Oh, this is so awful. I just saw a weather forecaster comment that the roof of the Superdome has never been tested like this...terrible to think of what could happen with all those thousands of people in there.

My thoughts and prayers and with all of you in Katrina's path.

Jumping forward without reading this post.

God Bless All of you in harms way. It is truly mother earth shouting down. I pray for your safety. You are in our hearts and minds! Please checkin! Hugs, Gyppie

My Husband, myself, and OD with friend were just in NOLA three weeks ago! It is so sad to think that damage could come to that wonderful town. There are so many unique and amazing things there that may never be the same: the cemeteries, Cafe Du Monde, the Dday Museum just to name a few things. Our beautiful hotel room in the Chateau Sonesta was on the second floor and the thought of it being under water breaks my heart. And what about the pets, dogs, cats, and strays. What about the horses at Jackson Square?

This just makes me sick. Just having been there and loving to see my 18 year old daughter and her friend discover this magical city for the first time was such a delight for me to see. And we really enjoyed the lovely friendliness of the people there.

God bless the city and whole area. Maybe Katrina will lose some speed, some power, swerve to the left or right. I don't wish any hardships on anyone, but NOLA will not withstand 20 feet of water.

I do hope God has mercy on New Orleans and all you people in that area.

GoTravel, this storm is now at least twice the size it was when it approached Miami. Back then, it was "minimal" as hurricanes go. It's a relative comparison. It doesn't mean that any hurricane is "safe" or that we should ignore any of them. I've been in a category 1 and there's no way I'd be staying around for the current incarnation of this one.

The Weather Channel compared the dimensions of hurricane Charley (45 mi. diameter) to Katrina (251 mi. diameter)!! Now, THAT'S serious!!

Belle

<I would imagine that Bourbon Street will be Rockin' with some of those "It can't hurt us" crowd.>

I actually know someone who is doing just that and she's not even a resident of the city. She's decided to ride it out in a corner suite at the Crown Plaza mere blocks from the water when she could have left with my sister yesterday. She obviously not the brightest crayon in the box.

I am so glad that my sister and BIL got out yesterday to return home instead of waiting until today. The normally five hour drive to Houston took them 10 hours, but they finally arrived home at 11 p.m. last night.

I have not been able to tear myself away from the news coverage all day and I'm sure I'll be up half the night watching, as well. Being a hurricane veteran on both the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean, my sympathy and prayers go out to all those in harm's way. Patrick said it right..."surreal."

And special prayers for those whose job it is to stay. The police, hospital staffs, paramedics, etc. Also, the staff still working in the hotels which have been given permission to stay open and have accepted locals in available rooms.

How many of you saw the movie "The Day After Tomorrow"?

Barbara, that is what it made me think of too. But instead of the New York Public Library, they are going to ride it out at the Superdome. Just like that movie. I never saw that movie in the theaters, but on HBO last month and really liked it.

Yes, God look out for all of those that have to stay. I am way too chicken.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this horrible storm.

Prayers with all those in the path of this horrible storm.

Everyone wanting to ride out the storm..please reconsider.I live in NC..when Fran hit in 96 it was VERY,VERY scary and it was not the size of this storm.I would move to higher ground if you are in NO.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone of New Orleans.Be careful not careless.

Thoughts and wishes to all in harm's way. . . here's a link for live feed from NOLA.

http://www.nola.com/paradecam/index.ssf?video

A message from California...our thoughts and prayers are with those in Katrinia's path.

And I sure add my prayers and good thoughts from California. Reading about people going into the Dome with walkers, people that do not have cars to escape NO etc breaks my heart. It sounds like a nightmare. Special prayers to all.

We are from Northern California and New Orleans is one of our favorite cities in the whole world! We are feeling very very sad right now and praying a lot!

sending prayers and good thoughts to those in katrina's path.

elle

currently opened that website in another window. thanks. will keep monitoring. looks quiet and streets are bare now. i know the feeling from iniki in '92, also a cat5. feel totally helpless now as i did in '92.

God bless all of you in the gulf coast.

Heavens, animals have a much better instinct about these things and will move out of harms way.

Saw a documentary about the tsunami and a gentleman who gave elephant rides had his chained elephants stampede up the side of the mountain saving the lives of all the guides trying to stop them minutes before the tsunami hit.

Barbara, I've been through many hurricanes and tropical storms and I understand the severity of a hurricane. My beef is that the media kept using the term MINIMAL hurricane. There is no such animal. That is like saying minimal catastrophe.

My sister in Miami, freinds in the keys, and mother in Key West all were caught with their pants down on this storm. Everyone expected it to hit Ft.Lauderdale and go away. Didn't happen.

OMG. CNN is reporting that massive pieces of the Superdome roof have peeled away and the building is leaking. They aren't sure if the roof will hold with all the torrential rain. They are presently moving everyone to one side of the building where the roof is drier.

It's east of NO. And it looks like the surge will be the worst and most destructive part this time, for property and for human life.

I keep thinking about the wonderful people in Biloxi, especially at Jefferson Davis' home and at Mary Mahoney's who repeatedly were so very kind to us and gave us such extended time. I sure hope they went inland too.

Well those buildings have stood for almost 2 centuries and 18 hurricanes up until now because they are on stilts and the surge goes under them. Hope they hold this time as they are in the very worst east wall of the eye.

The pictures taken inside the dome in NO this morning look like parts of the stands have leaking on them. They say the generators are giving light but too little power to run the ac now.

The offshore rigs are going to be offline for quite a while, and this means gas will go up 30 cents more a gallon this week; that's the estimate. They are telling people in the Midwest to fill up today as the price will be sky rocketing by Friday.

I sure hope the flood is such that all humans and their pets can get up high enough for the next 3 days. The estimate is 30 foot water in NO by Tuesday. It's so darn low there! With the malaria etc. I never could understand why they kept building in a swamp because of the sickness involved, apart from the storms/flooding.

Maybe the prayers did help as Katrina did not come right up the delta; they have been talking about that worst case scenario since I was a girl.

GoTravel, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know anything about hurricanes. Knowing where you live, I'm sure you've had up-close-and-personal experience too often.

My point, which I clearly didn't make well, was that "mimimal" must refer to the fact that tropical storms become hurricanes when the wind speed reaches 74mph. I'm sure you know that, but others may not. So, a "minimal" hurricane would be one which barely qualifies as a hurricane. I would agree that "minimal" may not be the best choice of a descriptive word to use along with "hurricane" as it is open to misunderstanding. On the other hand, the damage potential of a cat1 storm is substantially less than the damage potential of a cat5 storm.

No apology necessary. My beef is that the word 'minimal' threw many people off kilter and as a result, most people from Miami to Key West were totally unprepared.

The meteorologists admittedly played down the hurricane and have public have stated they will no longer use the term minimal when refering to a hurricane.

I do see your point as a hurricane one is minimal on the hurricane chart but it is still a horrific natural disaster if coming your way.

GoTravel, right you are about that term "minimal". It caught many people off guard as well as the fact that at 3 PM, they were saying it "would make landfall late that night or early in the morning and somewhere near Ft. Lauderdale." My niece and grand niece were caught in the midst of the actual landfall as they arrived in Miami about 6 PM, driving from Naples and hoping to beat the storm. Sure enough, later they said "the eye came across Miami between 6 and 8 PM". They saw some very frightening things while driving it, but it was too late to correct their mistake and they had to keep going. Meanwhile apparently my great niece still has no power, phone, or even cell phone signal in Miami.

Latest I've seen is one of the levees in NO has failed.

Have friends from NYC who did not/could not leave NO. They are at the Intercontinental, not sure what street. If anyone out there knows how things stand in NO right now or specifically anything about the condition of the Interconti, please post!! I heard there were some building collapses!!

sorry.... TTT! We are very concerned.

Michelle, CNN has the very best coverage. They have reporters 'embedded' all over New Orleans.

Thank GoT. If anyone has specifics on the Interconti, please post. I've read/heard that NO did not take a direct hit therefore conditions are not as horrific as they could have been.

Joining the world in prayer and best wishes during the wrath of Katrina, including all the reporters in harms way. God bless them all.

ttt

For those who don’t know, unlike my name applies, I now live in Lafayette, LA, West of N.O., West of Baton Rouge. We had an uneventful night & day. Some wind and little rain. This is where people evacuate TO. That said, I pray tonight for Dan, Fairhope and others who were/will be in the path. I wonder how everyone is. Amazing how Fodors does that to you.

I'm sure you've seen some shots, but we just watched a video from a news helicopter showing Kenner, airport, Metairie, Veterans, I-10, Westbank, Downtown, etc. Just amazing. There isn't much that isn't flooded. Though, downtown doesn't seem to be. The wind got the most of it. I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures of the Hyatt next to the Superdome. No pre-party there for Saints games this year. The economic impact will be devastating. I am a banker and seeing the windows blown out of the banks downtown scares me. I wonder how you recover with loss of paperwork – don’t worry – most of this is focused on people, not money. Jobs will return and business will survive – though there will be some that won’t.

I had to work today and that was probably good. Sitting in front of the tv all day is just depressing. I loved my years in NOLA & can't imagine what I was just seeing. It will be weeks before some can get home and months before life gets even slightly normal.

There are no reports yet of loss of life (other than evacuations). The video we saw showed a rescue by helicopter in action. Chills and tears. The thought of people spending tonight in their attics or on their rooftops is unspeakable. Estimates are 150-200 people waiting to be rescued. Now, I feel sorry for them and pray for them tonight, but we were all warned. There is no excuse for staying in those areas. A woman is staying with her son in my complex here. Her brother stayed at his home in St. Bernard (south of NO). She said tonight she assumes she has lost everything but what she brought (her dog & some pictures) but she wonders if her brother is alive. He was staying no matter what. That is just pure stupidity in my opinion. There are many people who feel that way. This is not a time to be a hero. The state will now spend hundreds of thousands rescuing those people who could have taken a free bus to a free safe haven.

Now, the locals and visitors who spent the night in the Superdome and lost power, A/C and then had roof failure, I feel for them. I am thankful they at least took the opportunity to help themselves.

I also feel for our MS & AL neighbors who took on the most water. Those pictures are also just awesome as I have spent time vacationing in or driving through all of those areas. The rig against the bridge in Mobile. Wow.

I am thankful that I know my friends are family made it through and assume most of their homes did as well. I have friends who have not yet gone home. My Thibodaux friends and Houma family should be fine. It is a little more iffy for my friends from Grand Isle. From what we hear, it had 7 feet of water, but homes are on pilings. I’m just glad they all got out.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings tonight…

I finally heard from my Uncle in Gulfport, Mississippi, I probably know more about the devestation awaiting them once they emerge than they do at this time with watching it on tv, etc...They went through Camille, and many others, but admitted that this one surprised them, she really left her mark....I wish them a safe recovery...

In watching the further news this a.m. I am just sick. Apparently things are much worse than initially thought in many areas. My heart goes out to all those affected in any way by this monster. The devastation is just awful.

My mom finally got through to relatives in Houma and White Castle-- and they were indeed spared the worst, thankfully. Cousins of mine in Metairie and the Quarter were also able to get out of town.

I guess this is the time to remind everyone: DONATE TO THE RED CROSS. Give what you can. They will need money. They may need blood, but right now it's CASH. With a large contingent of the National Guard deployed overseas (let's not get into that), the Red Cross will be an important First Response Force.

No matter how horrible all those pictures on TV are, and how bad the devastation is, the thing that horrifies me the most are the tales of the looters. Did you see the couple entering their damaged homes with a camera crew to find their TV, computer, etc. stolen? And the Pawn Shop that was looted, including all the guns? Looters are the most miserably low of all creatures.

Well Patrick..after evey disaster like Katrina we see the looters. Even after 9-11 there were looters. These kind of events bring out the "best of us" and sadly the "worst of us". Hopefully, many of these people will be caught and delt with harshly. It's hard to imagine the mind set of anyone that would do something like that.

Wow... just devastating. We finally heard from our friends albeit very briefly. They said it is and was a horrific experience. That's all they got a chance to say before we lost the call. My thoughts to all enduring this.

My heartfelt wishes. Sitting safely at my computer words don't seem enough to express how sad my DH and I are for those that are affected by Katrina and her aftermath.

May everyone along the gulf coast know that we are thinking of you and sending our prayers.

Donate to the Red Cross, and may God watch over all, including those that volunteer to provide aid.

Actually, I think we should "get into" the National Guard issue.

We know that the National Guard troops, deployed to Iraq, have access to CNN and what is going on in the NATION they wanted to protect. Can you imagine what their morale must be like ? Those from the affected states must be desperately worried about their friends and families.

They have been asked to fight a war against terror.

It's my opinion, that the immediate terror exists here, in the USA, in the aftermath of Katrina.

I am writing to my Senators and Congressional Representatives, to urge that we help OUR country by bringing some National Guard forces home.

Marion

From the looks of things, they can sure use more military in New Orleans to stop all the low-life looters. It's just disgusting - people are actually trying on shoes and clothes in the streets so they can steal the right size.