View from Above

The live feed from New Orleans local WWL-TV is giving way, way better coverage than CNN and the other national channels.

Instead of hearing that jackass Wolf Blitzer bleat on about the grave Greater Meaning of the tragedy ("the damage is almost Biblical in proportion, John."), some cameraman from WWL got himself into a helicopter and toured New Orleans uninterrupted for half an hour, going from area to area and pointing out landmarks: “...and there’s the Wal-Mart on Parish Road…over to the left....there’s Chalmette High School…ahead we see I-10” etc, etc.

The footage spoke for itself. Square mile after square mile after square mile of the greater New Orleans area is shredded and underwater, a lot of of it up to the rooflines. In place after place it’s the same, whether in Metairie, Slidell, Downtown, or wherever.

All the other channels have reporters with videophones broadcasting from the tops of CBD hotels (yay, another shot of the Superdome), but what people who know or live in the city want to find out is what’s happening in the neighborhoods. That’s why the WWL footage was so key—you see all these landmarks and places and roads that you know, and sadly it’s all trashed.

Aside from the thousands of wrecked homes, the images of the ruined everyday stuff that makes up the city affected me the most. The office parks, the plants, factories, depots, storage sites, all the malls, churches, homes…. at best they’re soaked through and standing, but in many cases it looks straight out of the tsunami from last year. Even after this dries out, what are all those people going to do? They'll need every crane and dumptruck in the country, it seems.

There are parking lots with dozens of school busses overturned and half submerged, others with dozens or hundreds of shipping containers strewn around, and rail yards with all the different types of car scattered around like children’s toys. You have to wonder what’s inside a lot of those rail cars.

Maybe the worst part is that as you fly over mile after mile of flood zone, every once in a while the camera picks out a single person or family cowering on a rooftop amid this sea of destruction. When they see the helicopter, they freak out and start waving their shirts for help. They look so isolated out there, and of course there’s nobody they can call for help. No boats, no cars, no roads in sight. Nothing. The people must wonder if anybody is going to find them.

Some screen captures (more later):

Overturned rail cars in New Orleans East:

Michoud Shuttle tank assembly plant:

Distribution center with wrecked trucks: