Where we are now

 Seems about right.

RACELAND, La. —

A fire that started from a pile of Hurricane Ida debris is burning faster than firefighters can control in Raceland, according to the Lafourche Parish President.

The fire is mainly affecting areas near Highway 190 and Highway 182. 

According to Archie Chaisson, the fire has been burning for more than a week and started in a state government dump. No homes or structures are being threatened, but smoke is causing a problem. 

Actually there is some better news on the disaster relief front.  Earlier this month it looked to all the world as though Louisiana would have to forego federal help in order that the US could send more bombs to the Ukraine war zone. That turns out not to be the case, exactly.  This week they found $1.7 billion in the couch cushions somewhere.

Hopes had been all but lost in the Lake Charles area for further long-term relief after Congress approved a massive federal spending package earlier this month without it.

But given the state’s stark needs, federal officials decided to grant additional money to Louisiana out of a previously approved amount set aside for disaster relief nationwide. Ida aid was expected to eventually come from that, but at a lower amount. Graves and Kennedy criticized the allocations as taking too long.

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge noted that a primary goal of the funding was to help low- to moderate-income families recover and rebuild more resiliently.

Keep in mind this is mostly to deal with the still un-met needs resulting from Hurricanes Delta and Laura. The Governor says they're still looking for another $2.5 billion for Ida. Until then, keep the fire going, I guess.

 

How we are buying the bombs

Joe Biden announced today that the US will contribute the following to the growing pit of death and destruction in Ukraine.

The new $800M package includes:
- 800 anti-aircraft systems
- 9,000 anti-armor systems
- 7,000 small arms
- 20 Million rounds
- Unmanned aerial systems
And more.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 16, 2022

It surprises no one to learn that this expenditure did not immediately elicit a chorus of "BUT HOW WILL WE PAY FOR IT" howls from the psychopaths who dominate American media and politics.  They do love to yell that. But only when it refers to expenditures on things like food or medicine for poor people.  It's fine when we spend the money on murder. That's what our enlightened rulers enjoy most. 

So, anyway, how will we pay for it?

Next week, the White House says it will start to wind down a COVID-19 program that pays to test, treat and vaccinate people who don't have health insurance.

It's one of several immediate impacts after Congress declined to add $22.5 billion in funding to a broad government spending bill passed last week. President Biden signed the bill into law on Tuesday, hailing it as a bipartisan achievement without mentioning the lack of COVID-19 funding.

The COVID-19 funding request met with political pushback from Republicans and concern among some lawmakers that the White House has not fully explained how trillions in COVID money has been spent so far and what funding remains. Republicans in particular have been unwilling to agree to new spending.

Ah okay we've given up even pretending to care about COVID and kicking millions of Americans off of Medicaid. That's plenty money right there. What else, though? 

The bill also does not include further Hurricane Ida aid, but time likely remains to appropriate more dollars for that storm, which hit in August and affected a range of states, including New York, whose congressional delegation holds strong sway.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, sought an amendment to include $3 billion for 2020 and 2021 disasters, but the proposal was rejected. He said that while he supported the billions appropriated for Ukraine, and noted aid being sent to Haiti and elsewhere, needs here should be taken care of as well.

“How do you do that and not provide aid for our own citizens, for people that are in need?” he said. “You’re treating people of other countries better than we're treating our own. I want to be clear: I'm not necessarily saying that with Ukraine. We're not under missile attack right now. But for some of these other countries, that’s exactly what's happening.”

Garret Graves isn't "necessarily saying that with Ukraine" but I will.  It is unconscionable to let people suffer the effects of multiple major hurricanes in order to send even more instruments of death into a war zone. Despite what the hunky Ukranian guy everybody loves says, the US can still choose to do some actual good things for people instead of helping him start Word War III.  But in American politics it's always easier to kill a million people in Europe than it is to figure out how to feed and clothe them here.

Just blew right through

Laura is already out of the headlines most everywhere but Louisiana.  Trump came down and signed some autographs or something and now they're all on to other things. 

Here are some numbers.  Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to be without water or power for a month at least. Tens of thousands of evacuees are staying in hotels all over Louisiana and Texas. Remember that evacuees in similar circumstances after Katrina had to fight more than once to keep their hotel vouchers before being kicked out with no place to go.  This is going to be a long tough road ahead for many people. 

A massive chlorine gas fire that erupted near Lake Charles has yet to be fully measured. Information about possible environmental damage from similar chemical infrastructure in the area is slow to come in.

The lack of urgency around monitoring is problematic, said Kimberly Terrell, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic's director of community outreach, because industrial facilities hit by Laura's winds could be leaking or emitting more air pollution than normal. 

"Monitoring air pollution is more important than ever," she said. "You would hope that the state would mobilize every resource available to provide information about what’s in the air in this region."

Indeed, since Thursday, more than 50 pollution events linked to Laura in Louisiana have been reported to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center, including the possible release of toxic vinyl chloride and dichloroethane from the Westlake Chemicals facility, just across Contraband Bayou from the BioLab facility, and the release of an unknown quantity of natural gas from a storage tank at the Cameron LNG Inc. facility in Cameron Parish.

Confidence in EPA to discharge its duty under Trump is at an all time low. It will make it all the more difficult to assess the harm done by Laura. 

That is also true in general as attention moves quickly away.  Only a few years ago an event like Laura might be the biggest ongoing news story of the year.  In terms of the current national news cycle, it's just another catastrophe to throw on the pile. 

That doesn't make it any less devastating for the people who lived in its path.  If you are looking for a way to help, the City of New Orleans is compiling a list of ways you can do that here.

Worst person of 2020?

Seems like a lofty title. The competition would be stiff. Pros only, please. Probably if you are a mayor of something, you've already got a leg up on it.  But it would be hard to beat Josh Guillory at this point. 

Instead of hurricane damage, Lafayette has faced the "serious, local security threat" of protesters, according to Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Josh Guillory's administration.

Cydra Wingerter, Guillory's chief administrative officer, sent a Saturday email to those involved in disaster response, urging them to "take a pause on any action to establish shelters at this time."

Hundreds of thousands of people without electricity or water right now.  But... "security threat." Brilliant. 

Chemical fire

 Yikes

A large chemical fire has sent a dangerous cloud over Lake Charles, hours after the eye of Hurricane Laura passed directly over the city.

Gov. John Bel Edwards says the fire was burning Thursday morning just outside the city, and he’s advising storm survivors to shelter in place.

Edwards tweeted that people “in the Westlake/Moss Bluff/Sulphur area” should close their windows and doors and turn off their air conditioning units.

The National Hurricane Center says Laura remains a hurricane, sustaining top winds of 75 mph more than 170 miles after landfall.

Sounds comfy 

Update: Fire is coming from a facility called BioLab Inc

According to state permits, the facility can produce 115 million lbs. per year of trichloroisocyanuric acid and disodium isocyanurate. Trichloroisocyanuric acid is often produced in a white granulated or powder form and can have a heavy "chlorine" smell. When heated, the material can release toxic chlorine fumes and nitrogen oxides, according to PubChem, an open database from the National Institutes of Health.

The facility was categorized under federal standards as a major source of hazardous air pollutants.

Chlorine gas can cause blisters and a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat. Nausea, vomiting, shortness of breathe and headache are symptoms of heavy exposure. The gas is also heavier than air and tends to linger along the ground.

The complex also has storage tanks the hold diesel fuel, another potential fuel source for the fire, permit records show.

 

 

All's well that ends well if you own a well

There were some 1400 oil wells in the path of Hurricane Laura's storm surge.  Plus multiple chemical pipelines. Plus the offshore rigs, plus the LNG terminals. What happens if all that stuff gets blowed up?  Well, there is precedent.

Hurricane Katrina struck a similar trove of coastal oil and gas infrastructure in 2005. A Category 3 storm, Katrina made landfall with less force than Laura but managed to damage an estimated 100 drilling platforms, 400 pipelines and caused about 540 spills in Louisiana waters. Added up, the spills likely released roughly 11 million gallons – the same amount as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.

Fifteen years later, no environmental damage assessments have been completed and no companies were fined.

Wind vs rain vs surge

 The 15th anniversary of Katrina is two days from now.  Many folks who learned a lot about how disaster insurance works (or doesn't) at that time, will tell you why this might be important. 

Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday morning said early reports show wind did the most damage from Hurricane Laura, with storm surge falling short of projections, but the governor warned the hurricane did “extensive” damage that is ongoing as it continues to move toward Shreveport.

The governor said the National Guard had not yet been able to take helicopters to survey damage and that a “full assessment” was not yet available as of Thursday morning.

It's early but that is potentially good news.  This says also that the surge may have been only half as high as the predicted "unsurvivable" worst case scenario.  

Of course there are other hazards.

Chemical leak south side of I-10 west Lake area west of Lake Charles. 911 is aware they are overwhelmed. @NWSLakeCharles #lawx pic.twitter.com/ogXwMmhVcj

— Jeff Piotrowski (@Jeff_Piotrowski) August 27, 2020

Hold on to your butts

 Absolute terror.

Officials implored those who hadn’t left to do so in a final Wednesday morning briefing before the storm’s arrival, warning of unprecedented storm surge and punishing winds similar to and possibly even more damaging than those of 2005’s Rita.

"We expect catastrophic events from this storm,” said Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter. “Let me say: I hope I’m wrong. I hope this is not a Rita- like scenario. But the expectation and forecast is for this to be a catastrophic event."

The 7 PM advisory says Laura has 150 mph winds and can push a storm surge of 20 ft. It is potentially the "most powerful storm to ever hit Louisiana"  The chemical infrastructure situated in its path is worth billions of dollars and accounts for a large share of national fuel production.  Even more critically, though, it could make for a massive environmental disaster in the wake of a storm like this. 

Coming onshore within hours.  

 

Unsurvivable

 That sounds bad. I don't like it. 

Southwest Louisiana was bracing for a catastrophic Category 4 Hurricane Laura that was expected to lay waste to large swaths of the region, bringing unheard-of levels of storm surge for south Louisiana of as much as 20 feet.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and forecasters implored residents of the area to flee as the storm prepared to make landfall. Officials said it will bring “unsurvivable” storm surge and wind gusts of 170 mph that was expected to leave most of Cameron Parish underwater.

This is over 200 miles away from New Orleans but the wind this afternoon is already shaking things up a good deal more than anything associated with Marco did over the weekend.  There have only been three storms in recorded history to strike Louisiana as Cat 4 hurricanes.  Katrina, Rita, and Andrew had all grown to Cat 5 strength at certain points but were not, technically, packing that punch when they made landfall.  Still, all were historically damaging.  

There are a lot of vulnerable people in the path of this one. The President just spent $44 billion in FEMA funds on an inadequate stop gap fix for unemployment insurance.  Surely no one will complain.

When I am elected mayor, we will make S&WB build one more pump

 We gotta round it off. This always bugs me. 

The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board said Saturday afternoon that 98 of its 99 drainage pumps, four turbines and five elctro-motive diesel generators are working ahead of Tropical Storm Marco, whose forecast track shifted east earlier in the day and put the city square in its path.

Who will be the first baby actually born in a crossfire hurricane?

The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore has been dispatched to Touro Infirmary to keep us informed.  Too early to know the child's name. But the celebrity couple that births them is known as Laurco.

Short thread: Latest on TS #Marco & TS #Laura, both of which could bring impacts to portions of SE LA and MS. The more significant impacts are currently expected to be associated with TS Laura.
Coastal flooding🌊, heavy rain 🌧️, and strong winds 🌬️ all possible. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/CpthZUXlMP

— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) August 22, 2020

We know a lot of people are making the "cross the streams" joke right now. But I just want to point something out about that. Computer, enhance.

Uncle, 2020...UNCLE! pic.twitter.com/yCdbwixAk4

— Steve Caparotta, Ph.D. (@SteveWAFB) August 22, 2020

Probably not a coincidence at all that they come together right over the state capitol building. We all know that is where Gozer lives.

Meanwhile, this is all very stressful for us in New Orleans, which is a bit of surprise. One would think the hunkerdown alarm going off would come almost as a relief given the state of things. The thing about  hurricane doom as opposed to *gestures at all of the other doom in progress now* is that at least this is the familiar doom. We know how to do this kind.

But, all the same, we were hoping to have electricity this week so we could watch all the horror/comedy to be presented at the Republican National Convention. We need some sort of eye-opener after being put to sleep by the Democrats' telethon or whatever that was. If it's any consolation maybe the mayor will come on TV and fire off a few jokes before the lights go out.

One thing is certain. This time there will be no need to impose a curfew. There's nowhere for anyone to go.