Katrina disaster foretold in eery detail a year ago

[Fear_Itself]

Has anybody else seen this on snopes? It cites an article published in National Geographic in October of 2004, nearly a year ago, foretelling this week’s tragedy in chilling detail:

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Is this creepy, or what?

[treis]

Not really, the Levees breaking was a pretty clear possibility and a hurricane is an obvious choice of a natural disaster for that area.

[Wesley_Clark]

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=348096

They almost predicted this, it was one of the main risks to the nation.

[kittenblue]

I wonder if any of the news organizations are going to be interviewing that guy, or have they already and I’ve missed it?

[cornflakes]

Not creepy at all. This is what hurricanes do and Louisiana has been disappearing for decades around the Mississippi. What is creepy is how the local, state and federal governments didn’t have a coordinated plan for the disaster.

[GusNSpot]

“coordinated plan for the disaster” in relation to government…?? You’re joking… right?

[Marley23]

It’s somewhat eerie, but when you start from the premise of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans, the rest of it follows logically. Which is one of the sad and frustrating parts of this whole thing.

[mobo85]

Mr Bill knew it could happen, too.

[Lsura]

And the Times-Picayune pointed it out the problems in 2002.

[cornflakes]

Why not? How is this any different from the armed forces being ready for threats to national security, and if not the government, then who? Neither Carla nor Camille were on this scale, but in both cases the National Guard and local law enforcement were mobile and assisting in recovery by the time that the storm had passed.

[E.Thorp]

@GusNSpot

“coordinated plan for the disaster” in relation to government…?? You’re joking… right?

I get what you’re saying, but haven’t we been asked to swallow a lot of “Homeland Security” hooey for the last three or so years? Disaster planning doesn’t sound like such a strange idea.

[ShibbOleth]

@treis

Not really, the Levees breaking was a pretty clear possibility and a hurricane is an obvious choice of a natural disaster for that area.

Don’t be ridiculous.

In an interview Thursday on “Good Morning America,” President Bush said, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” He added, “Now we’re having to deal with it, and will.”

So obviously this could not possibly have been anticipated.

[danceswithcats]

Google “Hurricane Pam” for more interesting reading.