Parker has an updated, new diary about the levee breaches and a flood of water pouring back into New Orleans.
Yahoo’s front-page stories are about Rita roaring towards the coast, the flooding of New Orleans, and the horrific death of 24 people in a bus on the Houston freeway. (Alohaleezy — aka SoCal Skywatcher — has written a bonafide rant on “the horror of piss poor planning [that] hits on the highway where at least 24 seniors lost their lives in a bus fire along the side of the road.”)
What have you heard? What’s going on? (I overslept, which is good because I have a cold and was tired.)
Update [2005-9-23 12:16:37 by susanhu]: Darrin Kagin (Spelling? Is she the CNN anchor who’s dating Rush? Yesterday a.m., she talked like a Nazi stormtrooper to a couple in Galveston who’d finally given up on staying. She told them, “About time you got some common sense.” And more. She let them have it.) on CNN just asked Susanne Malveaux about the weekend protest — and Cindy Sheehan coming to D.C.
Malveaux said Bush would stay out of town to avoid the demonstration. Susan T tells me that “she won’t be hard to find at the march since Malveaux also said that ‘hundreds, perhaps thousands are expected to participate‘.” (I’m just glad they’re talking about it. I’ve been worried it’d be off their radar entirely.) Update [2005-9-23 13:30:4 by susanhu]: Susan T — taking a bus from Michigan to D.C. — also says that C-SPAN will cover the demonstration. (C-SPAN link)
Latest from the National Hurricane Center:
Statement as of 11:00 am EDT on September 23, 2005
Rita has weakened since yesterday. The eye is not as distinct and
the convection is not as intense as 24 hours ago. This is consistent
with the central pressure which has risen to around 927 mb and
winds have decreased. The initial intensity has been adjusted down
to 115 knots. Unless another eyewall cycle occurs that could bring
the winds temporarily up a little bit…the overall tendency is for
Rita to weaken gradually. So far the passage of Rita over the warm
eddy in the Gulf of Mexico has not resulted in intensification.
However…research suggests there is a lag in the atmospheric
response. Nevertherless…Rita is expected to make landfall as
category 3 or…a little less likely…category 4 intensity.
Upper-air data shows that the high pressure system controlling the
motion of the hurricane is already north and east of Rita and is
centered over Arkansas and Tennessee. Consequently…Rita has turned
more to the northwest and is now moving 310 degrees at 9 knots. No
significant change in track is anticipated before landfall near the
Upper Texas or southwestern Louisiana coast early Saturday. Once
inland…the steering currents are forecast to collapse and Rita is
expected to move little over northeastern Texas and southwestern
Arkansas. Rita by then will likely produce torrential rains. The
official forecast follows very closely the model consensus.
Rita is a large hurricane and tropical storm force winds extend
outward a great distance. A sond dropped from a reconnaissance
plane measured 56 knots surface winds about 120 N mi west of the
eye.
END
It is the rain and storm surge that will do the most damage. They are expecting a storm surge of a Cat 5 and 20 to 30 inches of rain along the inland path.
About the 24 killed…see my diary on the recent diary list.
Great rant! It makes me sick.
OT, but I wanted to be sure you saw this … Lisa in L.A. just sent this e-mail:
Yeah, I read that this morning. It was really strange and i have to say at this juncture of their tenure, I don’t believe a f’en word they say.
Senior Meteorologist Rob Cordry of the Daily Show
Rob Corddry: Absolutely Jon. Whatever they’re shortcomings in the past, the federal government has learned the lesson of Katrina: start blaming state and local officials now. I’ve already been assured by FEMA that the mayor and governor will have failed. And this time the president will not be detached. There are already plans to have him helicoptered in to save a baby trapped in raging floodwaters.
Jon: That seems to be taking a bit of a chance, no?
Rob: Nah, they’ve got 5 babies spread out around the area. Jon, they’re confident Bush will get one.
Jon: Who would give their baby to be used in that type of fashion?
Rob: You’d be surprised Jon. The GOP has a classification for that level of donor. They’re people who have donated $250,000 and, of course, a baby.
Another victim is actually dating Rash Lamebrain!! Ok, that’s it, enough of moral considerations and communitarian concerns, I’ve got to find a way to make some serious bread!! (;
Gilgamesh – as a student and a veritiable expert in Analytical Philosophy you should have been aware the primary moral virtue (as Kant explicated in his treatise Ich Habe Meine so Du Arschloch) is the amount of money, stocks, bonds, and so on one has.
A friend went to Houston last weekend because her Mom, who lives in Houston, had surgery Monday. Finally got the hospital to commit to keeping her Mom til after the storm passed yesterday morning and my friend started back to Austin. Couldn’t leave sooner til she knew what was happening with her mom – if they didn’t agree to keep her, she’d have had to drive her back to Austin – post-op – because her Mom’s house is in a mandatory evac area of Houston.
Well, she spent 24 hours on the road and finally abandoned her now-out-of-gas car and her husband drove from here and picked her up, so last report was “she’s almost home now.”
Coworker said her son left Houston at 9pm Wednesday night and made it into Austin yesterday at noon. 15 hours on the road. (Normally about a three hour drive).
And the Katrina survivors I’ve gotten to know are in the new apartment that they moved to out of our convention center with no furniture etc and said yesterday that they had “six carloads” of Houston relatives headed their way to stay with them. I don’t know if they made it or not. Planning to go over there later and check on them.
When is a good time to call you, Jackie?
Hey Susan if you are around the link for my diary doesn’t work? Thanks for including it though.
Not the first time I’ve done that 🙂
OPEN quotation / CLOSE quotation
OPEN quotation / CLOSE quotation
OPEN quotation / CLOSE quotation
(have the same problem with parentheses — see?
I do the same thing girlfriend…no worries!