4:45pm

What a day!  First day to get out to the area and survey the damage (hence the long time between updates) and it's a mixed bag of tricks out there.  My first issue: leaving my parking garage.  What a mess, that place ended up with people parking where ever they could and the negotiation of getting out became a practice in spatial relations and guts. 

Day started off driving north and east along I-10 to I-12 since most roads to the west were closed due to standing water and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was closed as well so the long way I went.  The "twin spans" over the Eastern side of the lake and there was a lot of debris that had been pushed off to the side of the road. I saw a lot of seaweed and wood (that I later learned was crab traps).

Saw some serious flooding from the road way in Slidell, say a shrimp/fishing boat that was half in a tree, half in the water.  I also saw trucks, cars and people floating by them on small fishing boats.  It's a tragic scene really, but you can't help but be awed by the sheer magnitude of it all. 

The North Shore was in decent shape, most grocery stores were open though only partially (no fresh foods, frozen or cold foods though pallets of ice were at the exits and you show your receipt to the man by the pallets and he hands you the number of bags you've paid for.

The New Orleans area is doing well for the most part.  It's all dry and not much standing water from what I saw.  There is still minimal electricity (900,000 homes without power statewide) and non-working traffic lights which is leading to a lot of people running their cars through intersections with reckless abandon and the number of times either myself or other cars avoided being broadsided is high.

Most neighborhoods I went through today had streets filled with tree limbs that weren't very large but there was a TON of leaves everywhere and they are clogging the drains and piling up in the streets.  Driving down streets with this issue is like driving on ice.

Lots of convoys around the city of electrical company trucks.  Largest one I saw was 13 trucks heading into the Metairie area and, reportedly, they are being cheered as they enter neighborhoods.  Apparently this is just the first wave, the next wave from out of state is expected tonight.

So the curfew has been lifted here in New Orleans, you think that has something to do with the Saint's playing tonight in Nashville?

Some pictures below from the day out as well as what the edge of one the remaining feeder bands looks like as it enters the downtown area. 

6:00 pm

The rain continues as well as the wind.  For most of the day I've watched this billboard in the weather and well, not such good news to report for it.  In this picture,taken this morning around 10:00am you can see it's still intact, giving a little in the winds but still intact.

And just this was taken around 4:00pm

This was taken just about 5:30pm.

Bless it's heart, it never had a chance.

Interesting facts about the power of this storm.  On 8/28 the hurricane caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards 182,000 cubic feet per second and raised the river 10ft above it's normal level for this time of year.  That's a lot of water being moved in the opposite direction on the world's 5th largest river.

The airport is closed for another day, but it's opening is in doubt for at least a week, maybe longer.

The winds are still a sustained 30-35 mph with gusts in the 40 mph range.  The intrepid weather watchers are saying the wind will die off tonight to below 30 mph but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Trees trees trees.  It seems that most of the damage in the area is confined to the arbor variety in the historic areas of the city.  Most pictures I've seen show the whole root ball being taken up right out of the ground so we are looking at 10-15 ft (diameter) root balls in the air with large trees laying across power lines and road ways.

There is one of those large construction cranes directly in-front of my hotel room, 3 blocks away.  I've notice it moving a lot lately and now the top portion has moved out from the position it was in this morning.  Something to watch tonight.

One last thing, since today is the 7th anniversry to the day of Katrina's land fall, the news did a nice graphic comparison of the two storms' path into the state. 

Compared to Katrina, Issac is a bit indecisive, no?

1:15pm

Decided during a lull in the storm I'd ventured out to the to see what was out there and I'll post those photos below.

Lots of heartbreak out coming out about people losing everything, including pets, when the flooding began down south.  Common theme in everyone's dialogue: "We didn't think it would be that bad, it's only a Category 1."  Well, heed this warning for the future, if you're in an area that evacuations are recommended: leave.  Regardless of storm strength, it can do bad things very quickly. 

Per the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, this morning they had a rise of water of 1.5 feet in 30 minutes.  This is concentrated in the southern portion of the Parish where most of the flooding has been happening today.

Ladies and gentlemen, Vic Mackey is now the Mayor of New Orleans.

New Orleans now has a curfew.  I guess Mom and Dad got mad.

Per the New Orleans' Mayor, several fires happened last night, most 1 alarm, one suspicious in nature.  Also the District Attorney is telling us that he is still working and prosecuting through the store.  The biggest issue he is facing: no electricity so they are unable to pull complete criminal histories so all offenders are being treated as violent when they are brought it.  Also the looting statute ups the normal sentence to a minimal mandatory 3 years.  Ouch.  Law and Order: New Orleans the next stop in the series?

Lots of video of uprooted trees coming in, most are laying in the middle of the street and maybe on cars, none so far on homes.

20 streets in New Orleans are flooding, they won't say which ones but they expect the pumps to have them cleared soon.

I saw this fall from my hotel room (the new one) this morning.  It made quite a boom when it fell.  

   

11:45 am

I've moved!  Well, it's not really that exciting, but I have moved rooms.  The reason is leakage.  No not me, the room.  Apparently my old room was the only room that did not have a room above it, just a gravel roof that started to leak during the night.  Now, luckily the water didn't start coming into the room till early this morning.  Photos below of the multipule water sources.

All these, besides the window, were right over or right behind the bed.  Oh what a wake up call that would have been.  Lucky for me I've been up since 2 am thanks to 95 mph gusts.

Plaquemines Parish is under mandatory evacuation now.  Levees are failing in multipule locations and it's time to get those people out, no reason to risk their lives nor the emergency workers who would have to rescue them.

Is it just me or is there something reassuringly funny to hear the Mayor of New Orleans call people knuckle-heads?  And they say politicians are dull.

My new room has a better view of downtown and I can see a good portion of Poydras, one the major roads that goes through downtown, and passes right in-front of the Superdome, City Hall and all the of the skyscrapers in the city.  I see minimal traffic on the road, mainly National Guard Humvees and police cars running code 1 (lights only, no siren). 

This morning I've watched the winds shift twice with such ease, it is frightening.  It's almost as if someone adjusted the fan to a different direction and a few hours later, switched it back. 

Now that there is daylight, I can see some minor damage downtown.  Mainly debris blown in from who knows where litters the curbs of the street and the air.  There is this weird ash like substance that is circulating around the hotel I'm in.  It looks a lot like snow and behaves like it as well; I can't figure out what it's origin is but must be something near by, perhaps the old Hibernia Bank building that is under construction next door. 

The eye of the storm is moving towards New Orleans as of this time.  Don't set that in stone though, this storm is acting so oddly that it is hard to say what move is next. 

A few reports that have been confirmed that there are several different homes that have collapsed in New Orleans.  Also reports of trees in the Uptown area are uprooted and laying across the road and taking out power lines.  Some of these trees are nearly 100 year old oaks that are a large tourist attractions.  No reports of homes beng hit. 

http://www.fox8live.com/story/19368931/despite-warnings-house-collapses-on-another-in-gentilly?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7651928

4:45am

Not sure why my updates are out of sync right now.  I'll see what I can do to fix it later today.

Storm is now officially ashore.  There is word about levee topping south of the city, outside the Federal levee system.  If the flooding is bad, look for this to become a hot button issue in the near future once recovery begins.

Storm's pressure is rising, which is good.  The 4:00a hurricane update had the pressure raising 3 milli-bars which is good per the intrepid weather men but the real lack of movement is what is bothering people the most.

The worst part of the storm is hitting New Orleans right now.  It sounds like the monster from Cloverfield is outside my hotel window.  I hope it's the wind whipping around the buildings but you never know.

All billboards that I can see at the entrance to the Quarter are still up and intact though, in other areas of the city, there are shots of billboards that have been ripped to shreds and now flap carelessly in the wind.  There is no damage to the metal structure, but the advertisement is history.

If you ever watched "Swamp People" on the Discovery Channel, that area is getting it bad.  Most of Southern Louisiana is taking it on the chin since the eye is right on top of it and watching transformers blow is quickly becoming the reporters, who are in the area, new time killing venture. 

I was messing with the flashlight the hotel gave me, it doesn't work.  Glad I brought my own. 

So apparently tropical storms are tall enough storms to create lighting.  Guess that explains my lack of lighting and thunder experience.  Most storms need to be in the 40,000 feet in height to create lighting and most tropical systems, for the most part, are around 30,000 feet.  Sometimes there can be tall clouds at the center of the storm that may produce some lighting and thunder but usually, it isn't common.

9:00pm

Power is still on here at the hotel but the staff is ready to clear out.  I was down in the lobby earlier with some other insurance people (mainly independent adjusters) and watched the hotel staff clear out the pantry in a hurry.  I honestly think they are abandoning the building for the night, leaving us residents to fend for ourselves.  Glad I have two locks on my door tonight.

You know the news is running out of stories when they start replaying the stories from this morning and acting like they are going on right now.

Rain is pretty much non-stop now as well as the wind.  Earlier I ventured down to the street level between rain bands to get an idea of the wind.  I had to walk down to the corner to actually get a feel for the wind due to the high buildings.  It wasn't bad, the worst I saw was a small tree branch move down the street.

The storm seems to be hanging off shore and not moving.  This is not good for rain reasons, unless this storm starts moving, it's going to drench the lower portion of this state to the point of beyond saturation and create a lot of storm surge in one area.  Per our intrepid weather man, there isn't anything to move this storm either back out to the gulf or push it inland.

A quick look out my window to the left and to the French Quarter shows almost all the neon signs are still up and doing well, only one letter is out but I'm not sure if it wasn't already out before the storm.  A look out towards the river bridge and Harrah's and Lowes show power still on there as well and all the residential and office buildings in-between. 

One thing I've noticed is there hasn't been any lightning.  I've seen more lighting on the TV's backdrop then I have outside.  I've heard some thunder but nothing major. 

Per the news, the worst is yet to come but they've been pushing this ominous prediction back every hour or so.  In preperation (and following hotel guidlines) I've filled my bathtub with water, plus every glass and coffee mug in my room plus a full ice bucket on top of the other couple gallons of bottle water I have.  I really doubt I'll need any of these things but better safe then sorry.

10:30pm

Rain continues outside and the wind is picking up.  Last note had the wind at 61 mph sustained at the airport.  The storm keeps moving to the west northwest and bouncing along the coast line.  New Orleans has been spared the majority of the bad weather, but the night is still young.

Hotel is shut down, we are confinied to our floors for the most part though the stairwells are available if we want to use them.  Watch how fast I move.

Switched news channels.  The constant negativeness of the first channel was getting tiresome.  Dropped one down to a rivial station where they are actually smiling, cracking jokes and giving positive news.  Might be fluff might not be, but hey, it's something different.

280,000+ without power in the state right now.  Every time they show the map of New Orleans and where is without power and where there is, my little area is still green.  Maybe I should rent myself out as good luck for areas.

Curfew is in effect everywhere but New Orleans, the new news station is really enjoying going downtown to Canal street to all the people that are hanging out in the hotel parking areas (they are covered) and watching a billboard get torn apart.

Issac from space isn't that interesting.  I usually like space weather shots, but this is really a oh hum image.

The ground is overly saturated from almost daily rain for 6 weeks and flooding is really becoming a concern for the areas below New Orleans.  Tonight will be a tell-tale time period with the track of the storm and what happens.  Right now, it appears the worst thing New Orleans will have is some minor wind damage and power outages.