Rendai

Everyone has probably already seen this, but just in case.

Update: Here’re additional images from satellites from a reader of the blog. Thanks to Catherine Savage.

Here’s a photo album of 90 pictures. If you’re looking for photo verification for an area around town, hopefully some of the pictures will help you out.

Update: Here are some more. Not certain where these pictures were taken.

From NOLA:

In St. Tammany, schools to reoen Oct. 1, aid sites listed
7:20 p.m.

By Charlie Chapple
St. Tammany bureau

St. Tammany Parish public schools won’t reopen until Oct. 1 if then, Superintendent Gayle Sloan said Thursday after meeting with parish officials.

“That’s the very earliest date we could reopen,” Sloan said. “People have been asking us for a date so they can at least make decisions and have a plan. . . . That’s an optimum date. It certainly could be later.”

But if the target date can be met, Sloan said, the school year can be completed on time. The 20 missed school days can be made up by scheduling classes druing the Thanksgiving, Christmas, Carnival and other holidays.

If school resumes after Oct. 1, Saturday classes or extending the school year into the summer will be necessary, Sloan said.

In the meantime, she urged evacuees to enroll their children in another school, if possible.

The superintendent noted that some 20 schools are being used for shelters and by emergency response workers. And all schools have not been thoroughly checked for hurricane damage, she said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened three stations in St. Tammany Parish to distribute water, cooked meals and tarpoliun to hurricane victims. The locations are:

– Cavenham Park along Louisiana 41 north of Pearl River.
– In front of the Target department store in Stirling Covington Center at Louisiana 21 and Interstate 12.
– The former Wal-mart on Gause Boulevard in Slidell.

The Red Cross has begun distrtibuting free hot meals, twice daily, at 10 locations in St. Tammany. The meals are being distributed from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at:

– Pineview Middle School in Covington.
– William Pitcher Junior High School in Covington.
– Abita Springs Middle School.
– Fifth Ward Junior High School in Bush.
– Creekside Elementary School in Pearl River.
– Sixth Ward Elementary School near Pearl River.
– Pearl River High School.
– Riverside Elementary School in Pearl River.
– John Slidell Park in Slidell.
– Across from the parish emergency management center in Covington.

Although most of the distribution points are at shelters, the meals are for any hurricane victim, regardless whether they are staying at the shelter, Red Cross officials said.

Red Cross volunteer April Dugger said 60 emergency response vehicles will be in St. Tammany soon to deliver water and meals to neighborhoods and communities throughout the parish.

St. Tammany Parish government and School Board workers who do not have direct deposit on their paychecks may pick up their checks Tuesday, officials said. The checks will be distributed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Copeland’s restaurant along U.S. 190, just north of Interstate 12, south of Covington.

There have been some sporadic reports of unrest in Baton Rouge now. Trying to contact my brother to see where his apartment is in relation to downtown.

Josh Britton:

I am receiving reports that there may be some safety issues in Baton Rouge caused by the influx of evacuees.
…
UPDATE from a friend at LSU: Pleasant Hall has been locked down and employees are not being allowed to leave.

Nola:

Mayor closes city to evacuees
Baton Rouge Parish Mayor Kip Holden said that no more evacuees would be accepted. He also called for refugees housed in the River Center be moved elsewhere, WBRZ Channel 2 reported.

The Advocate:

Security is becoming a major problem at the River Center, and Mayor-President Kip Holden blames the state for forcing the city-parish to house “New Orleans thugs” who fled from Hurricane Katrina.

Holden slapped a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the River Center on Wednesday after several knives were confiscated from a group of New Orleans evacuees Tuesday night.

The number of people in the River Center grew from fewer than 2,000 Tuesday to its maximum capacity of 5,000 early Wednesday…

Not very PC on that last one, but everyone is being stressed by the disaster. There will be ripples throughout Louisiana and the rest of the nation because of Katrina.

Via WWL:

11:41 A.M. – St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis: There is no gasoline in St. Tammany Parish. If you enter, you will be stranded if you run out of fuel. Do not attempt to cross St. Tammany to reach any areas on the south shore. ALL bridges are closed. Most have severe structural damage or are closed indefinitely for safety reasons. THERE IS NO ACCESS TO NEW ORLEANS OR ITS IMMEDIATE SUBURBS FROM ST. TAMMANY PARISH.