Isaac Takes Aim at New Orleans

This isn't ironic, it's downright fucking scary! Isaac is expected to make landfall on the exact date and time that Katrina's storm surge slammed into Mississippi &  Louisiana and the NOLA levees broke seven-years-ago. And Katrina was not a direct hit.

I just talked with the sister and she's decided to ride it out.  No mandatory evacuation has been issued for New Orleans, or Metairie (where she lives) - only the parishes that are nearest the Gulf - and she's staying put.  She's prepared for just about anything thrown at her and I believe she'll be OK.  She has her land line phone (thank G*d) and emergency cellphone, which will be useless of course, if the towers go down as they did during Katrina.  Most of the other tenants in her complex are hunkering down, as well. Bless them.

FEMA is present again, but this time they seem to have the whole situation well in hand.  Well, at least let's hope that's the case.  The sister seems to think it is.

The only variable is if Isaac slows down and makes landfall at high tide.  That could mean major problems.

Tropical Storm Isaac is intensifying and now expected to make landfall late Tuesday or early Wednesday on the northern Gulf Coast as a hurricane, forecasters said on Monday.

The storm--with sustained winds of 65 mph--is moving northwest at 14 mph. According to the National Weather Service, New Orleans is in the projected path of the storm. Wednesday marks the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005.

Hurricane warnings have been issued along the northern Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to Destin, Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center, a storm surge between six and 12 feet could threaten the northern Gulf Coast if the storm makes landfall during high tide.

[Slideshow: Tropical Storm Isaac]

Isaac was blamed for as many as seven deaths in Haiti on Saturday and forced the delay of the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where GOP leaders are still mulling how to hold a convention as a hurricane concurrently thrashes the Gulf Coast.

"Even if the storm largely bypasses this region," the New York Times said, "it holds the risk of creating an uncomfortable split-screen image, especially if it continues barreling toward New Orleans."

Wait, wait...Excuse me, we're talking life and death issues with this storm and the NYT is concerned about satellite feeds and split screen images of storm coverage beside those of the Republican Convention.  PR is a bitch! Then, just cancel the whole stupid thing!  Problem solved. You can't make this stuff up!  No, really, you can't.

And so it goes.

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