Here’s the brilliant thing.  And that I am saying this is not just attributable to the martini(s) earlier this evening imbibed, but said beverages no doubt don’t hurt.  The brilliant thing is that my parents got their power back this morning, and were able to email me.  And told me that they’re flying in tomorrow, as previously planned, downfall of Western civilization notwithstanding.

And the beauty part of this, knowing my parents, is that this means that these are not the last martinis that I’ll consume this weekend.

So:  parents are alive and shortly huggable.  And martinis are plentiful, and parentally sanctioned.

And a little escape, perhaps, might well be in order.

Thank god for Texas.

Texas governor Rick Perry earlier today announced that he has cleared the schedule of the Astrodome in Houston through December, and is opening it as a long-term shelter, welcoming all those who are currently being evacuated from the Superdome, as well as those who’ve already taken temporary shelter elsewhere.  The state of Texas, he announced, will not merely put a roof over these displaced people’s heads, but will feed them and provide any medical care they require.

What’s more, he’s also ordered Texas schools to open their doors to the children among these displaced folks, saying that they should be considered residents of the state of Texas as long as they’re there.  Perry said, moreover, that the displaced are welcome as long as they want to stay.  “These are our neighbors,” he said.  “These are people in need and Texas is going to do everything we can in our power to help.”

Thank you, Governor Perry, from the bottom of my heart.

Is how the rest of the world can be going about its business so nonchalantly.  Like BT, I’ve got the peculiar kind of obsession with what’s happening that, I suppose, only someone with such deep personal attachments to the area can have.  Folks around me make all the appropriate sympathetic noises when I bring it up, but it’s clear that they’re a little baffled by my level of panic.

Again, more below the fold.

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Governor Kathleen Blanco is ordering everyone who didn’t evacuate from New Orleans before the storm to evacuate now; she’s sending in buses and boats, and getting everybody out.

Ranting and panic, below the fold.

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They live in New Orleans, but have families and other connections elsewhere in the state, and so—I hope—almost certainly evacuated early.  But their email servers have been shut down, or destroyed, or both, and so no messages are getting through.

Trent, Maria, Kenneth—and anyone else I’m forgetting, for which I apologize profusely—I hope you and your families and loved ones are all safe and well.  Let me hear from you when you can.

The news out of New Orleans is perversely getting worse instead of better; a two-block long breach in the levee surrounding Lake Pontchartrain resulted in water pouring into the city since late yesterday.  According to Governor Kathleen Blanco, reports have flood water levels at five feet in downtown New Orleans, and as high as 12 feet in East New Orleans, the 9th Ward, and St. Bernard Parish.

There are also reports of bodies floating in the flood waters, though there are as yet no confirmed deaths there.  And hundreds of people may yet be trapped in their attics, unable to escape or to draw attention from rescue crews.

[UPDATE, 12.50 pm:  I can’t believe I failed to mention, in this litany of disaster, that martial law has been declared in the city of New Orleans.  Martial law.  Unbelievable.]

Today’s the first day of classes.  Today’s also the day I decided to start eenching (which is like inching, only more painful) my alarm clock earlier.

This morning, despite the fact that my alarm clock was set for 6.45, something woke me up like a shot at precisely 5.30.

Thanks, Internets!

This is why I love NOLA, courtesy of Wonkette:

SHEPARD SMITH: You’re live on FOX News Channel, what are you doing?
MAN: Walking my dogs.
SMITH: Why are you still here? I’m just curious.
MAN: None of your fucking business.
SMITH: Oh that was a good answer, wasn’t it? That was live on international television. Thanks so much for that. You know we apologize.
[snip]
SMITH: “I’m watching two dogs drink out of a glass of ice water, and it’s none of my business why they are still here.”

Way to handle the locals, Shepard.

So I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours watching obsessive amounts of CNN coverage of Katrina’s onslaught on the Gulf Coast.  The good news, insofar as there is good news, is that none of the nightmare projections of what could have happened to NOLA appear to have come to pass.  There is water in the streets, and there is substantive structural failure, but the levees held, and the worst is just about over.

I haven’t talked with my family in Baton Rouge yet this morning, but the reports from there appear to be pretty good—big-ass storm, but not the kind of devastation that was feared.  The CNN reports are just bizarre, though:  Anderson Cooper standing out on a pier on the Mississippi, getting the hell blown out of him in order to point out that this crane, right here, has broken free of its moorings and is swinging in the wind, periodically bashing into the pier.  And some local numbskulls out walking around, testing the wind, seeing if they can fly.

The best of Anderson’s coverage thus far, though, was an exchange a few minutes ago with the meteorologist in the CNN studio, who was explaining to him why Baton Rouge wasn’t being hit as hard as the cities like Gulfport and Biloxi to the east of the storm’s eye.  I was reading blogs at the moment, so I was only half-listening, but it apparently has to do with geometry, as the terms “hypoteneuse” and “Pythagorean theorem” both came up.

I went to sleep last night afraid that my favorite city on the face of the earth was about to be obliterated from it.  It now appears that things are bad, but not that bad.  My thoughts are with everyone on the Gulf Coast, and with everyone worried about their loved ones there.

[UPDATE, 8.20 am:  Just talked to the fam.  They’re fine, though they lost power early this morning (so, weirdly, they were asking me for news).  The real disappointment here is that this was going to be the first opportunity my stepfather was going to have to use his Y2K generator, but it seems not to be working properly.  And if that’s the worst that’s happened, they ought to be okay.]

[UPDATE, 9.19 am:  Apparently CNN correspondent John Zarrella was able to go into the French Quarter, shoot a report, and file it with CNN via computer, due to a new technology called FTP!  Or, as the anchor has it, “our new FTP technology.” What will they think of next?]

My parents have done what they can to protect their boat, which is just on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, and have motored back up the road to Baton Rouge, where they’re busy battening down the hatches.

This is what they’re running from.  (Here in motion.) It’s apparently off the charts, both in terms of size and strength.  And it’s predicted to make a dead-on strike on New Orleans.

If it does, the first thing that will happen is that the city will lose power to the pumping stations that keep the Pontchartrain, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico out.  The city being six feet below sea level, the water’s coming in, one way or another.  It’s likely that one or more levees will fail, exacerbating the process.  And NOAA is predicting a 15-foot 20- to 25-foot storm surge, followed by 20-foot 20- to 40-foot waves.

It’s long been known in Louisiana that computer models have predicted that, should New Orleans be hit dead-on with a hurricane like this one, the city could likely wind up under ten feet of water.

My thoughts are with everybody there, and with my loved ones just up the road.  Here’s hoping that all of you and yours are safe.

[UPDATE, 1.14 pm:  More alarming imagery here.  My mother told me on the phone this morning that she thought that this storm could change the coastline of Louisiana as we know it.  It’s hard, seeing this, not to think she’s right.]

[UPDATE, 2.23 pm:  CNN now says computer models are suggesting that a dead-on hit of Katrina on NOLA could leave the city under 30 feet of water.  Not ten.  Jesus.]