CNN's John Zarrella is reporting from the streets of New Orleans:

""I can barely hear you, but I'll tell you what I can see right now. We're standing on Common Street and the wind is just whipping down the street. The water is pouring down the street like waves on the top of the ocean, just blowing down the street...You can look down the street, and at times, Soledad, you can barely see anything from the pure whiteout conditions that exist here in downtown New Orleans..."

More after the jump...


"I can barely hear you, but I'll tell you what I can see right now. We're standing on Common Street and the wind is just whipping down the street. The water is pouring down the street like waves on the top of the ocean, just blowing down the street. There are windows blown out in the building across the street, there are canopies that are down. Up through the manhole covers the water is just pouring out of the manhole covers. It just can't take it."

"But again, we still have not seen the worst of the storm. And the wind is just whipping through the streets. You can look down the street, and at times, Soledad, you can barely see anything from the pure whiteout conditions that exist here in downtown New Orleans..."

"If I step out, I don't even know that you'll be able to hear me as I walk down the street on Common Street. I'm huddled against the side of a massive building here. But the water just continues to rise. I guess what surprises me, and yet it doesn't, is that we are surrounded by so many tall, big concrete block structures here in the downtown area, in the French Quarter area -- you know, that we're not feeling the absolute full brunt of the wind that's howling. But as I look down the street, the water is up and continuing to rise and just being whipped off the top of the street now. It's just racing down the street. It's probably no more than about a foot deep in places here, but it's continuing to rise. And you can hear that wind howling as I stand on the street corner..."