Everyone Must Leave New Orleans

The governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, says “everyone needs to leave New Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina“. The refugees that were held up in the Lousiana Super Dome are now be relocated to the Houston AstroDome. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is beyond anyone’s imagination. It is just impossible to imagine that an entire city let alone Gulf Coast area has to be relocated.

The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. “We’ve sent buses in. We will be either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is necessary,” Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans’ breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the governor said Wednesday the situation was growing more desperate and there was no choice but to abandon the flooded city.

23,000 Super Dome refugees boarding buses for Astrodome to escape the heat, lack of food water and sanitary conditions of the SuperDome.

The situation inside the Super Dome, Blanco said, is desperate. There is no electricity, no air conditioning and no flushable toilets. One man either fell or jumped to his death inside the facility several days ago. The aging Astrodome’s air-conditioning and plumbing — along with extra portable toilets coming from FEMA — will be an upgrade for New Orleans refugees.

“We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in,” Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC’s “Good Morning America, “and the other issue that’s concerning me is we have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue.”

To make matter worse, Gulf Coast Declared Health Emergency.

Federal officials declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast Wednesday, calling life in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina “very dangerous.” They rushed food, medicine and water to the victims as part of a wide-ranging government rescue-and-relief response.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said his agency is concerned about potential disease outbreaks and was sending medical experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CNN: New Orleans shelters to be evacuated. Floodwaters rising, devastation widespread in Katrina’s wake

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) — New Orleans resembled a war zone more than a modern American metropolis Tuesday, as Gulf Coast communities struggled to deal with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will force authorities to evacuate the thousands of people at city shelters, including the Louisiana Super Dome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was escalating.

From The Times-Picayune, Flooding will only get worse

The catastrophic flooding that filled the bowl that is New Orleans on Monday and Tuesday will only get worse over the next few days because rainfall from Hurricane Katrina continues to flow into Lake Pontchartrain from north shore rivers and streams, and east winds and a 17.5-foot storm crest on the Pearl River block the outflow water through the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass.

A convoy of trucks carrying 108 15,000-pound concrete barriers – like those used as highway construction dividers – was en route to the site Tuesday night, said Mark Lambert, chief spokesman for the agency. Helicopters will lift the barriers above the hole and drop them in place, even as another 50 sandbags, each weighing 3,000 pounds, are also being maneuvered into place. “That’s 800 tons of concrete,” Lambert said. .What we are trying to do is just stop the water from going into the city.”