A Sad, Sad Sight

An estimated 80 percent of beloved New Orleans is now underwater. Hundreds of people are presumed dead; a million are practically homeless. The Crescent City is devastated. We face the real possibility that a treasured piece of American history and culture is gone.

A bad situation worsened today when two levees gave way, pouring water down into the subsea-level city center.

With hundreds, if not thousands, of people still stranded in flooded homes, attics and rooftops across the city, rescue boats were bypassing the dead to reach the living, Mayor C. Ray Nagin said.

"We're not even dealing with dead bodies," Nagin said. "They're just pushing them on the side."

The hospitals' patients were slowly being evacuated -- the babies in intensive care had been flown out already -- and state officials were weighing plans to evacuate the entire city.

A few more feet of water could wipe out the entire city water system, said Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief.

And, of course, the media makes a big deal out of looting. Before my last friend still in the city left today on word of a mandatory evacuation of everyone left, she reported the looters were being encouraged to "take what they need" by police. This means food, bottled water, medicine, diapers and other supplies -- a sensible move by typically not-so-sensible city leaders. There is outrage among those who evacuated when ordered to do so earlier that people are stealing clothes, televisions, jewelry and other items "they don't need." They demand looters be shot. No, they will get their just desserts soon enough. Either they will starve or be forced to leave behind most of their ill-gotten goods when a National Guard boat allows them to bring only one bag on the way out of the city.

Matters will only get worse tonight.

Mayor Ray Nagin has announced that the attempt to plug a breach in the 17th Street canal at the Hammond Highway bridge has failed and the rising water is about to overwhelm the pumps on that canal.The result is that water will begin rising rapidly again, and could reach as high as 3 feet above sea level. In New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, that means floodwaters could rise as high as 15 feet in the next few hours.

Jesus H. Christ.