As a ex-911 dispatcher who worked during Andrew I can tell you the horror what accompanies these monster storms. Just to let you know that Emergency services will not be available during the storm such as fire, police or EMS. During Andrew we had two fires and one heart attack. We could only listen but could not respond.
I imagine that it is the same for the Police and Fire in New Orleans.
So basically everyone is in God's Hands until the "all clear" is given.
Please visit Michelle Malkin for more tracking information on relief efforts after this killer storm, and remember that right now there isn't a lot that anyone can do, except pray and pray HARD!
But afterwards there are going to be a lot of needs - housing, water, dry goods, money, compassion. Be there! The best resource is the American Red Cross. They will be the first on the scene and the best way to help is to donate money. Don't worry they'll get the specfic help it where it belongs!
Wizbang has some info on what it might be like in the Superdome during and after the storm - not pretty.
Just a note, in 1965 Hurrican Betsy struck New Orleans with 125 hph winds.
"As Betsy continued across the Gulf of Mexico and turned toward the northwest, it grew into a category 4 storm with winds up to 155 mph.
As the hurricane moved ashore south of New Orleans it destroyed almost every building in Grand Isle, where the Coast Guard station reported gusts up to 160 mph.
Winds up to 125 mph were measured in New Orleans.
Betsy drove storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, which is just north of the city and is connected to the Gulf of Mexico, pushing water over levees around the lake. Flood water reaches the eves of houses in some places in the city.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Web site notes that "Betsy prompted Congress to authorize a ring of levees 16 feet high around the city — a project the Corps of Engineers is completing today. This level of protection was based on the science of storm prediction as it existed in the 1960s. The question remains, however, whether this level of protection would be sufficient to protect the city from a category 4 or 5 hurricane today — or even a category 3 storm that lingered over the city." USA Today 10/21/2003
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