bad times in the big easy

So Katrina is bearing down on New Orleans and it does not look good. Looking around the internet and finding sites like this and NWS weather reports like this and this is going to be a huge catastrophe. (in case the report doesn't work, it starts like this: "MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.")

I wish all who are facing this storm all the best. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Hopefully, no one is hurt...but at the very least it looks as though New Orleans will never be the same. I wish I could have known you. (and yes, for those who knew of my thoughts of visting, my train would've left yesterday afternoon -- just as the evacuation was getting underway)