Countdown to Katrina

Mike Theiss Even upstairs is not safe from the storm surge…

At around 10 am, Katrina makes landfall again, near Bay St Louis and Gulfport, 35 miles northeast of New Orleans. Here, on the dangerous eastern side of the eye, the storm surge is an enormous 28 feet. The land is above sea level but houses are flattened and cars are swept away by the incoming water. In Bay St Louis, Lisa Monti - supposedly safe on high ground - is stranded on her upstairs balcony. "The water had raced down the street and filled the yard, and all the debris came in….the building shook and rocked so much I didn't know how long it would stand".

Back in New Orleans, confusion reigns. The electricity is off, landlines and cell phone networks are down and, worse still, city officials and emergency teams are unaware of the extent of the damage, especially the flooding in the east. By early afternoon Katrina is moving inland, progressing north and gradually weakening.

"You get attacked so often. I think it's important to make clear that we're not doing this for the spin offs or the benefits, we're doing it for the curiosity. It's curiosity-driven science, and to my mind that's one of the defining qualities of civilization. There's a certain limit to the expenditure that the public will put up - and this is what you get for it."

The second huge flood has already hit the city. Around 2 pm, the Army engineers finally head downtown to check on vague reports of damage to the drainage canals at London Avenue and 17th Street. Over a mile from the 17th Street Canal they are stopped in their tracks. The 17th Street and London Avenue Canals have burst in three major locations. Throughout the day, water has been pouring from Lake Pontchartrain at high pressure into the heart of New Orleans.

NASA Before and after Katrina: regions appearing blue and grey have been flooded. Areas to the west of 17th Street Canal (far left) have survived intact.

Africa Brumfield's home is downtown, near the London Avenue Canal, right in the path of the second flood. "I got up around midnight and it was still rising in my house and now my house sat up about 4 feet off of the ground. And I was thinking if my house is four feet off the ground and the water is in my house, I'm only five feet one and it's in my house about two feet, there's no way that I'm getting outside without going for a nice swim!"