I'm calling it now:
The storm will drift N and gradually take a NNE tack and the eyewall will make landfall between NO and Biloxi.
Flooding will still be very bad all over but the huge push up the river that could turn the Big Easy into Lake New Orleans will not happen. The Big Easy will dodge another bullet - but very narrowly.
Can anything good come from such a natural disaster? Yes...I suppose. Perhaps this will bring attention to the erosion of the Louisiana coast that has been unchecked for decades. The million or so acres we've lost in the estuary would be pretty nice to have around right about now.
Just to state my affiliation: I was born in NO and lived there for 25 years. My parents, my sister and her husband and my in-laws all still live in and around the area. All have stayed in town - Sister and Mother are on the critical personnel list at an area hospital and my father stayed with them. Inlaws are just S of I-12 in Madisonville and should be OK.
BTW...here's a
Link to a webcam housed in my high school alma mater. The school is located at the base of a levee that holds the Mississippi. Literally. As in run a few hundred yards and you're heading up the levee (ahh...fond memories of football conditioning...levees with another D-Lineman on your back just to make it more interesting).
Anyway...as it's night there obviously isn't much to see but the camera may provide some interesting (as in severely disheartening) footage as the storm heads in. The cam appears to update hourly.