In terms of New Orleans, it's St. Bernard and Chalmette that are really getting hammered.

Hurricane Katrina hammered the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, with residents telling tales of stranded people being plucked from their rooftops by passing boaters and flood waters as high as 12 feet well into Chalmette.

Residents fled the surging water, which quickly rose as the brunt of Katrina plowed ashore near eastern St. Bernard Parish.

Arabi resident Donald Bordelon told a Times-Picayune reporter via cell phone that at 8:30 a.m. there was just wind damage the homes on his block of Schnell Drive. But 40 minutes later, floodwaters had risen over the stove in his kitchen, as he scrambled to ready his boat for an evacuation.

Residents reported high water flooding such institutions as Rocky and Carlo's restaurant at the corner of St. Bernard Highway and Lloyd's Avenue. Others reported that homes on Campagna Drive were nearly underwater.

At Chalmette High School on Judge Perez Drive, officials had set up a shelter of last resort late Sunday. By Monday morning, the first floor of the high school was under water and the evacuees huddled in rooms on the second floor, reporting that they could only see rooftops of the surrounding homes.

The St. Bernard Parish government building, also on Judge Perez Drive, was said to have taken on 8 to 10 feet of water. The government building is in a stretch of the highway that comprises one of the parish's main economic centers, with a huge new Super Wal Mart nearby.

Huh.. did Katrina wash all the Natterers away?

There's a Katrina and the Waves joke in there somewhere.

There's a Katrina and the Waves joke in there somewhere.

Not to mention some seriously confused vampires.

In terms of New Orleans, it's St. Bernard and Chalmette that are really getting hammered.

Oof. That's just east of the Quarter and Marigny. Those poor water logged people. That's gonna be some horrible water damage.

Willliams Boulevard in Kenner is flooded north of I-10 to just before the lake levee, officials said.

(I'm sorry, I know this stuff isn't of interest to most people in the thread.)

Dana, that's not true. Please don't think that.

I just mean the really specific stuff, down to which streets are flooding worst. As always, it's been wonderful to have invisible friends offering sympathy.

I've been doing the hmmm, have I been there? and then trying to picture it underwater, like I did when Prague flooded a few years ago. I still can't quite believe that happened. I mean, my metro stops were ....underwater. Rivers. It just doesn't seem possible.

The specific stuff is certainly of interest. And if sharing makes you feel better (it certainly made me fell better when my city was whomped) that's all the interest that's needed anyway.

"Warning: This product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reporductive harm. Wash hands after handling."

That's what it says on a set of computer cables (VGA, USB, audio) that we just got.

Hmmm... I'll go put on my HAZMAT suit before I hook everything up. And I suppose I'll have to forgo my usual habit of licking new computer cables....