Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Grand Isle, Louisiana Under Water

I am presently watching Ed Lavendera of CNN on a house with stilts on Grand Isle, Louisiana. As he looks down below him it looks like about 3 to 4 feet of water has come over the Isle and covered most of the Island with water. The problem when I look at this is: "If this surge gets higher than the house he is in does he have a boat that he could tie off to the roof?" The reason I'm thinking this is that the worst of the storm won't get there for 14 or more hours. So, if it is this bad now is he going to be okay?

Later: 9.5 feet of  ocean surge experienced in New Orleans and higher surge expected. Now storm surges of 10.3 feet have been recorded.  And the Mississippi River has been running backwards for hours now sending seawater way upstream. Also, Baton Rouge is expected to be hit by the storm just like New Orleans and the eye will pass over there too. 106 mph gusts recorded. You cannot stand up or stay standing up in a 106 mph gust unless you are holding onto something like a traffic light pole or something like that. High tide they said was around 7 am and the surge will still be there. So, tomorrow morning we will see the full effect of the surge at high tide throughout the gulf coast. Also, the pumps they said won't be able to pump all of the water that falls out of the sky from rain for a few days. So there will be flooding in New Orleans even if all the levees and floodgates hold. 275,000 people without power at present. Up to 27 inches of rain now forecast for Southeastern Louisiana. People who did not heed mandatory evacuation in parishes might drown at this point sometime between now and 48 hours from now. The last I saw of Ed Lavendera was when the bottom floor above the stilts flooded. But since he is on the 2nd floor hopefully he and his camera crew will come through this okay. All facts quoted from CNN TV

Later Still: It is now reported that because Hurricane Isaac is now stationary that New Orleans will experience several feet of rain. This is not good news but it comes from a good source. After staying stationary spinning in place for over 2 hours the storm started to move again. Until it did it sort of scared meteorologists and everyone else who realized feet of rain could come down in New Orleans if it kept stationary too long. As it is there will be some flooding in New Orleans because of the excess rain even if none of the levees or seawalls are breached because the rain is coming down faster than the pumps can pump it out of New Orleans. CNN TV

The Next day: Ed Lavendera is still okay. The water now has filled the garage and the first floor has at least 3 to 4 feet of water washing through it. They are trying to get the furniture up high enough so it all won't be ruined. But the camera crew is still up on the 2nd floor and okay even though water is completely covering the island with all the buildings sticking up out of the water on Grand Isle.

No comments: