An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Some Gustav News and Where To Donate
Guard spokesman: Mississippi ‘dodged a bullet’
Powell said there was flooding in Gulfport, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but he said authorities expected that the damage caused by Gustav would not approach Katrina levels.
“The biggest risk now is flooding and high wind,” said Powell , a retired lieutenant colonel. “With this coming in as a Category II, we’ll have primarily trees down and damage to mobile homes and trailers. “Without a doubt, I think we’ve dodged a bullet.”
Six inches of flooding reported in the Upper Ninth Ward
Army Corps of Engineers said that the walls are designed to handle the overtopping without incident. The floodwalls have been strengthened since Katrina and are equipped with cement “splash pads” to prevent scouring from water coming over the walls, officials said. On the scene, the spillage was landing on the cement pads, which reduces its impact at the base of the wall.
“We’re confident in the stability of that wall,” which was fortified after Hurricane Katrina, said Karen Durham-Aguilera, director of Task Force Hope for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Officials are out in force at the scene. The overflow areas appear to be greatest on the river side of Claiborne.
New Orleans officials optimistic levees will hold
A weakened Hurricane Gustav crashed today into the flood-prone but nearly deserted coast of Louisiana, making landfall west of New Orleans as a Category 2 storm. Water was splashing over some floodwalls, but city officials were optimistic the levees protecting the city would hold.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Gustav hit just before 10 a.m. Monday near the community of Cocodrie, the heart of the state’s fishing and oil industry. Forecasters once feared the storm would arrive as a devastating Category 4 with much more powerful winds.
Gustav lands west of New Orleans
Half a million people across Louisiana are without electricity, said Gov. Bobby Jindal, who cautioned citizens not to think they have seen all of Hurricane Gustav.
“People shouldn’t think because they are not seeing flooding now the worst is over,” he said at a news conference. “The worst flooding could potennially be on the back side of this storm.”
The center of Hurricane Gustav remains two-thirds off shore, said Jindal, who added that the storm was unleasing nine- to 12-foot tidal elevations.
“We’re seeing 110 mph winds sustained along our waterfront,” he said.
GOP convention turns to appeal for hurricane aid
Republicans hurried to turn the opening day of their national convention into a fundraising drive for hurricane victims, with presidential candidate John McCain’s wife and first lady Laura Bush appealing for Gulf Coast help. McCain visited a disaster relief center in Ohio.
Party officials in St. Paul kept a watchful eye on still-dangerous Hurricane Gustav Monday to decide next steps for their shortened convention. They said they still expected McCain to address the convention at Thursday night’s finale.
Donate:
Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund
The Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund has been set up by Governor Haley Barbour to serve as the state’s central clearinghouse for corporations, organizations, and individuals to donate much needed money, equipment, goods, services, volunteers, and time to the hundreds of thousands of Mississippians who are recovering and preparing to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters such as Hurricane Gustav.
The Salvation Army encourages all residents of areas in Gustav’s path to prepare an Emergency supply kit, an evacuation plan and stay informed to all warnings and evacuation orders. Disaster response professionals recommend having a three to five day supply of food and water for each individual of your family as well as flashlights, medication, and battery powered radio.
You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Hurricanes of 2008, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. This Fund enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disasters.
In preparation for Hurricane Gustav, Operation Blessing’s disaster relief specialists are en route to staging areas in Mississippi and Baton Rouge.
Hurricane Gustav struck the Gulf Coast early today, leaving an estimated 2 million people temporarily homeless.
With children and families forced from their homes and seeking refuge in emergency shelters we need your help now to deliver relief supplies.
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You couldn’t GIVE me money to donate to that region. They were given billions of dollars that was just pissed away over the lats 3 years.
Heck you could have used that money to build 10 NEW, New Orleans.
Bah humbug.
@Jenn:
Pfft! I’m not giving the gubmint money. I gave to Feed the Children cuz….well, they feed the children.
And I give them a few bucks anyways, might as well give it to the folks without electricity right now. And to Operation Blessing, cuz I like what they do! 
Haven’t given a dime to Red Cross since the whole 9/11 fiasco, but I added it just cuz….
Kate, I have to agree, they won’t get one red cent from me, and I am from there…
NOLA is OK right now simply because it wasn’t their time to drown… When you build a city below sea level and that city is steadily sinking into the muck, and the powers that be are too damned stupid to just clear the place out, to hell with em..
All the preparations helped, but that place is a LOST CAUSE, and not worth a penny of MY money, tax OR donation…
If it weren’t for the fact that my Son and many really great Guard troops were there, and there because they were ordered there, I wouldn’t care if the damned flush handle got pulled and the whole sorry place washed out into the gulf…
@TexasFred:
My intent is for the bucks to go to anywhere BUT NOLA.
I actually specified where I wanted my donation to go. I agree….money has poured into that area from our tax dollars. And enough is enough. New Orleans can go the way of Atlantis for all I care.
Operation Blessing feeds folks without electricity, and that’s my intent.
It’s your money.. All the *slugs of NOLA* will do is take YOUR money and go back to NOLA…