The people of the New Orleans area are suffering as a community from a level of devastation that I cannot fathom.

Huge population areas are inundated with water, and the water continues to rise.

The hurricane itself did a lot of damage, from wind and storm surge. The hurricane did some dramatic things, like destroy a bridge.

But the biggest damage is from the flooding, and the damage is continuing to increase.

A former mayor of New Orleans was on CNN this morning and begged President Bush to take control and bring in thousands of troops and take charge to manage the emergency relief efforts, because the devastation is so extensive, and so many people are still at risk. The mayor said 80,000 people are “trapped” (his words) in New Orleans.

I’m sure the President is doing as much as he can, since we have a national agency, FEMA, who’s job it is mobilize resources. I recall during the Great Flood of 1993, Clinton and Gore came to Iowa and set up shop. I thought they were grandstanding, being casual in jeans, and appearing to do things to help. But who knows, maybe their physical presence helped cut red tape and get more help. I’m sure Bush is considering what more he can do.

The infrastructure of society has failed in that part of the nation. No water, no utilities. Surrounded by rising water.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to live there.

For regularly update pictures, see Flickr: Photos tagged with katrina.

For discussion of the levee breaks, with many more internal links, see When the levee breaks, at Daily Kos

See also Accountability for Lake New Orleans

That’s enough for now to provide some sources of further info.