As the evaculation continues in New Orleans some potentially useful web-based tools are coming out. Like the New Orleans Flood Map:

Water depth values from additional sources in the flooded areas are utilized for ground truthing. Google Maps provided the street information, in addition to satellite imagery collected Wednesday, August 31 at 10 AM, which can be viewed by selecting the “Katrina” button. This imagery does not encompass entire area, but will hopefully be useful to many.

To use just click on an area of interest inside New Orleans and a popup will appear showing an estimation of the water level.

CNN is using Google Earth regularly in its coverage of the Katrina aftermath. Former President Clinton and Bush Sr. along with President Bush held a press conference to announce that the two former presidents are going on a campaign to collect money like they did over the tsunami. The President also updated on the recovery and relief process.

What about the techies? Chris Pirillo posts a bunch of different help/relief services. Robert Scoble details what some caring Microsoft employees are doing and some other tech news, some related to Katrina, some not. The Google Adsense relevancy question that Buzz Bruggeman points out is particularly well thought out:

If someone was awake at the switch they would immediately switch the algorithm to advertising say donations to the Red Cross, which would make all the sense in the world, and earn all kinds of good will for Google at a very critical time.

But machines don’t think and someone at Google should be.

Agreed. Google could simply run a long ad for the Red Cross on Katrina-related posts. Those who do not want to run these banners could then just not blog about Katrina. Then again, bloggers could put some code in which just doesn’t run Adsense ads on certain categories.

That’s what I’m working on doing with the new category I just added here called: Current Events. I don’t want to profit in any way monetarily from writing about topics like this. I’d rather any money made from these particular topic writings go directly to the Red Cross or other agencies assisting the people in New Orleans. If my work has been successful then when you visit this page readers should see no Google Adsense ads. Should be done!

Update 12:33pm PST: Adsense ads for posts made in ths this category: Current Events have been removed. Anything we put in this category will not have any Google Adsense ads running on the standalone post page. I also removed the rotating banner for this category (only). I might add a banner for the Red Cross and/or advertisements for relief agencies and efforts as time goes on but for now these posts will reside in an ad-free zone. I also went back to the two other posts I made RE: Katrina and changed the category on those too.

My RSS list is much more quiet than usual today, no doubt at least somewhat due to the tragic Katrina aftermath which sadly seems to be getting much worse before getting better. I can understand folks not wanting to blog about that. What does one say to that? What can be done?

We were not planning on going anywhere significant for this upcoming three day weekend holiday, but I wonder how many folks who were planning on going somewhere will cancel their travel plans now that gas prices are on the rise (and might be hiked for some time)? Those looking for the best deal might want to consult sites like gasbuddy.com. Our neighbor says his bosses sent down a memo that gas prices are going up 40 cents a gallon tonight. I heard all day on CNN various reports that gas prices will be going up to $4-5 per gallon.

Time to fill ‘er up.

CNN has been having round the clock coverage on Hurricane Katrina (aside: why do some hurricanes have female names and others male?). The death toll is as much as 80 people now. I sure hope if any readers are down there that they have long since moved to higher ground and are OK. I hope everybody is OK but it sounds like that’s not the case for many people who are displaced from their homes and/or families.

The American Red Cross’ relief operation would be the largest in its history, the organization’s president, Marty Evans, said on CNN’s “Paula Zahn Now” — larger than for all four of last year’s Florida hurricanes combined. More than 75,000 people were being housed in nearly 240 shelters across the region, and “we expect that to grow” as people who can’t return home seek somewhere to stay, Evans said.

Some of the pictures and video of the devastation are downright haunting. Mayor AJ Hooloway of Biloxi is calling it “our tsunami.”

MTV: “Insurance officials began making estimates on the damage from Katrina, which could range anywhere from $9 to $20 billion, making it one of the most devastating storms on record behind 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, which had $21 billion in insured losses.”

LA Times:

Katrina left 6 feet of water in the streets, and when Miller looked up near nightfall, he realized that some of his neighbors were still stranded on their roofs. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Miller said, shaken. “And I hope to never see it again. The people who were on the roof, it was just terrible. It’s terrible. They can’t get anything to them. None of us knows what’s going to happen to them.”

Let’s keep these folks in our prayers and thoughts.

Update 6:21pm PST: Martial Law has been declared in (parts of — New Orleans) the state of Louisiana according to CNN due to widespread looting, shootings and carjacking. This is the first time since WWII that martial law has been declared.