Hurricane Katrina

High water risin', six inches 'bove my head
Coffins droppin' in the street
Like balloons made out of lead
Water pourin' into Vicksburg, don't know what I'm going to do
"Don't reach out for me," she said
"Can't you see I'm drownin' too?"
It's rough out there
High water everywhere

-       Bob Dylan (2001)

Our hearts go out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. As one of the local elected officials stated, “This is our Tsunami.”

We encourage you to donate to charities that are already working to assist the thousands of people impacted by this disaster. An umbrella organization that includes many such charities, including American Red Cross and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, is Network for Good. http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/?source=CNN&cmpgn=CRS

Rick Wilson

Coastal Management Coordinator

Comments

[cristin leeming]

I just wanted to know if anyone is covering the story of what will happen to the wastewater that has collected in the city of New Orleans. the media pays attention to the fact that this water is extremely toxic and contaminated, so much so that a reporter told of acidic burns that his colleague suffered as a result of contact with it. I really hope that some measure is being taken to prevent the dumping of this water into the ocean as-is. i realize this is an expensive and timely measure, but will the water be treated? shipped out? pumped into the sea? does anyone know? Also what degree of devastation will this cause to the ecosystem in the gulf there?
eat those crawfish with caution. . .
and remember: It might have different names, but its all one ocean
-cristin

[Jessica]

Cristin - you can see photos of them on the news pumping the water back into the lake, the Mississippi river and they will probably go into the ocean as well. I read that Sweden had offered to bring in special water treatment equipment, but they were denied by the US government. They are only concerned with getting the water out of the city as soon as possible.

My opinion is that we will not know the full catastrophic environmental repercussions of this disaster for years, if not decades to come. These toxins are going to permeate that area to no end. it is so sad and unfortunate and infuriating.

Jessica
Malibu Chapter

[Chris]

Unfortunetly no surf on the east coast of Fla, and Texas this year, or quite a while to come. Im sure it should be ok on the daytona, ft lauderdale, cocoa beach front. I cant believe they decided not to add a filter that would take an extra few hours to install to prevent crazyness from spilling into our ocean! Whats an extra few hours to save OUR ENVIRONMENT that we have to live in until we decide to totally destroy ourselves??? After all, not to sound mean and disrespecful, but they are just recoving bodies. Im sure those people would be ok with saving the ocean and wildlife before seeing to their bodies.

[Theron Stanley]

The Texas Coast is fine so far, however we are concerned about the fact that all of this contaminated water was dumped into the gulf. If we get a strong East swell things could be very bad.

I'm afraid it will be a while before we understand the impacts of dumping this water. By that time, it will unfortunately be too late.

There were a few surfable beaches in Lousiana, where they did not place breakwaters years back. Those beaches will likely be the most impacted.