A building along Poydras is on fire. Click through to see a set of screencaps I made from directNIC’s live webcam, located a few blocks away. It’s hard to see what exactly is one fire, although this report says it’s an old retail building on Canal Street. It’s unclear whether they’re talking about the same fire. From the google map of the area, I can tell the fire appears to be on the 400 block of Poydras, where Mothers Restaurant is located. Fire trucks are on the scene, but it appears that New Orleans has no pumping capacity. I’ve seen fire trucks driving both directions on Poydras, as if they’re driving back and forth from the flood waters a few blocks away.
*Update:* Close-ups of the fire “here”:http://sigmund.biz.nyud.net:8090/kat200509012/index0005.html, also from directNIC.
*Update 2:* Looking at the close-ups reveals that the building on fire is the “Hotel de L’Eau Vive”:http://www.hoteldeleauvive.com/, on the map “here”:http://local.google.com/maps?q=hotel+*&spn=0.006738,0.010131&near=600+Poydras+St,+New+Orleans,+LA+70130&cid=29949232,-90069481,8153591737678130073&num=10&start=0&hl=en. I hope nobody was still in the hotel. Check the “flickr set”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainwidth/sets/871062/ for a few of the close-ups.
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September 2, 2005 at 7:05 pm
Leggy
Found you via Amanda- thanks for the news updates. Do you know anything about the status of Uptown? I know 80% of the city is flooded, but its my understanding that in Uptown its more like first floor flooding vs. up to the rooftops.
Also, what is that status of the French Quarter? Is that rooftop flooding or first floor? The reason I’m asking is that I’m trying to get an understanding of whether all that beauty, all that history is hopelessly lost or not. I haven’t been able to find out much beyond all the horrific looting, etc. that CNN is reporting.
Also, I’m feeling a little helpless up here in the Northeast. I’ve given $$, but how can we help in a more personal way?
September 2, 2005 at 8:52 pm
Dan
Leggy, this satellite infographic from MSN give you a good idea of where the flooding is worst. Uptown and the French Quarter (towards the bottom of the graphic, for those who don’t know), have received flooding in parts, but not as severely as further north. Some of the hardest hit areas are Spanish Fort, Gentilly, and south into midcity. I think that much of the old architecture has survived, at least through the initial flooding. My largest concern, however, is contamination caused by chemical leakage. Even if the architecture has survived until now, we may not be able to adequately decontaminate the buildings.
As far as help goes, a good place to start is the Katrina Help Wiki, which is aggregating information about all the aid efforts.
September 3, 2005 at 12:36 am
crn
There’s a new message board/support group for Katrina. http://www.katrinatalk.org Come over and give some support and get some, too. Blog authors–would you mind adding a link? It will be helpful to people.–Thanks