Rembered the camera

But the batteries suck at holding a charge and I need to get new rechargable ones. So I apologize fro the crap quality, my camera usually takes better pictures than this.

That swatch of blue with the boats on it behind the buildings and the trees is the Mississippi River as seen from the third floor straight out our lobby windows at about 6:45am this morning.


If the camera had been behaving better, I would have tried for a shot of the Hollywood Casino's paddlewheel casino. Under normal river conditions, it is blocked by buildings and you can't see it from our parking lot. Today you could see portions of it.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

More River news

For my international friends, Wikipedia: the Mississippi River. They do a much better job of showing just how big the Big Muddy is, and how many states have been affected by this flooding.

WAFB's River Watch Page: one of the Baton Rouge news stations, the CBS affiliate, with the best online coverage IMHO.

CNN: Evacuations ordered in Louisiana as Mississippi River spillway opens CNN's latest report.

Map of Louisiana: the purple pin is Hammond, where I live. I work in Baton Rouge, and you can see where Alexandria and New Orleans are relative to me. Unexpectedly, you can also see where Natchitoches (where I got my B.A.) is, and the town at the top left corner whose name got cut off is Shreveport where my baby sister lives.


With that clear map in mind, here's an image of where the Morganza Spillway will flood (courtesy of WAFB).


Courtesy of WAFB, this is what it looked like ten minutes after one gate of the Morganza Spillway opened. They ended up opening two, and two more will be opened today.


Courtesy of WAFB and NASA, this image of the Bonnet Carre spillway was taken April 29th with only a portion of its gates open. All of its gates should be open by the end of today.


I'm off to go work on my fiction, so I can drop my fret levels.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

I keep forgetting my camera

But the view of the Mississippi River from my office building is pretty awesome (in the quake in your boots way). I keep forgetting my camera even after I tell myself to bring it, hopefully Monday I'll remember to pack it.

Luckily, I live in Hammond. My house isn't in any danger from the Mississippi flooding it or from the measures the Army Corps of Engineers will do to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge. However, I work just a few blocks from the Big Muddy. As you can see on this map.



I want the levees to hold because our disaster plans relocate the Department of Insurance to Alexandria, and despite what those in charge of making the disaster plan think, it is NOT a commutable distance.

Here's a link to a PDF file the Advocate put together showing the spillways they are discussing on the news on a map. I need the visual. Speaking of visuals, here's CNN's Open Story iReporters and regular citizens sending in their footage.

I don't know if the true scope of this is felt yet because it is so slow. The Red Cross will need money to operate shelters that people will be depending on for months. So if you can spare it, think about all the communities from Illinois to Louisiana along Old Man River's route.

Read Free!
The BookWorm