Shawn is among several who've written in to suggest that
Google Earth could be used to collaboratively analyze aerial image data
for Katrina damage zones, and map out which areas have been flooded,
how badly.
Part of the idea here is to help residents who've been displaced. They
want to know if their homes are flooded, but can't get direct ground
survey reports because, well, there is no ground in a lot of places right now. Only water.
Blogger Kathryn Cramer has an interesting post on her blog exploring this same topic: Link (there are many updates on her post since this morning).
Looking at Kathryn's pictures, the red-roofed building
is very prominent on the Google Earth imagery, by the north end of the
canal. It's on the lake shore. In the background haze you can see the
high-rise buildings of the city centre. And the trees and the buildings
on the opposite side of the canal are good landmarks on Google Earth.
30d01m07s N 90d07m17s W
And that looks like a 200-foot breach, similar width to the canal.
Kevin has accomplished what I haven't. He has gotten me a corrected
"before" shot. I have them from Google Maps and GlobeXplorer, but
couldn't seem to either link to them, or get copies.
The google earth community is really flowing with people
matching up arial photos to the levee breaks. There's one group of
people setting up an auto updating google earth file. I placed all of
the good ones I found at tehsquee.com
You need Google Earth to be able to use the files he's posted there. Props for Kathryn Cramer from The Betamax Guillotine.
One example of how several people plus Google plus Flickr, not being
paid for their time and dedication to spreading better information,
have provided us with better information than all the breathless,
hand-wringing storm porn media folks in the last [Read More]
This one appears to be a highly foreshortened view of
the bridge the carries State Hwy 39 over the short canal connecting the
river and the Main Outfall canal.
The breach appears to be at opposite Jourdan Ave, near N Roman Street, at about 29 58 12.48 N 90 01 24.64 W
The thing I don't understand is that the water in this photo seems to be flowing INTO the canal.
Throughout NOLA, water is rising in the streets this morning. The suspected cause: a levee break (update: reports now of three separate breaks)
along a canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain. The city lies below sea
level, and the complex system of pumps, canals and levees that protects
it no longer functions. Electrical, gas, and telecommunications grids
are equally devastated -- and the lack of even the most basic
communications technology is making rescue efforts all the more
difficult.
Ian Sewell points us to an audio file
of CNN's Jeanne Meserve, reporting about what she witnessed yesterday
in the Katrina-damaged zone. Journalists "are sometimes wacky thrill
seekers" in hurricanes, Meserve said. "But when you stand in the dark,
and you hear people yelling for help and no one can get to them, it's a
totally different experience." This page contains a 10MB MP3.
I just heard this on CNN, so I can't provide the link to it I would
like to, but earlier today a refugee from New Orleans noted that his
debit card was useless. His bank is either underwater or without power,
so the computer can't confirm that he has cash to back up his
purchases. Which means he may be as rich as Midas, but he can't access
the funds, so he's as poor as a homeless person.Which brings me
to the head of FEMA, on tape just now on CNN. He referred to the same
problem, and while he'd told Larry King earlier, live, that FEMA had
specifically prepared for a hurricane strike on New Orleans as its
worst-case scenario of all possible natural disasters in the U.S.,
apparently they didn't prepare for this. His solution? Ask the Red
Cross. Or charities. Or churches. The Red Cross, I understand,
has taken in $21 million in relief funds for this effort. But who do
you think has the greater financial resources? The Red Cross? a local
church? Or the Federal Government?
You prepare for disaster relief with the FEMA head you have, and not with the FEMA head you want!
