Levees watched, locals warned in Memphis - Weather - msnbc.com

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Now expecting the Mississippi River to crest in Memphis late Monday, hours sooner than previously predicted, officials were going door-to-door in unprotected neighborhoods as well as monitoring levees protecting most of the city.

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To the south, authorities in Louisiana stepped up their preparations by opening floodgates at a spillway northwest of New Orleans to take pressure off levees in populated areas. Inmates were also scheduled to be moved from a prison near Baton Rouge.
In Memphis, the homes in most danger of flooding are in areas not protected by levees or floodwalls, including near Nonconnah Creek and the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers, said Col. Vernie Reichling, the Army Corps of Engineers commander for the Memphis district.
About 150 Corps workers were walking along levees and monitoring the performance of pump stations along what Reichling called the "wicked" Mississippi. "There should be no concern for any levees to fail," he said in a downtown park on a bluff overlooking the river.

For Cedric Blue, the flooding in his south Memphis neighborhood near the overflowing Nonconnah Creek is a source of frustration and anger.
Blue, 39, has watched as the water engulfed three homes on his street, including that of an older woman who had to be rescued in a boat because she had refused to leave. Blue fears the rising water will ruin his house and his belongings while washing away a lifetime of memories that were created there.
Sunday afternoon, a garbage can floated in the high water near his house. Some feet away, the water had reached more than halfway up a yellow "No Outlet" street sign.
He became emotional talking about how he has about 7 feet of water in his backyard and less than a foot inside the house, which his mother owns. They were in the middle of a remodeling project when the flood hit.
Blue said he wants the city, county or the federal government to give him a hotel voucher so he does not have to go to a shelter.
"I just want a new life and relocation," Blue said. "I would like the elected officials to come down here to see this with their own eyes and see what we're going through."
Mayor AC Wharton said that despite the tightened timeframe, he's confident that precautions such as door-to-door warnings have prepared the city.

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"We don't have as much time, but fortunately we're ready for it," Wharton told CBS television Monday.
Wharton said disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, which flooded parts of New Orleans and other areas in 2005, have shown that you can't simply get the word out by issuing warnings on TV.

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Scientists: BP dispersants have made spill more toxic

Here is what I don't understand. Why is it the NBC is so late on this subject? Most of us that are here on Todays World New Blog have been talking about this for Months now. Not even weeks, but Months. How is is even possible for the Main Stream Media be so late on reporting all this?

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Editor's note: Lisa Myers' report on oil dispersants will air Friday on NBC Nightly News. Amid growing concern about the use of dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, a group of scientists working for law firms suing BP says their testing indicates that the dispersants being used to break up the oil are making this spill even more toxic to marine life. Dr. William Sawyer, a toxicologist, is part of a team of scientists hired by law firms — led by Smith Stag of New Orleans — that are representing Louisiana fishermen and environmentalists. The scientists collected and analyzed globs of oil, sand, and water from more than a dozen sites in four states along the Gulf. Sawyer told NBC News that the findings are troubling. "We now have compelling evidence that the dispersant has enhanced and increased the toxicity from the spill," he said. Spreading the damage? So far, the federal government has approved use of more than 1.8 million gallons of dispersant in the Gulf. Most of it is Corexit 9500. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Obama ban on deepwater drilling blocked

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge Tuesday ruled against the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill. The White House, which had hoped the ban would provide time to ensure other wells are operating safely, immediately said it would appeal. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by drilling companies to reverse the ban imposed by the  Department of Interior, which halted the approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf. A federal judge in Louisiana granted the drillers' request for a preliminary restraining order that would prevent the ban from taking effect until a trial is held. He did not set a trial date. District Judge Martin Feldman said the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning and that the moratorium seems to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

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New scale of disaster looms in Gulf of Mexico

Image by Coast Guard News via Flickr

clipped from news.yahoo.com NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Concern grew Sunday that the US Gulf coast is facing a whole new level of environmental disaster after the best short-term fix for a massive oil spill ran into serious trouble. BP's giant containment box lay idle on the seabed as engineers furiously tried to figure out how to stop it clogging with ice crystals. The British energy giant, which owns the lion's share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, has tried to banish the notion that the dome is a "silver bullet" to end the crisis. But should efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes. Untold damage is already being done by the 3.5 million gallons estimated to be in the sea so far, but the extent of that harm will rise exponentially if the only solution is a relief well that takes months to drill.

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A Totally Safe And Completely Organic Way To Clean Up The Oil In The Gulf Of Mexico

clipped from howtohelpsavetheenvironment.com The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is rapidly becoming the worst environmental disaster in American history.  We are watching as an entire region is economically and environmentally destroyed in slow motion.  In fact, many are calling this Gulf of Mexico oil spill a "slow motion Katrina", but the truth is that if something is not done quickly this disaster will end up being far worse than Hurricane Katrina.  Once the oil slick gets into the wetlands along the Gulf Coast it is going to create a nightmare of unimaginable proportions. Well, yes there is, and it is also incredibly inexpensive. It is called hay. Yes, we are being totally serious. The video contains footage of CW Roberts employees demonstrating the use of hay to remove oil from water.  This same method can be used to clean up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.  You have got to check this out.... So will those in charge of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico embrace this idea? No, probably not.

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