, because the storm took a last-second turn to the northeast, and the west edge of the storm eroded when it encountered some dry air. The eyewall missed the city, the storm surge was lower than they were afraid it would be, and the winds a little less.

Dodging a bullet doesn't begin to describe it. I bet people are going to whine about the apocalyptic rhetoric and the mandatory evacuation order, but they were this close to having the city nuked off the map. I'm still stunned they didn't evacuate sooner.

It's still going to cost thirty billion or more to clean up. Andrew might still end up having been a bit worse in dollar terms, but not by much. And oil's going to be near seventy-five bucks for a while, because about half the US's oil production is going to be off-line for some time.

Gulfport and Biloxi, now...

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

You should go, though. Such good food!

[sabotabby]

Good to hear; most of the news I saw over my lunch break looked very dire. It's actually passed now?

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Have you seen jamie_miller's post about it?

Oil

[sabotabby]

I'm learning Spanish and moving to Venezuela anyway.

Re: Oil

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Pick another Latin country: They already have a baseball player leader.

Re: Oil

[sabotabby]

I don't want to lead. I want to make propaganda.

Re: Oil

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Then your baseball experience is irrelevant.

Re: Oil

[sabotabby]

A certain group I'm in appointed me Minister of Propaganda, a.k.a. Minister of Not Making Us Look Stupid last night. Actually, I appointed myself that, but they agreed that it was a good idea. I was heartily amused.

[pretzelsalt.livejournal.com]

Watching newzcasts of people waiting in never-ending lines for a spot on the floor in the superdome was creepy.

I just keep thinking about all the people who CAN'T AFFORD to go on a little 3 day to several month vacation.

I mean it's all well and good to have the Mayor come out and say "EVACUATE - that's an ORDER!"

But if you have no car - a family and .32 cents to your name after you paid rent on a space that might be gone tomorrow.... what do you do?

What if you are 50 miles from the superdome?

This is all so scary.

Privilege is just part of my thought process.

[sabotabby]

I'm wondering what happened to all the homeless people. I mean, here, you could put out an order for evacuation, but someone living under a bridge wouldn't necessarily hear it.

[pretzelsalt.livejournal.com]

no kidding.

a google search tells me there are not one but THREE zoos in the NO area.

That creeps me out as well.

Last time it flooded - didn't someone give the critters a boat?

[sabotabby]

Only the elite. Think of them as the critter bourgeoisie.

[yuki-yarrow.livejournal.com]

I was so shocked when I heard. I wanted to go for Mardi Gras in the not so distant future! I wanted to do THINGS there, I wanted to throw beads and wear beads, and light candles and BOOGY. Now where will I boogy? WHERE WILL I BOOGY?! *cries*

[sabotabby]

Well, apparently it didn't actually flatten the city. So hopefully, there will still be Mardi Gras. I wanted to go too -- I'd even have broken my herbivorous habits to eat catfish!

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

Entirely! My friend Sean, who I went to New Orleans with twice, called me today for the first time in months so we could share our dismay that New Orleans may no longer be around. It's such a special city but it's been living on the edge for years.

[sabotabby]

It's one of those cities that seems in America and not of it. I'm not sure, never having been there, but the photos I've seen all make it look like somewhere I'd want to hang out.

Not right now, mind you.

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

It's definitely different than the rest of the country. Especially considering what immediately surrounds it. You should visit it soon since it's going to need a lot of tourist dollars to return as that's its whole economy (well, most of it).