There is aerial footage here.  How utterly horrible and upsetting.  I would be deeply grateful to hear from friends and students in this area.  Here in Austin we are thinking of you.

UPDATE:  Tony Iannitelli (UT Law Class of 2001) writes from Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Baton Rouge is physically marked by little other than broken trees, loosened shingles and pockets of the city still without power.  On the other hand, we’re now home to thousands of evacuees (the media quit calling them refugees in a half-hearted attempt at political correctness, but refuge is what they need) from New Orleans and other points underwater.  It is difficult to imagine what these folks will do — they have months in front of them with no idea where their children might go to school, whether their employers will ever reopen for business or whether anything remains of the life they’ve made.  The staggering scope makes discourse useless.  From our perspective, all one can do is enjoy the presence of those refugees that made it and appreciate the fact it ain’t us.