Random updates

This will be moving online shortly as many people areforwarding this around. Thanks for all the support! I'm also going tostart getting some addresses for donations. Right now the shelters needclothes more than anything.

I spent the day in Monroe LA. They have 2,000 refugees. People were coming to the gas stations with 55 gallon drums and filling them. I have no idea if these were Miss. or LA citiizens. Gas is still holding around $2.50/gallon. I think people are worried about being accused of gouging. I have compiled the following info from a contact in St. James, a SWAT team member who handled a prison riot last night in Orleans and the fact that I spent the day in a dispatch center installing our software.

St. James and Lafourche (laa-foosh) Parishes have no electricity but arebasically OK. Some building damage but nothing catastrophic. St. John Parish, which borders Jefferson, is basically OK as well. Noelectricity but the water has subsided. Most probably, this will beused as the base for emergency operations since you can get to NewOrleans via I-10 and Airline Hwy. (Hwy 61) from here.

Jefferson (Kenner, Metarie, Westbank) – basically screwed. They losttheir 911 center, all radio communications and all computer networks. I have seen all of the data centers for Jefferson and don’t understand howthis could have happened. The only communication is Police/Fire usingtheir radios as walkie talkies on simplex.

Orleans (New Orleans) – Criminal Sheriff radio system working, NOPD system down. NOPD using radios as walkie talkies. For some stupid reason, they evacuated the St. Bernard prisoners to Orleans and several riots have broken out. Why they didn’t bring them to Baton Rouge is a mystery.

St. Tammany (Slidel, Covington, Mandeville) – Only communication is aham radio that was setup yesterday. Parts appear to be as flooded asNew Orleans. No word from anyone. The I-10 bridge and causeway are theonly 2 ways into New Orleans from this side. Both have major damage andwill be impassible for months. I do know one person who was able to makeit to their neighborhood. Some houses do not have flooding. No power for sure.

Plaquemines – They are getting the latest satellite photos from NOAA today to see where the river and gulf are. It appears that PlaqueminesParish is non-existent now. This is not like the Tsunami where there was water that eventually receded. This is the Mississippi and Gulf nowstart much closer. Reports are that the Gulf now starts 20-40 miles further inland. I will not call this until I can look at the maps later today. If the photos get on the internet, I’ll send a URL. If thisproves to be true, there will be people who no longer have land torebuild their house.

Sugar Cane – many of the land that was/is lost is sugar cane producing. There is talk on the news about how devastating this will be. It will have some impact but realize that there are many more parishes who did not suffer significant damage that produce sugar cane. This is too early to call and the media should be spanked for speculating. I want to see percentage numbers. There are still many sugar refineries thatare up and running.

The funny - there are rumors of sharks being spotted in Metarie. This has been confirmed. There are bull sharks in Lake Ponchetrain and now that the levee is busted there are sharks in Metarie. At least one alligator has been spotted.

Traffic is terrible in Baton Rouge. They estimate over 1,000,000 additional people are in the city. They expect this to stay for months. At least 2,000,000 people have no place to go (don't believe the low numbers the media is showing). There are no home rentals and few office space available (since Monday). There is an UNCONFIRMED rumor that 4,000 homes were sold today. I have someone checking on this. Apartments have few vacancies. I believe life in Baton Rouge will be differrent for a year or two.

The ugly - I have confirmation from law enforcment and medical peoplethat there are tons of bodies floating around. Low estimates are thousands. People keep coming out of the city. The officials had no idea how many people stayed. You keep seeing pictures of people on their houses. What you don't see is that they are checking every house since people could be in the attic. When they find bodies, they mark the house with a red X. They don't have much time to get the survivors and they don't have the refrigeration. New Orleans has a 5,000' no flyzone which is why the media has not gotten this.

Another displaced family just arrived where we are staying. I'm signingoff for now and will post more info later. I have much more to share.

Paul (still without power)