A lot of the early reporting on Katrina sounded like this - "it was bad, but whew! New Orleans dodged a bullet".

Well, it looks like that sentiment was expressed too soon. Apparently, at least three levees have failed, and New Orleans is filling up like a soup bowl. Take a look:

Last night, MSNBC had reporters outside the Superdome, looking dry. It looks like my earlier worry about getting people out of the Superdome might become a live problem. From the MSNBC reporting:

Some hospital patients were airlifted to the Superdome as a precaution, and NBC's Brian Williams reported from the edge of the French Quarter that what had been dry land “was filling with water” by 5 a.m. ET. “We have a new problem in this city,” he said. By 8 a.m., some French Quarter streets were under several inches of water.

NBC's Kerry Sanders, reporting from a helicopter above the city, said “it's basically one giant lake here in New Orleans.”

It's going to be a long time before they get this straightened out. To see the problem, go watch this Nova video, which was produced earlier this year, in the wake of the Ivan near miss.

Update: Here's a news feed from one of the New Orleans area TV stations. Lots of updates, both text and video.