This storm has all the ingredients for a serious tragedy. It's massive in scale, it's moving very slowly, the air pressure is among the lowest for any hurricane on record, the water temperature is high, and the city is 6+ feet below sea level, with water on all sides.

Of course anything can happen at this point, but it is very much within the realm of possibility that New Orleans may not exist after this storm. I hope that nobody in the storm's path is thinking that just "staying indoors" is going to be enough. Of course some will get stuck and have to hang out at the Superdome or other shelters, but I hope everyone's taking this one more seriously than many in Florida did with some of last year's storms.

Best of luck to anyone here who's directly affected or has family/friends in the area.