From terrible to worse ...

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has called and sent e-mail inquiring about my parents and my own welfare. Thank God, we're all safe and have the luxury of clean water and air conditioning.

We still don't know the condition of our home or the homes of our friends and family members. The latest update on wwltv.com is this:

HURRICANE KATRINA
****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****

We live in Metairie, which is in Jefferson Parish, on the East Bank of the Mississippi, which -- not to be confusing, but -- is to the west of downtown New Orleans. I read on a message board on the same Web site that a house two streets from our home had no water damage. That's soothing relief. I guess time will tell.

Here's another alert that relates to my family:
Jeff Parish President. Residents will probably be allowed back in town in a week, with identification only, but only to get essentials and clothing. You will then be asked to leave and not come back for one month.

Prisoners are forced to evacuate from the city's jails.

A couple of levees break, and the water pours into the city.

Here are some other news bites from WWL, the local CBS news station in New Orleans.

9:17 P.M. - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs and in attics, and so rescue boats were bypassing the dead.

8:04 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Unhappy that the helicopters slated to drop 3,000-pound bags into the levee never showed up to stop the flow of water. Too many chiefs calling shots he says.

6:41 P.M. - Efforts to stop the levee break at the 17th Street Canal have ended unsuccessfully and the water is expected to soon overwhelm the pumps in that area, allowing water to pour into the east bank of Metairie and Orleans to an expected height of 12-15 feet.

5:57 P.M. - Jeff Parish schools chief Dianne Roussel says two months is probably "optimistic" to get schools back and functioning.

4:40 P.M. - (AP) State officials say they are working on plans to evaucate inmates from the Orleans Parish prison and the Jefferson Parish jail. Both facilities face a threat of flooding. The state Corrections Department is trying to figure out how to transfer 4,000 inmates from the New Orleans jail and another 1,000 from the Jefferson Parish jail in Gretna.

2:01 P.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard says there is no plumbing and the sanitary situation is getting nasty. He told WAFB-TV that he is carrying around a bag for his own human waste.

1:05 P.M. - (AP) -- With much of the city emptied by Hurricane Katrina, some opportunists took advantage of the situation by looting stores. At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers. When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming, "86! 86!" -- the radio code for police -- and the crowd scattered.
While some people were volunteering and saving people's lives, others were Christmas shopping. Nice.

The last thing I heard today was that city leaders were "giving up" on trying to fix the levees for the night. They just can't stop it. Keep prayin', and if you can, donate to the American Red Cross! I'll post more tomorrow.