The US Army Corps of Engineers is now at New Orleans inspecting the levees, determining what course of action to take in the aftermath of . They will be working with the local authorities to ensure no further life is lost, and to help fix the levee.

Right now the Engineers are working with the local authorities as well as Federal authorities such as the Coast Guard and the Army National Guard to bring in as much material and resources as possible, in order to fix the levees. Material like wood, rocks, gravel, will be needed in large quantities to get the levee breaches closed.

Without the levee fixed, the water cannot be pumped out of the City of New Orleans. Barges will also be brought in to help, to plug up the gaps in the levees, while the Engineers work on fixing the wide gaps. Although there was some confusion as to where the gaps were precisely, by the evening of Tuesday, August 30th, it was clear that the serious problem was at the 17th Street Canal levee, which has forced the evacuation of the Superdome where 20,000 residents were sheltering.

What must be stressed is that this is not going to be fixed quickly, the breaks in the levee are big and with millions of gallons of water pouring through it is going to be a struggle to plug them up. The Engineers however are here to protect the citizens so you can be assured that they will be working 24/7 to get the problem solved. The President has also returned from his vacation to personally oversee the relief effort.

The 20,000 citizens who sheltered from in the Superdome are going to be bused to Houston’s Astrodome. FEMA will be providing 475 buses for the 2 day convoy to reach the Astrodome, which hasn’t been used for sports venues in years. If you want to donate to the please do so and log it here, they will be needing your generous contributions for the . You can also find a fleshed out list of local relief efforts and flood aid at Instapundit, and if you want to participate in the blogging effort, see ’s Katrina Relief Page.