Katrina has made landfall just east of New Orleans. There's hope that it won't be the apocalyptic catastrophe it had (and still has) the potential to be - indeed, damage estimates are dropping - but it's still very early.

The last storm of this magnitude to hit the Gulf Coast was Camille in 1969. Here's a report about Camille on the 30-year anniversary of that storm. Found via Chris Mooney and Making Light, which has a number of other useful links as well.

This is as good a time as any to say that the best thing you can do to help is to give to the Red Cross, and the best thing you can give to the Red Cross is money.