You and your 283 friends have supported 1,995,874.6 square feet!
Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 61,263.3 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 283 friends have supported: (61,263.3)
American Prairie habitat supported: 37,966.0 square feet.
You have supported: (10,440.7)
Your 283 friends have supported: (27,525.3)
Rainforest habitat supported: 1,896,645.2 square feet.
You have supported: (163,181.6)
Your 283 friends have supported: (1,733,463.6)
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1 Aktbird57 .. 1205 45.817 acres
Wish that I lived near a coast so that I could assist with cleanup. Or any waterway.
Yes, cleanup/waterway issues all along the Gulf Coast. Devastating.
Clicked.
This is a test to see if I am allowed to post.
ICC sounds like fun. Also, a good thing.
sumac,
you most certainly are allowed to post. IMHO
The destruction along the Gulf Coast is terrible. I don't know if our friends living there are ok or not. They all evacuated except for one retired couple close to biloxi, MS. The couple who decided to stay live about a mile from the beach. I do hope they are ok.
clk'd
I hope you hear from your friends soon, danon.
Some friends of mine from another forum haven't been heard from since late Sunday. It's a frightening time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You and your 283 friends have supported 1,998,098.8 square feet!
Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 61,544.3 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 283 friends have supported: (61,544.3)
American Prairie habitat supported: 37,989.4 square feet.
You have supported: (10,440.7)
Your 283 friends have supported: (27,548.8)
Rainforest habitat supported: 1,898,565.1 square feet.
You have supported: (163,205.1)
Your 283 friends have supported: (1,735,360.1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Aktbird57 .. 1206 45.868 acres
New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer
Mon Aug 29, 9:23 PM ET
As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.
Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.
That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 160 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless.
"All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.
The center's latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. In the French Quarter, the water could reach 20 feet, easily submerging the district's iconic cast-iron balconies and bars.
Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless.
"We're talking about in essence having ?- in the continental United States ?- having a refugee camp of a million people," van Heerden said.
Aside from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Miami in 1992, forecasters have no experience with Category 5 hurricanes hitting densely populated areas.
"Hurricanes rarely sustain such extreme winds for much time. However we see no obvious large-scale effects to cause a substantial weakening the system and it is expected that the hurricane will be of Category 4 or 5 intensity when it reaches the coast," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Richard Pasch said.
As they raced to put meteorological instruments in Katrina's path Sunday, wind engineers had little idea what their equipment would record.
"We haven't seen something this big since we started the program," said Kurt Gurley, a University of Florida engineering professor. He works for the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, which is in its seventh year of making detailed measurements of hurricane wind conditions using a set of mobile weather stations.
Experts have warned about New Orleans' vulnerability for years, chiefly because Louisiana has lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands in the past seven decades. The vast patchwork of swamps and bayous south of the city serves as a buffer, partially absorbing the surge of water that a hurricane pushes ashore.
Experts have also warned that the ring of high levees around New Orleans, designed to protect the city from floodwaters coming down the Mississippi, will only make things worse in a powerful hurricane. Katrina is expected to push a 28-foot storm surge against the levees. Even if they hold, water will pour over their tops and begin filling the city as if it were a sinking canoe.
After the storm passes, the water will have nowhere to go.
In a few days, van Heerden predicts, emergency management officials are going to be wondering how to handle a giant stagnant pond contaminated with building debris, coffins, sewage and other hazardous materials.
"We're talking about an incredible environmental disaster," van Heerden said.
He puts much of the blame for New Orleans' dire situation on the very levee system that is designed to protect southern Louisiana from Mississippi River floods.
Before the levees were built, the river would top its banks during floods and wash through a maze of bayous and swamps, dropping fine-grained silt that nourished plants and kept the land just above sea level.
The levees "have literally starved our wetlands to death" by directing all of that precious silt out into the Gulf of Mexico, van Heerden said.
It has been 40 years since New Orleans faced a hurricane even comparable to Katrina. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, submerged some parts of the city to a depth of seven feet.
Since then, the Big Easy has had nothing but near misses. In 1998, Hurricane Georges headed straight for New Orleans, then swerved at the last minute to strike Mississippi and Alabama. Hurricane Lili blew herself out at the mouth of the Mississippi in 2002. And last year's Hurricane Ivan obligingly curved to the east as it came ashore, barely grazing a grateful city.
Hi wildclickers!
sumac, devastating for the gulf coast. <good thoughts for our friends at the Roost>
Dan, I agree. ICC's a good organization.
We've seen nature at its very worst the past year, devastating peoples lives and homes. With all its mysteries, nature offers also beautiful sites and colors from the statosphere. Found the site during research today...http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm
Beautiful stuff, Stradee. Good antedote to today's news.
Hope you enjoyed Katrina, ehBeth. Nary a drop here.
Good photos Stradee,
The pic of the double rainbow reminded me of one day flying in SE Asia. It was Monsoon and when the sun popped out I saw TWO complete rainbow rings - one circle inside the other (or outside, take your choice).
I'm very worried about our friends in Ocean Springs, MS - it's immediately East of Biloxi. Keeping everything crossed for luck.
clicked
Danon, keeping a good thought for you and your friends. A few people at the roost we still haven't heard word from - and family of posters have evacuated to safety. 80 per cent of New Orleans flooded.
Cool story Dan! Recall seeing a rainbow during a flight to Columbia, <thunder and lightening> but the rainbow afterwards spectacular.
More rainbow photos
http://www.crystalinks.com/rainbowphotos.html[IMG]http://[/IMG]
You and your 283 friends have supported 1,998,684.2 square feet!
Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 61,825.3 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 283 friends have supported: (61,825.3)
American Prairie habitat supported: 38,012.9 square feet.
You have supported: (10,440.7)
Your 283 friends have supported: (27,572.2)
Rainforest habitat supported: 1,898,846.1 square feet.
You have supported: (163,275.3)
Your 283 friends have supported: (1,735,570.8)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Aktbird57 .. 1207 45.879 acres
Thanks Stradee..................
And, thanks ehBeth for keeping the stats going........
Crossing fingers, toes, eyes and braiding hair in hopes of contact from your friends, Danon. Good news if at all possible.
Thanks ehBeth and all. I have a feeling our friends are needing help - still hoping for the best.
clicked
Still hoping that the news you get will be good, danon.
Let me know if there's anything specific I can do to help.
Anytime.
~~~~~~~~~~
clicking for the wetlands every day
wishing there was more awareness overall of the importance of them
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You and your 283 friends have supported 2,000,206.0 square feet!
Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 62,082.8 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 283 friends have supported: (62,082.8)
American Prairie habitat supported: 38,059.7 square feet.
You have supported: (10,440.7)
Your 283 friends have supported: (27,619.0)
Rainforest habitat supported: 1,900,063.6 square feet.
You have supported: (163,298.7)
Your 283 friends have supported: (1,736,764.9)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ooops, we fell off the leaderboard
How true, ehBeth.
Danon, no word yet? <sending good thoughts and prayers>
Maggie, any news from the roost?
I heard from somewhere, in recent days, that the Mississippi delta loses, or has recently lost, one acre of wetlands every 24 minutes.
Will go click.
I will volunteer to host a family here - but I am too far away, I fear, and who will coordinate such information?
hello all. Hope your friends are safe. I couldn't access our 63 by my usual means and had to finally go hunting ebeths email on hotmail waht a round-about route! I'm glad to be back.
What a sad mess. That poor city and its inhabitants need all our help and prayers.
