Reply #33: While I hope that the storm damage in NO [View All]

is less than has been predicted, I'd like to point out that the bloody storm has barely made landfall. It has yet to reach the latitude of New Orleans, yet there are people, including people on the news, who are starting to sound as if it's a certainty that this storm will miss New Orleans.

I grew up in South Louisiana. Hurricanes become very unpredictable once they begin to make landfall. They can be deflected along the coast in one direction or another. Most often, they go east, making the often-mentioned "right turn". Sometimes, however, they don't.

When it's all said and done, it is still possible for this storm to make a direct hit on New Orleans. Not as likely as it looked 24 hours ago, but Katrina's career on the mainland of the USA is just beginning - and people are already beginning to breathe sighs of relief and say it's not so bad. This is not the case. We ain't seen nothing yet.

Wherever the brunt of this storm goes, there is going to be massive damage and much loss of life. This one is bigger than Hurricane Camille, which I remember distinctly. And right now, it's poised right there at the mouth of the Mississippi River - and hurricanes have been known in the past to turn and go right up the river's path.

Let's see what happens, and brace to do what we can to help. There is no way a storm of this magnitude is going to pass without doing horrific damage somewhere - and right now, there is no way to tell just exactly where that somewhere is going to be.