Meserve from CNN reports "Armagaedon" in NO

[djtil]

a dumb term, what does it even mean.

consider the source.

[Luckydog33]

I'll post the transcript just as soon as it's available.

CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Messerve was just on CNN. She's their homeland security correspondent and she said that it was like armageddon in New Orleans.

Wolf Blitzer then said to her "you're a serious reporter, Jeanne and I know you don't use that word lightly"



OMG. I'll post the transcript as soon as it's up

And CNN just said that New Orleans was spared "cataclysmic damage", which sounds closer to the truth. Meserve has been on TV all day and has run out of things to say, hence "armageddon".

[JTD]

'I cannot tell you what we have seen. An entire ward of this city appears to be up to it's rooftop in waters. There have been bodies seen here. It is JUST unbelievable. I told you earlier today I didn't think this turned out to be armageddon. Wolf, this is amazing and horrifying. This is not a downtown area. This is west of the area. It appears to be one of the less wealthy parts of the city."

"Lord only knows how many people are here."

"This part of I-10 under water."

Jeanne Meserve. So she was referring to the 9th Ward.

[Derek Ortt]

before some certain posters her estart attacking the source, maybe you should have listened to the last report. The really bad conditions are not in the center of the city, but WHERE THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVE

[Brent]

I don't doubt it... the levee DID break in East New Orleans.

[msbee]

this is only the beginning of the horror stories we will be hearing, unfortunately

[InimanaChoogamaga]

She is saying this. She just said she saw some guy had punched a hole in the roof of his house as a way to get out and was waiting for rescuers. She could see home after home under water. They are going to launch rescue boats from I-10 because that's about how high the water is. She sounded shocked at what she was seeing.

[AlabamaDave]

I don't think people understand what is going on there. Look at a map of New Orleans. Find the Industrial Canal, which transects the city just downriver from the downtown area. Much of the city and suburbs to the East of that Canal is potentially flooded to the rooftops. This is not a small area -- it contains tens of thousands of homes. The Ninth Ward is a very very poor section of the city, presumably with many residents unable to get out before the storm.

If a hurricane struck a city of 100,000 - 150,000 (or maybe more) and submerged every single resident, wouldn't that be considered cataclysmic?? Well, that's essentially what has happened on the East side of New Orleans, by all accounts.

And God knows what's happened in Slidell, LA and the MS Gulf Coast.

[tallywx]

From Wikipedia:

The 9th ward is a highly distinctive region in New Orleans, LA that is located in the eastern portion of the city. It is bounded by the industrial canal on the westernmost side and Lake Pontchartrain in the north. Some notable landmarks in this region include the Lakefront airport and Bally's casino, arguably made famous by the Hot Boys music video "We On fire". Since then, it has become commonplace for a multitude of different artists to mention the 9th ward in their songs. The 9th ward is commonly confused with a portion of the city that is technically downtown--although east of the central business district--that is commonly called the Lower 9th ward, and is south of the "Upper 9th ward", or simply 9th Ward. For city planning purposes, the majority of the 9th ward is referred to as the ninth planning district of New Orleans, though this area also includes planning districts 10 and 11 (not to be confused with the 10th and 11th wards.)[1] A map of the region that constitutes the 9th ward can be found here: [2]. The territory officially became part of New Orleans in 1852 when a large portion of Jefferson Parish called the city of Lafayette (not to be confused with the current city of Lafayette, Louisiana,) which included several other wards, became part of the newly unified city of New Orleans

[tallywx]

Interesting how a second hurricane taking everything away may be what finally revives the 9th ward:

"In September 1965, Hurricane Betsy struck New Orleans with a vengeance. The storm took a total of eighty-one lives. Eighty percent of the Lower Ninth Ward district was under water. At that time, the levee was eight feet high, but Betsy's storm surge was ten. Following the storm, people walked through water that for some was above their waists, holding children in their arms, to escape the water. Others had to be rescued from their rooftops. Many residents believe this tragic disaster was the beginning of the downward turn for the neighborhood. Some say that residents did not receive sufficient financial assistance in the form of loans and other support to revitalize the area and longtime residents and commercial and industrial businesses began moving out of the Lower Ninth Ward."