Report on New Orleans

From what I've read in Corps of Engineers releases (written by those "in charge" at the center of action) there have not been and probably will not be any failures of federal levees as a result of Gustav. In short, steps taken by the Corps and others following Katrina have apparently been effective. This does not imply there are no challenges at hand, there are. Damage assessment teams are out and about all along the Louisiana and Mississippi coast and it will be a day or two more before we know more. Still, it looks like the city dodged another bullet, albeit close. Good for the local officials this time, who did the right thing and ordered all to leave in a timely fashion (as compared to Katrina where they did a poor job in my view). Now, we have Ike slogging along to the west perhaps near Cuba and then into the Gulf of Mexico, where it all starts all over for New Orleans and other locations…preparing for potential impact. For us on the east coast, we have Hanna to look forward to this weekend. Busy t-storm season for sure.