katrina's march from the sea..

what was 'good' for new orleans looks to be utter catastrophe for mississippi. new orleans, once again dodged the direct hit they've feared for decades.. that being said, much of the city is underwater, the water is still rising and the timeline for getting power back to the town is estimated to be weeks. tomorrow morning is going to bring more pictures of the damage, and i'm certain those images are going to be shocking. it's ironic that the french quarter was spared, yet many residential neighborhoods are under 8+ feet of water. the latest reports tonite are indicating that water level is still rising in new orleans. all of that water will have to be pumped out, so new orleans' problems may just be starting. there will be significant fresh water issues, including contamination and disease if that water isn't moved out quickly.

to the east, i'm afraid things are going to be unfortunate. the last estimate i saw was 50 dead in mississippi alone. there has been no look in to plaquemines parrish and st. bernard parrish.. with the track of the storm, these two will have taken the worst of it in louisiana. most of those areas are not far above sea level and are surrounded by water.. i pray that that the folks that rode it out in those areas made it through safely. the reports from earlier indicated that people were having to ride out the storm on their roof due to the water being so high..

mississippi looks to have taken the absolute worst part of this storm. gulfport fire marshall is indicating 75% of all structures have significant roof damage if any roof left at all. biloxi had a tragic apartment death count - up to 50 people were killed when an apartment complex collapsed.. it appears as if things will be found to be worse in the morning.

the next concern after search and rescue will be to prevent looting - mississippi's governor came out with a powerful statement on that - authorizing the full force of the law against looters - comparing them to grave robbers. after that, the southern heat will kick in and make the clean up effort nothing short of miserable.

i'm afraid that we haven't seen the true impact of this storm yet. i have a feeling that tomorrow will bring some tragic news. pray for the folks in the south.