GeauLSU and other cajuns...

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I have a daughter that just started her first quarter at the LSU New Orleans campus and obviously there are questions as to what to do and where to go...

What does a big gulf storm do to the streets of New Orleans?...

I know they blow by every now and again, but this one in another day the way it's been moving westward, may hit the mouth of the river...

Any opinions?

They are going to leave tonight or tomorrow morning, but I'm interested in what's going to happen with rising waters...

The high ground appears to be about 10' above sea level... and it might be a while before they can get back in...

???

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[GeauxLSU]

New Orleans is a problem...

New Orleans has been VERY lucky in that it hasn't taken a true direct hit from a storm with massive surge. Most of New Orleans is just below or at sea level. (The 'average' is below). It is protected via levees on three sides form the lake and the river. There are pumps at various stages along the lake and in various places in the city that pump excess storm water eventually into the Miss. river. Don't quote me on the numbers but it's something like this. They can pump a foot of water an hour (which is incredible if true, but that number sticks in my mind) however, after a certain amount of feet above flood level (I can't remember exactly but may 10-12 feet) the pumps simply can not handle the capacity and shut down. New Orleans could literally completely flood with a direct hit from a big storm.
That's a long winded introduction to say, there has been a mandatory evacuation issued (which is pretty rare) and the city is likely to be on the west side of the storm so that 'could' potentially be bad news due to the probability of flooding from the lake. (Storm on the west side of the city has gulf surge implications). Latest projections appear to have it far enough east that N.O. should be fine. I suspect more damage will be done by those attending "Hurricane parties" than the storm itself. It is amazing how quickly the problems die down just a few miles inland. Not sure how far north she plans on going but she'll be fine and if she doesn't live on a ground floor somewhere, I doubt she'll suffer any loss (except aggravation of evacuation and potential loss of utilities for a short while).
I've not been IN New Orleans when a storm hit so I can't comment on 'normal' street conditions but for all the storms I've been through in my home town (and there's been PLENTY) flooding is generally, thankfully very short lived and very localized.
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

 

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Thanks Phil...

This is about what we've expected... They do live on the ground floor though...

They were on the road all night... They left before 2pm yesterday and after dark, they were on the big bridge over the lake... They were practically still in New Orleans!

Sometime about 1 am this morning they had found gas and were just getting onto I-59... heading north into Mississippi... after being on the road for 11 hours!

That's normally like an hour drive?

When I called at 2 am, they were just getting up to 50 mph... and were exhausted... but they had gas and the roads were flowing...

Well... Thanks for your input and I hope that all that are able to get out are doing so, and don't get caught in the storm while on the road...

My fear was not being able to get gas... and then being stuck...

And with that many cars on the road, that's going to be a problem just like in Florida last week...

Good luck to all those in the 5 states that are going to be badly affected...

Thanks Phil,
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