Katrina: It's starting

Early on, as it was getting ready to hit South Florida, Katrina was being compared to Andrew. I said that was a bunch of crap. It was and still is.

Looking for another hurricane to compare Katrina to, the "talking heads" began talking about others that had wreaked havoc along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. As Katrina continued to strengthen, the others were dropped until only one remained: Camille.

Katrina was described as strong as Camille but much bigger. Earlier today, however, Katrina surpassed even Camille in strength.

It's like watching a train wreck. There's nothing anyone can do to stop it. You don't want to look but you do anyway. You have to.

I agree with everything Boudicca said here, but with a storm like this I don't think it matters. There's nothing that's going to stop it, and no amount of preparation would have made any difference. Katrina's still coming in.

I keep hearing the "talking heads" yammering about how many poor there are in in New Orleans who are unable to evacuate because they don't have transportation available to them.

That's true for any city, not just New Orleans. Those that can get out will. Those that can't for whatever reason have to rely on whatever provisions that their local and state governments have made for them. Hopefully that will be sufficient, but probably not . . . especially with something like Katrina.

Then there are the dingbats who won't leave. They don't leave for any number of reasons. Some are worried that if they do looters might take their stuff before they get back. Others don't like being told what to do and thumb their nose at evacuation orders -- like a third-grader screeching, "Can't make me!" Some stay for the excitement. Some because they just know nothing bad is ever going to happen to them.

In other words, they're just . . . plain . . . dumb.

Rogers Cadenhead at Workbench pointed to the Cat's Meow webcam I grabbed the shot from. (The person shown wasn't the only dingbat out strolling, just the one that happened to be in the frame when I clicked.) Rogers estimates that webcam will be under water if the levees overflow, and it's 20 feet up.