Via NBC news: Katrina Death Toll Nears 80; New Floods Hit New Orleans
two levee breaches on Tuesday morning are sending floodwaters pouring into low-lying New Orleans.NBC’s Brian Williams reported from the edge of the French Quarter that what had been dry land “was filling with water” this morning. “We have a new problem in this city,” he said. By 8 a.m., some French Quarter streets were under several inches of water. NBC’s Kerry Sanders, reporting from a helicopter above the city, said “it’s basically one giant lake here in New Orleans.”
[…]
Mayor Ray Nagin has said that “80 percent” of the city is under water. He said it’s 20 feet deep in some places.
While it may not have been the catastrophe that some hyperbolic predictions stated it might be, it is hard to say that this isn’t a disaster of substantial proportions. The number of displaced persons and the economic results are nothing to be easily dismissed.
The lives of many thousands of people have been seriously derailed for the moment and they will not be putting things back together quickly or easily.
Source: NBC10.com
Update: Paul of Wizbang! (and a NO resident) details the early assessment of the damage. His conclusion:
Basically the dooms days scenario was 20 feet of water across the whole city… Instead it looks like 5 feet of water (on avg) across 80% of the city. Not a whole lot of difference.[…]
Was “New Orleans Nearly Completely Destroyed” by Katrina? It was in my book.
Sobering, to be sure.