New Orleans Avoids Total Destruction (Wizbang)

It appears that the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans that everyone feared has been avoided. The US Army Corps of Engineers shows near real-time measurements of the levy system on the Mississippi at RiverGauges.com. Here's the latest graph (with record high level in red):

Click for full size graphic

It was suggested that the 8 foot mark on Lake Pontchartrain would be catastrophic. Among the levies on the Mississippi the peak levels appear to have been reached, as shown below.

Click for full size graphic

There's still widespread flooding, and portions of the city are said to have 6 feet or more of floodwaters, but the possibility of the entire city vanishing under 30 feet of water seems to have been avoided by a last minute eastward shift of the eye of the hurricane by 55 miles. Of course now it's just a horrific disaster, as opposed to an unprecedented one...

Katrina pounds Louisiana, Gulf Coast - [CNN]
La., Miss., Ala. feel Hurricane Katrina's pain - [MSNBC]

Update: Perhaps the early optimism was, well, too optimistic...

The Wizbang® Network

Wizbang Blue: CNN Poll: Obama Leads McCain 53-45

Just as the McCain/Palin desperation flop-sweat starts to really stink up the country, good news arrives in this afternoon's release of new polling results showing Barack Obama and Joe Biden are widening their lead over John "What Economic Problems?" McCain and Sarah "I can see Russia from my House!" Palin.

4:51 PM | 6 comments

Wizbang Blue: Dow Plummets, McCain Campaign Springs Into Action

How does John McCain react to the bad economic news? He changes the subject! In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 800 points, then recovered slightly in erratic trading to a loss of 764.38, or 7.40 percent,...

3:45 PM | 2 comments

Wizbang Blue: Another Palin Debate Lie

Not only did Palin lie, she was in fact partly or wholly responsible for the failure of the effort she now claims credit for. She's a cheeky monkey donchaknowit youbetcha!

2:29 PM | 2 comments

Wizbang Pop!: Father of 'Smoot' Honored at MIT

The father of a measurement known as the "Smoot" returned Saturday to be honored at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school where he and his fraternity brothers invented...

1:57 PM | 1 comments

Wizbang Blue: Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis

At the heart of the scandal was Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which took advantage of deregulation in the 1980s to make risky investments with its depositors' money. McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating with federal regulators tasked with preventing banking fraud, and championed legislation to delay regulation of the savings and loan industry -- actions that allowed Keating to continue his fraud at an incredible cost to taxpayers.

1:01 PM | 0 comments

Wizbang Pop!: Movie and TV News

"Bull Durham" sequel is getting made. Kevin Costner will reprise the role of catcher Crash Davis from the 1988 baseball flick. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are also expected to...

12:43 PM | 0 comments

Wizbang Pop!: Real Estate: Leona Helmsley PRICE SLASH!

The price of Mean Manor just got $30 million leaner, reports the The Post's Braden Keil. Leona Helmsley's 40-acre estate in Greenwich, Conn. - known as Dunnellen Hall - has...

8:35 AM | 0 comments

Wizbang Pop!: Tony Curtis' Delicious Marilyn Details

Tony Curtis still regrets his flippant crack about how kissing Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot" was "like kissing Hitler." In fact, he now reveals, he was extremely...

8:13 AM | 1 comments

Wizbang Pop!: Eddie Van Halen Is Engaged

Eddie Van Halen is engaged to his girlfriend/manager Janie Liszewski, PEOPLE has learned. Van Halen, 53, proposed to Liszewski, 38, on Aug. 4 while they were vacationing in Hawaii. The...

7:56 AM | 0 comments

Wizbang Blue: Economic Crisis: Bush, Bernacke, and Paulson Blew It

Detailed below are highlights of a news segment aired Saturday morning on CNN hosted by Christine Romans, who opened with "The populist uprising against the Washington Bailout has its roots in a deep distrust of the Bush Administration, which for...

2:00 AM | 2 comments

Comments (10)

The time of the last readin... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by Anonymous | August 29, 2005 2:30 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Anonymous:

The time of the last reading on the graph (and the web site) appears to be 05:00, so I wouldn't be so sure that the city is out of the woods yet based on this information.

Posted on August 29, 2005 14:30

Thank God!... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by Greg | August 29, 2005 2:56 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Greg:

Thank God!

Posted on August 29, 2005 14:56

Uh oh, aren't we giving ide... (Below threshold)

3. Posted by Palmateer | August 29, 2005 2:59 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Palmateer:

Uh oh, aren't we giving ideas to the Terrorists?

Posted on August 29, 2005 14:59

Well, but for a bit of luck... (Below threshold)

4. Posted by Buddy | August 29, 2005 3:03 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)

Buddy:

Well, but for a bit of luck with the slowdown and a more northerly turn, NO would be in very, very bad shape. That's not to say NO wasn't hit pretty bad, nor to say that it's 'out of the weather' so to speak yet, either. There's alot of water that got dumped on the lake and northward, and it's going to move somewhere -- This speaking from experience from the Hurricanes in FL last year. Those flows can be pretty unpredictable (though a topo map helps identify weak spots I suppose) and can develop hours and days later in places you might not have expected it to happen, especially in an already saturated area.

In N FL we had water pop up all over the place in areas we never really expected with Frances and Jeanne. There's more to it than just the inital onslaught.. there's going to be flooding issues for weeks to come.

Plus just because NO didn't get smashed doesn't mean Gulfport MS and other areas east of NO didn't get it. There's alot of little towns east of NO that you probably won't hear about for a while that are pretty wrecked, you can bet on it. The aerial flyovers of Hancock, St Bernard and Harrison counties (and northward) are going to be fun over the next week, I'm sure.

Posted on August 29, 2005 15:03

For some reason my trackbac... (Below threshold)

5. Posted by Dave Schuler | August 29, 2005 3:13 PM | Score: -2 (2 votes cast)

Dave Schuler:

For some reason my trackbacks don't seem to be taking, so ping!

Posted on August 29, 2005 15:13

This is all George Bush's f... (Below threshold)

6. Posted by Cardinals Nation | August 29, 2005 4:22 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)

Cardinals Nation:

This is all George Bush's fault!

Posted on August 29, 2005 16:22

ideas to terrorists? I'm su... (Below threshold)

7. Posted by Henry | August 29, 2005 7:23 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)

Henry:

ideas to terrorists? I'm sure they already know about the leveees. And besides, I heard on one of the news channels (every single one of them is covering the hurricane) that one of the levees has broken, explaining the section of new orleans that actually is underwater.

Posted on August 29, 2005 19:23

Palmateer---indeed, we are!... (Below threshold)

8. Posted by mcg | August 29, 2005 10:07 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)

mcg:

Palmateer---indeed, we are! I mean, if they can just figure out how to get the Mississippi River to rise above 30 feet, New Orleans is doomed :)

Posted on August 29, 2005 22:07

Is it just me or does the g... (Below threshold)

9. Posted by Mark | August 29, 2005 10:36 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)

Mark:

Is it just me or does the graph look like it needs a push up bra.
Sorry but I have been thinking and praying for all those girls that wont be able to lift their shirts on Bourbon street...

Posted on August 29, 2005 22:36

If ever there was a post th... (Below threshold)

10. Posted by EricMA | August 31, 2005 9:23 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

EricMA:

If ever there was a post that should be tossed on the Bonfire of the Vanities, this one is it.

Posted on August 31, 2005 09:23

Comment Preview

Posted by: