when the levee breaks

so hurricane katrina is pretty much over. at the last minute, it veered east ever so slightly, and new orleans did not receive the brunt of the storm as some had feared. instead, chunks of mississippi and alabama were crushed like by the hand of god.

and there was much rejoicing from those who thought new orleans had been "spared" and would only face a minor catastrophe rather than the complete annihilation of the city.

then the levee broke. martial law has been declared in the area. 80% of new orleans is underwater, and the waters continue to rise. most of the city is without power, and is expected to remain so for at least a month.

the new orleans times-picayune was distributed electronically only, as presumably it was impossible for them to print an actual news "paper". and who would be around to read it anyway? those people who were foolish or unfortunate enough not to obey the mandatory evacuation are holed up in the superdome, or trapped in their attics or on rooftops, hoping that they won't drown inside their own attics as their houses fill with water.

this is the largest natural disaster ever to hit the states. and it's the largest recovery operation the red cross has ever attempted. if you want to help, the best way is to give money to the red cross. when i get paid tomorrow, i think i'll donate.

and while there is no longer such a thing as hurricane katrina, the storm rages on. it has dispersed over a large chunk of north america. it has been raining all day here in indy (some 300+ miles away from louisiana), and according to the newscast i saw last night, it is supposed to rain straight through tomorrow evening.

update: turns out they've known for some time that the levees in new orleans were not up to snuff, and they were ready & willing to do the necessary repairs. but they couldn't make the repairs in large part due to massive budget cuts by bush to make up for the huge money drain caused by bush's tax cuts and the war in iraq.¶