Think about filling your tanks on Sunday

[TheSkaven]

As many of you know, oil supply/demand has been running perilously close, causing oil prices (and thus, prices at the pump) to spike up in recent months. Port Fourchon is the largest oil port in the Gulf of Mexico, and is the lifeline for most incoming oil into the US.

Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina is on a course for a direct hit on Port Fourchon. I don't think that I can emphasize just how bad this is.

"Right now they are predicting the storm in the worst-case scenario for us," said Ted Falgout, director of Port Fourchon, according to Dow Jones Newswires. "It's not going to be a pretty sight if it goes as projected."

About one-sixth of the U.S. oil supply comes through the Port Fourchon facilities. The port accounts for about 13% of U.S. oil imports. About 27% of U.S. domestic production comes through the port's pipelines.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={F7E49D16-0EF9-4D05-89DF-6020DC6793BE}&siteid=google

Guys, let's all hope that this Hurricane takes an abrupt turn in a different direction. At best, I think we're looking at oil in the $70's per barrel early next week. At the worst? Well, there could be a major supply shortage, meaning long lines at the pumps and a spike in prices.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

You want to see something else just as frightening? Forget the gas prices, a huge population is at risk right now. I hope they all evacuate, and I feel sorry for the folks who don't have the funds to leave town.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/thebigone_1.html

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/wetlands/hurricane1.html

For years, experts have predicted possible deaths in the tens of thousands in New Orleans if a major hurricane were to score a dircect hit. That whole city is built with a precarious system of levees, and a direct hit from a class 5 hurricane (which is what CNN is forecasting as I write this) could doom the entire region.

I hope all of you had a chance to visit Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras because this may end up as one of the worst natural disasters in the United States in the 21st century.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Oh my god, this is history we're watching. They're filling up the Superdome with 70,000 residents right now. The entire city is being evacuated and sustained winds (not gusts, just winds) are reported at 175 mph after the latest flyover. I'm watching the news and they are all confirming that the entire city is going to be submerged unless this hurricane fizzles out. Only an act of god, diverting this sucker to a less populated area is going to help now.

 

[jackrussell]

Watching CNN this morn, with ariel views of the highway evacuation. Somebody tell me why, when only a few cars are heading IN to New Orleans, while the outbound traffic is backed up for miles, do they not run additional traffic out the inbound?

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Watching CNN this morn, with ariel views of the highway evacuation. Somebody tell me why, when only a few cars are heading IN to New Orleans, while the outbound traffic is backed up for miles, do they not run additional traffic out the inbound?

What's sad is some of those folks are probably going to be stuck in the gridlock when the hurricane passes over. Imagine if you couldn't find gas and you were near empty or had a gas guzzler? Or if your car broke down? There are some folks in big danger. Watching these helicopter pictures is like watching one of those disaster movies, only in real life. I remember when I evacuated when we had a hurricane heading towards us in Florida that looked like Katrina at first but then fell apart at the last second. I had to drive through 2 states to find a hotel and I drove for hours with no service stations available with gas. God bless those people, I feel so, so sorry for them. I love the city of New Orleans, but they may want to think about abandoning city after this if some of the predictions in those articles I linked above come true.

 

[zagnut]

This one seems very, very bad. I enjoy many areas in the South but Hurricanes are probably the one thing that keeps me from moving there.

I can still remember driving down I-95 to Savannah for freshman orientation about a week or so after Hugo hit. Every single tree along I-95 was completely stripped to the trunk and broken at the same height at about a 45-degree angle from South Carolina to Savannah. It was surreal. Hugo was barely a Category 4, IIRC, and my sister's church group was still coming down from Maryland to provide assistance six months later.

Funneling 70,000 people into the Superdome seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[jackrussell]

Funneling 70,000 people into the Superdome seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Aint that the truth.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Aint that the truth.

They claim it can withstand 200 mph winds. Right now on Fox News, they're looking at all the skyscrapers and talking about which ones are going to survive if it hits at category 5. Unreal.

 

[jackrussell]

They claim it can withstand 200 mph winds

'Best laid plans of mice and men.....'

Wonder how 30 foot of water would come into play.

 

[TheSkaven]

Want to read something scary? Try this from the national weather service (bold emphasis is mine):

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!

 

[Crown Royal]

Aint that the truth.

Yes - 8 times a year.

 

[Crown Royal]

"...in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea." -- Plato, 360 B.C.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Funneling 70,000 people into the Superdome seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Well fellas, CNN is reporting right now that the roof of the Superdome is being ripped off. The politician claims that the structure of the building can still hold, though, for a few more hours.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Well fellas, CNN is reporting right now that the roof of the Superdome is being ripped off. The politician claims that the structure of the building can still hold, though, for a few more hours.

Someone told me it was already leaking.

 

[dewey]

CNN said they were able to move people to different areas of the Dome, hopefully it will hold as the back side (worst side) of the storm hits in a couple of hours.

I was on the outer fringe of Hurricane Mitch 6-7 years ago, and that's as close to a hurricane as I ever want to get again.