Although I am glad that Pensacola won't be taking a direct hit with Hurricane Katrina barreling towards the Gulf Coast, I can't imagine the horror New Orleans will experience. It's never a good sign when the news reports start saying, forget your property, think about your life... GET OUT NOW!!!!!

As it is, Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties in the FL panhandle are under a tropical storm warning and they have evacuated the coastal areas because tropical storm force winds are expected up to 205 miles from the eye. And then of course there is the threat of tornadoes and the impending storm surge.

Seeing as New Orleans is below sea level, their system of levees and pumps will be helpless against the predicted 25' storm surge for that area. The person in charge of the electric company there basically stated in the press conference that when the storm hits, it will destroy the power facilities. So they aren't talking days or weeks to restore power, they are talking months...

I think the most disturbing quote I have read lately, is from the AP story by Allen G. Breed

"Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems."

I hope the storm weakens before it hits land. I hope everyone is able to get to higher ground. And I hope this is the last of the hurricanes we see in this area for a long, long, long, long, long, long time.