Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say that much of New Orleans is considered a flood plain, and if structures are rebuilt in those parts of the city, they will have to be elevated substantially. “Absolutely, yes,” said Ed Pasterick, a FEMA specialist in Washington, D.C. “There may be decisions to be made as to whether large areas of the city can or should be rebuilt.”

But before homes can be rebuilt

It will take at least a year before residents and businesses can even start to rebuild in New Orleans.

“The infrastructure is gone,” he said. “There’s no water and sewer lines anymore. There’s no power poles, no electrical wires. In order for them to rebuild, they have to put all that in.

“But first they have to remove the hazardous materials.”

A million or more people now have no home, no job, and thus, no money coming in. Louisiana has already said they have no idea how they will pay for the unemployment claims. Their norm is 170,000 or so jobless, they are expecting 750,000 to one million now.

The scope of this tragedy is staggering, and the response from DC has mostly been PR spin and crickets.

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Fats Domino, safe and sound, reunited with family.

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It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive.

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Some NOLA hip hoppers have lost much, including family. They and others though are stepping up and helping out.

Jay-Z and P-Diddy have stepped up and have each donated one million dollars to the Red Cross. They have also donated large amounts of clothing from their companies Roc-a-Wear and Sean John.

Ludacris has stepped it up and is using funds from his Ludacris Foundation to help in the relief efforts.

Meanwhile, the record biz is doing jack.

What we’ve gotten from these major record labels in the form of their public representative the RIAA is an announcement in the midst of all this devastation, that they intend to sue 754 more ‘illegal’ music down-loaders.

Let’s send RIAA to suck the sewage out of New Orleans as they have unquestioned experience in being predatory bottom dwellers.

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Nagin: ‘They are spinning and people are dying”

Video. Perhaps the bluntest, most pissed off, you will ever hear a big city mayor be…

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Sue analyzes the stats from FEMA

The feds knew a catastrophic storm was going to hit New Orleans, Louisiana and Mississippi since at least Saturday, August 27.  5 days.  The storm hit August 29 (Monday).

As of early August 31, ( Wednesday) more than 54,000 people were in 317 shelters. FEMA is working with a multi-state housing task force to address expected continued sheltering and eventual housing needs.

Since evacuation by bus didn’t begin until Thursday, September 1, the 54,000 are self-evacuating and are at NGO and state shelters.

More than 82,000 meals have been served in the impacted areas.

To the 54,000 in the NGO and state shelters?  In two days?  Lean pickings. Less than one meal a day.
 
The number of *homeless* victims still in the city is still in the tens of thousands.

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The pipelines to DC and NY are down.

Experts: $4 a gallon gas coming soon

Northeast suppliers already paying $4 a gallon

58 offshore rigs or platforms damaged or gone

Check TheOilDrum for breaking news and analysis on the effect of Katrina on oil. They’ve been first with important news several times now.

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But city officials were seething with anger over what they called a slow federal response to a disaster that may have killed thousands.

“They don’t have a clue what’s going on down there,” Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM Thursday night. “They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn - excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed.”

The chaos deepened despite the promise of 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting.

New Orleans’ top emergency management official called the effort a “national disgrace” and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly lawless city.

Col. Henry Whitehorn, chief of the Louisiana State Police, said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers - many of whom from flooded areas - turning in their badges.

“They indicated that they had lost everything and didn’t feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives,” Whitehorn said.

As he watched a line snaking for blocks through ankle-deep waters, New Orleans’ emergency operations chief Terry Ebbert blamed the inadequate response on the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“This is not a FEMA operation. I haven’t seen a single FEMA guy,” he said. He added: “We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans.”

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This excellent post from Lefti on the News points out that when the Cat 5 Ivan hit Cuba, they successfully evacuated everyone, and not a single life was lost. Unlike the inept US response to Katrina, Cuba had an actual plan, and carried it out masterfully.

Twice recently, I’ve mentioned the experience of Cuba in dealing with that hurricane (which was a Category 5 when it hit Cuba) - 1.3 million people, more than 10% of the population, evacuated under the direction and with transportation provided by the government, not a single person dead, compared to 18 killed in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and 70 more in the Caribbean.

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Calif. Senate votes to allow gay marriages

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