Ranting to /dev/null

RIP New Orleans: 1718-2005

This may be the first time that an American city has actually died. With 80% of the city under water - up to 20 feet in places - and 100% without power or water, the city seems essentially destroyed.

At the moment about two million people in Lousiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are without power, and it doesn't look as if power is going to be restored to most of them by the end of the week. There are reports of looting, rioting, and widespread civil disturbance. Mayor Nagin's order to evacuate was the first mandatory evacuation order ever given by a US mayor.

The implications for the US are pretty severe. One third of our oil refining and import facilities and the nations only supertanker offloading port have been either destroyed or rendered temporarily inoperative. Atlanta, which gets the vast majority of its oil from the Gulf, is down to 7 or 8 days of reserve supply of its normal 10, and there isn't much hope that the pipelines will be restored by then. If Atlanta runs out of fuel, things are going to get bad.

We'll just have to see what happens.