The democrats allowed a ban on offshore drilling to expire, the Repubican presidential candidates chant is “drill baby drill“, and no one is talking about this. At least half a million gallons of crude oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. Nice. Gee, wonder why……. oh that’s right, because it’s so environmentally safe to drill offshore.

Excerpts from the article:

Hurricane Ike’s winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.

With the storm approaching, refineries and chemical plants shut down as a precaution, burning off hundreds of thousands of pounds of organic compounds and toxic chemicals. In other cases, power failures sent chemicals such as ammonia directly into the atmosphere. Such accidental releases probably will not result in penalties by regulators because the releases are being blamed on the storm.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also suspended all rules, including environmental ones, that would inhibit or prevent companies preparing for or responding to Ike.

The AP’s analysis found that, by far, the most common contaminant left in Ike’s wake was crude oil — the lifeblood and main industry of both Texas and Louisiana. In the week of reports analyzed, enough crude oil was spilled nearly to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and more could be released, officials said, as platforms and pipelines were turned back on.

Update: 7:30 p.m. Buck sent me this great link to pictures of the damage. Bad. Bad. Bad.

What a MESS! Watched some clips of different areas hit on the news today. Not only did Texas get hammered, so did Louisiana. The midwest even has had blackouts and deaths due to Ike.

After the largest search-and-rescue mission in Texas history pulled out some 2,000 people stranded by hurricane Ike’s 500-mile-wide storm surge, an equally massive humanitarian relief effort has kicked into gear to bolster a dazed southeast Texas, where gas, food, ice, and patience are all in short supply.

Based on initial reports, hurricane Ike is clearly nothing less than a whopper.

Nationally, the storm – which initially paralyzed the financial and energy center of Houston, America’s fourth-largest city – could weigh down the already fragile American economy. For sure, it burdens as many as 5 million Texans and Louisianans having to contend with the long, sweaty slog back from what is likely to become the second-most costly storm in US history, with some damage estimates running more than $20 billion.

More at CSM

Not sure yet what kind of damage has been done. I’ll post later about it. I did hear last night there were some levees in the New Orleans area that were breached. I don’t think Galveston got it as bad as they thought, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad. For now, here’s a link to the Houston Chronicle. Info available there.

You’ll have to excuse my obsession with hurricanes. Having been through more than I care to count, they scare the shit out of me. Every time some big sucker like Ike comes along I am on pins and needles, knowing the destruction it’s going to bring to someone, somewhere. When they head up into the Gulf of Mexico it’s especially stressful. It’s like this huge mass of destruction is moving around a fish bowl, and it has to hit land somewhere. Chicher sent me a link to pictures of the Baton Rouge area after Gustav hit. For those who don’t have a clue what some in Louisiana are going through, have a look. As he stated, the Texas electrical linemen have been in Louisiana for weeks helping to restore power there, and now they had to scurry back to Texas, knowing that Hurricane Ike is going to do major damage. I never thought about hurricanes much before I moved to south Florida. The first two years we were here were a nightmare. I always figured hurricanes were easier than tornadoes, because at least you had warning and could get out. Wrong. Hurricane WIlma left our area without electricity for over a month. Not pretty, no matter where you are. Good luck to the folks of Texas.

Satellite of Hurricane Ike
This is one big storm. We’re STILL getting wind from it here. I hope the people on the Gulf get evacuated ok because they’re saying the storm surge will be up to 20′.

I haven’t heard much about the lack of electricity for so many in Louisiana since Gustav. I’ve been through this after Hurricane Wilma. Not fun. I feel their pain. And they are about to feel the effects of Hurricane Ike. Kind thoughts to you Chicher.

Ike’s final destination appears to be the Gulf region. And he’s huge!

Florida Keys residents told to flee as Ike cuts across Caribbean

Hurricane Ike’s furious winds, sea surge and intense rains moved over the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sunday, as the Category 4 storm followed a track that should take it to eastern Cuba by evening.

Ike’s final destination, however, could be the U.S. Gulf Coast at the end of the week, according to National Hurricane Center forecasters.

Residents of the Florida Keys have been ordered to evacuate beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday, and tourists were told to leave Saturday. [...]

At 5 a.m. Sunday, Ike had sustained winds near 135 mph (215 kph) and was centered about 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of Great Inagua Island. It was moving to the west at 15 mph, according to the hurricane center advisory.

I’m sitting right in the middle of what I like to call the “cone of death.” It ain’t lookin good. I just have a very bad feeling about it.

I’m anxious to hear from Chicher about how things really went with Gustav, wind and water…..damage in the area, and response wise. Anywho, keep your fingers crossed for us. I’m thinking if it ends up coming here, I may have to put my Mom in the car and head north. We’ll see……. lots to do here in the next few days. Nelse, get the blender out. I’m bringing the rum runners!

Ahhhhhh things aren’t looking too good here in Florida. One right after another flowing off the coast of Africa. I think they’re forming faster than they did in 2005. I watched the local news last night and Gustav did a pretty good number on Baton Rouge. Seems CNN and MSNBC have all but forgotten the hurricane and are too busy fawning over the Republicans to cover the damage. I think there was quite a bit of damage in the area. They said people who evacuated were told they wouldn’t be going home today, either. I really feel for those people. So I hope Chicher and family are doing ok. I’m sure he’ll let us know when he’s able. I hope they were spared any damage, as he has spent so much of the last three years “rebuilding” with friends and family after Katrina. My thoughts are with you and your family Chicher!

Gustav evacuees staying in Knoxville, TN., are complaining. Are their complaints legit? Is this a case of bad host or bad guests? You decide…

From a Gustav evacuee:

“Look. Look. It’s all sugar,” said New Orleans evacuee Wilmer Pappie, Jr. as he displayed a box of pastries and cookies.

He and many evacuees say since coming to the shelter, they haven’t had a decent meal. They say they aren’t getting meat, the food is cold and they’re eating so many sweets, diabetics are being hospitalized.

“I haven’t had a hot meal yet. It’s just been donuts, sugar and coffee,” Pappie said. “Sweets, this is it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

From the Knoxville Red Cross:

Red Cross shelter manager Mike Battershell says their goal is to serve two hot meals a day and a continental breakfast. He says all the pastries and cookies are supplements.

“Yesterday, we had hot lasagna for supper. We had fried chicken for lunch, which was hot,” Battershell said. “Today for lunch, we are serving hamburgers with all the fixings.”

I suppose there will be friction in situations like this. I also imagine if I were in their shoes, I myself would be proud to get whatever food they gave - period. But I’m not in their shoes, so I don’t know.

I will say though, a big “Thank You!” to all that offered up shelter for those in need.

Water has topped an industrial canal in New Orleans. The Corps says the wall will hold. Gustav made landfall about 70 miles west of New Orleans. For latest news check Nola.com.

From the Dailykos diary of BarbinMD

With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, John McCain is playing President Wannabe in Mississippi today, showing just how darned concerned and presidential he is. Which makes this a good time to remind people of what he was doing three years ago when Hurricane Katrina was devastating the Gulf Coast. Of course no one can forget that on the day that New Orleans was drowning, John McCain was busy having cake with George Bush, but what was his reaction a week later, as the scope of the humanitarian disaster was still playing out day after day, as a horrified nation looked on and as an incompetent administration sat on its hands?

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has occasionally been a thorn in the side of the White House. However, he warns against “premature judgments” about the government’s response, noting that “we were all surprised” by Katrina’s scope, ferocity and damage. McCain does not provide any specifics, but he signals a willingness to follow Bush’s lead on investigating any shortcomings. “Just as the president said this morning, we need to find out what we did right and what we did wrong. I agree with him.”

No, we were not “all surprised” by Katrina. In fact, three years ago, while McCain’s birthday cake was baking, Darksyde wrote:

Urgent Warning Thread: Hurricane Katrina Strength Unprecedented

Anyone who was paying attention to the news instead of planning their birthday party knew what Katrina was. And in the days that followed, as we watched bodies floating in the streets of a major American city and saw thousands of stranded, starving Americans waiting for help, John McCain was willing to wait and to follow George Bush’s lead. Just as he is following George Bush’s lead today with his politically motivated photo-op visit to Mississippi, and just as he has followed George Bush’s lead for the past eight years. And we’re still waiting for that investigation

Update: This video says it all

Criminal, indeed. So many lives in the balance.

Those are the words St. Bernard parish president Craig Taffaro used to watch videotape Eyewitness News showed him, of floodwalls built to protect his parish.
“That should be criminal,” Taffaro continues.

What he’s talking about was witnessed by a St. Bernard Parish resident who didn’t want to be identified, but did have sharp criticism of the work done by a contractor hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on the hole of a gas tank of an airplane,” the resident said.

Instead of an airplane, it’s a floodwall, and instead of a Band-Aid, the witness says two years ago, he saw the contractor filling the expansion joint or opening between the floodwalls with newspaper.

“The whole length of the wall was stuffed with newspaper.”

And when he confronted the contractor, the contractor blamed Washington for the substandard work.

“He basically told me when Congress sent down the money, it would be repaired the proper way.”

More here H/T Bat!

With the coming Gustav storm about to hit the gulf coast, people from the area were ordered to leave. Neighboring states have offered shelter for these poor souls:

Gulf Coast residents fleeing Hurricane Gustav began arriving across the state Saturday.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported that as of 6 a.m. Sunday, 2,255 evacuees have checked in at Air National Guard bases across Tennessee.

Of those 2,255, 1,404 checked in at Memphis, 577 in Nashville and 274 in Knoxville.

But not everyone is awaiting the evacuees with open arms. A commenter of WBIR.com had this to say:

CharterVol wrote: Put them on a next plane out. They are not wanted here.

Is this that great volunteer spirit I keep hearing about, but not ever seeing?

UPDATE: The offending comment has been taken down. (Screen grab)

As Chicher pointed out in the comments, the failure of the levees after Hurricane Katrina was just that…..a man made disaster. Hurricane Katrina did not do the damage to New Orleans, but the failure of the levees did. There’s not much talk on the MSM about the possibility of the levees failing again. But, as Chicher says, it is very much a possibility. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. Let’s hope for all the victims of Hurricane Katrina who have been rebuilding their lives for the last 3 years.

From ABC7

Eleven and a half million gulf coast residents live in the path of Gustav. One of the biggest concerns Friday night is a repeat of the levee breaks in New Orleans. Those concerns are being raised by two University of California engineers who analyzed the failures caused by Katrina.
Levee repairs have been underway ever since Katrina struck three years ago. A leading U.C. civil engineer is warning the job isn’t done and flooding could occur again.