CNN 1000-2000 New Orleans death toll

[ncbird]

I pray they are wrong, but would not surprise if they are not. Many look at the wind to judge the outcome of tropical systems but when it come to life, it is flooding that cause the most loss.

I also urge anyone that is in the path of Kat as she makes her way North to keep in mind

“Rainfall sufficient to cause flooding does not necessarily require a tropical system to make landfall. Tropical remnants are as big a threat to life in some cases as hurricanes due to the rainfall and subsequent inland flooding.” (Cline, J. W., 2002: Surface-based rain, wind, and pressure fields in tropical cyclones over North Carolina since 1989.)

[soonertwister]

I'm extremely concerned about the sheer logistics of getting 100 thousand - or more - people out of New Orleans in a pretty big hurry to avoid an even worse catastrophe than we already have.

Please don't respond and say that some areas are above sea level, or that they can climb buildings to higher ground. This is about the survival of people, not a temporary reprieve from death. The death toll of those who stay in New Orleans will be staggeringly high due to highly contaminated flood waters, and countless other hazards created by this disaster, some we possibly cannot even imagine.

The only safe course of action is complete evacuation and a shutdown of the city until it can be made properly habitable again. I honestly don't believe there's a way that we can stop the levee breaches, and if we can't do that, the level of the water in the city will rise to reach the same height as Lake Pontchartrain. It will not be reasonably survivable habitat for even a fairly short term of a week or two.

This is truly a desperate rescue situation, and in the meantime, people are trapped in homes and probably dying as we speak. This is a most daunting task.

[Patrick99]

In my visits to New Orleans many years ago, I seem to remember a rather stately, very rich area...I think it was on the west side of the city. How's the flood damage there, if any?