New Orleans

Well, I guess I’m really glad I got to see Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, Cafes Du Monde and Bon Ton in June… because after today, they might not be there anymore.

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.

- wire report on Salon

Yipes. Now I kind of wish we had—even though we were tired—gone and seen the old, old cemetaries. And all those crazy cajuns who won’t leave… I hope they find high ground somewhere.

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