Katrina

It was devastating to watch Katrina storming its way through Louisiana and Mississippi.
It was even more amazing as the real-time media coverage, which is increasing with each new disaster (just as it does with each new war) did not stay confined to the TV, but could be found on the internet as well:

Cameras:
The traffic cams from New Orleans stopped working early on but supplied pictures until then.
The cameras normally showing images on Nola.com are also not functioning now, but did earlier on.

Blogs:
Storm Digest Blog has been keeping up to the moment posts about the new developments.
New Orleans Metroblogs has also had heavy traffic today as frequent posts updated fleeing residents about the situation in their city.

Sites:
The official sites National Hurricane Center and Central Florida Hurricane Center were good sources too with frequent updates.

Maps:
Someone managed to put most satellite maps together: tropicwx
Then there is Google Map Plot of Katrina

And lest we forget Flickr with already hundreds of hurricane pics.

This nearly immediate pictures and updates helped me understand the magnitude of the storm and its effects. Katrina affected millions of people in a variety of ways. The luckiest are those who only had to leave and will be inconvenienced by having to stay away from their homes for a while. And those are the lucky ones. Many would have no home to return to as they lost their homes or their livelihoods or both. Some lost their lives.

Our thoughts are with all who were affected. Stay safe.

Categories: Katrina