As reports continue to flood in (pardon the pun), it looks more and more to me like the catastrophe that is New Orleans isn’t going to get better anytime soon. While on the road this morning, I heard a report that gunfire was reported in the city, which isn’t new information. What was new is that it apparently was focused at rescue helicopters. That makes no sense. Obviously the only hope some of these people have is that the bullets will run out before their lives have ended.
But even so, how can a city go on what is essentially a massive forced lunch break for such a long period of time? Engineers report that the saturated levees are now even more likely to suffer failures than they were before. And they can’t get the water out that’s in there now! Apparently the pumps that clear the water are barely running, and can’t make any headway. The problem is that other pumps that could help need electricity to run. But because 80% or so of the city is now underwater, I don’t see electriticy getting to them anytime soon. Sounds like they’re in a bit of a pickle.
This isn’t meant to make light of the situation – I’m just wondering at what point it happens that New Orleans as a city will have to be written off and rebuilt more inland (if at all). Even if the water should be cleared and the roads, plumbing and power be rebuilt, how many companies that were there are going to be able to recover, because they had a forcibly-imposed 3-month sabbatical? It seems to me that any of those companies that can will be moving their operations elsewhere – so why on earth would they want to move them back just as they get going again?
And perhaps most importantly, will we see Kurt Russell come back to the role of Snake Plissken for part 3 of the Escape series?