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Via Drudge and the NYDailyNews, the Pentagon is sending help to hurricane-ravaged areas in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Pentagon…is sending doctors, nurses and rescue specialists along with baby formula, generators, water and ice to the hard-hit areas.

More details from CNN.

Background on the role of the military during natural disasters here.

Martial law has been declared in New Orleans. More details here.

More than, 1,600 Mississippi Natonal Guardsmen have been called up to help with cleanup efforts and to deter looting.

Yes, looting.

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More than 2.3 million are without power. Restoration efforts could take weeks.

A number of readers have written urging us all to keep Mississippi in the spotlight. Reader Dave A. notes:

Everyone is reporting about New Orleans, and wringing their hands about the damage to the Big Easy, but there is a complete dearth of information about the swath of Mississippi from Pass Christian to Pascagoula that bore the major brunt of the storm…Biloxi, Gulfport, and Gautier took it head on. Anything your sources can pass along about how people have fared in those areas would be appreciated. The Mississippi Gulf Coast may wind up with more in common with Aceh before this is over.

Mississippi bloggers, track back and let us know how you’re doing.

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The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which has provided excellent online and print coverage of the disaster, is evacuating its building:

Water continues to rise around our building, as it is throughout the region. We want to evaucate our employees and families while we are still able to safely leave our building.

Our plan is to head across the Mississippi River on the Pontchartrain Expressway to the west bank of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. From there, we’ll try to head to Houma.

Our plan, obviously, is to resume providing news to our readers ASAP. Please refer back to this site for continuing information as soon as we are able to provide it.

Reader Chris R. sends along a southern Mississippi hurricane journal link: Eyes on Katrina.

Confederate Yankee asks a good question: What has happened to the thousands of prisoners in Orleans Parish Prison?

Donald Sensing takes a closer look at the reported martial law declaration in New Orleans.

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ABP highlights the latest blame Bush-for-Katrina nuttiness.

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1245 pm EDT update: Brendan Loy reporting…

“Break in 17th Street Canal Levee is now 200 feet wide and slowly flooding the City of New Orleans. Huge sand bags are being airlifted to try to stem the rush of water in that area. The expectations are that the water will not stop until it reaches lake level.” In other words, the worst-case scenario: completely filling the bowl, turning Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans into one big toxic lake.

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