electric mist

Katrina, finding someone...

For those of you posting in the comments about looking for a specific person, here's a fantastic resource for you:

CNN Missing Person Help

There are three different methods of posting on their site -- sending in your story, sending video / photos or sending in an e-mail with questions / info.

I'm happy for you to keep posting in the comments, but as the entries scroll down, very few people will see them.

PLEASE NOTE: I don't live in Mandeville -- with the traffic as bad as it is, it's two hours away. I had to basically beg a Sherrif to let me in today. Mandeville is shut down -- they really aren't letting people in there. It's like a ghost town. Or maybe a war zone, appearance-wise. I'm not going to be able to get back into that area for the next few days. If I can go back, I will definitely take the addresses you're sending and try to find people, but honestly, there's almost no one there.

I did find out they set up two evacuation centers -- one in William Pitcher High School. No idea about the other one yet, but I'm going to ask tomorrow.

I'm trying to get more information about some of the places listed in the comments, so please don't think I've ignored them. I've got questions out to a bunch of people, plus I'll be at a couple of shelters tomorow and hope to ask some of the refugees. If I can learn anything of use, I'll post it here tomorrow evening.

Estimated Cost for this tragedy / donations

Melissa, Pooks and everyone who have made or want to make donations -- thank you.

When we were going to Mandeville, we heard Congressmen Baker tell of the meeting he'd just had with the head of the Red Cross. He said to be able to put the cost into perspective, you first had to know that the Twin Tower tragedy cost for clean up and humanitarian effort was a 50 billion dollar cost. The Red Cross estimates this cost to be 90 billion. It's mind boggling.

They are still rescuing people, there are still hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are in their attics or on roof tops or on streets, looking for a way out of the water. I heard several stories from one of the rescuers which was absolutely heartbreaking. Stories of having to pass up people on roof tops because the boat was already full or with specific types of things beneath the water, they couldn't get the boat near enough to people.

To Donate directly to us...

The Red Cross has started a fund that will be specifically for people in Louisiana / New Orleans area. If you haven't yet made a donation to the Red Cross and you want the money to go specifically to this area, please put HURRICANE KATRINA in the memo section. If you want the money to be specifically for Louisiana (Katrina funds will be split among the three states), then put NOLA in the memo section.

The American Red Cross

There are several churches here who are taking donations of clothing, toys for the kids, books, etc., and I will have those addresss in the morning. I've got tons of clothes and toys that I'm bringing to one of the churches tomorrow. I don't have their address / contact number tonight, but I will have something tomorrow during the day.

My understanding is that there is a real need for clothes, but also for toys or something for these kids to have. It's 90+ temps and there is little to no air conditioning in some of the temporary camps that are set up. There's nothing for these people to do except sit there and be very very depressed. Anything -- seriously, anything you could send would be appreciated. I will try to get a specific list of items needed tomorrow. (This info could change by then, so check back here.)

We all thank you.

Mandeville photos

Mandeville photos:

Typical of the tree damage to the homes (for those which sustained damage). I don't want to imply that they all were like this -- there could easily be four next to it with no direct damage to the house.

*New one* sent in by commenter Andre'

Mandeville storefront at the intersection of intersection of West Approach and Florida.

I'm standing on a road and that tree is across an intersection.

Another home with tree damage.

I thought this was a better shot, but that's a huge tree down across the subdivision road. Many, many roads were blocked by mutilple trees like this. I was going to go back and get photos of the transformers down in the streets, but then we ended up going to another city to try to help and I didn't realize until I'd gotten home that I hadn't gotten those.

Katrina, Mandeville / Covington

I just got back from the Covington / Mandeville area. The good news is that there doesn't look like there was a lot of water damage. The bad news is, there were a tremendous number of trees down. First of all, it was extremely difficult to get into the area. We went up Hwy 190 from Airport Road (if you're familiar with that area) and there were dozens of trees down, and quite a few across the road and across powerlines. There were powerlines down and across the road. The road was down to one lane in many places, and one place where downed lines were so low, we barely made it under the wires. I should have taken photos, but frankly, there was no place to pull over safely and I didn't want to stop since traffic was patiently waiting to allow each other to pass.

Covington has a lot of downed trees, but there seems to be water services to a lot of neighborhoods. We brought food and water to friends, and we took what we had left over to a Shell station and gave out the rest.

There was one Shell station working, and they were having to wait for generators so that the pumps could work. Lines were easily thirty cars in length and growing. We spoke to Sherrifs deputies and they said there was another Shell station which was going to be opened soon on the main highway through Covington. There were no stores open that we could see, no ice, no phone service, and none of these services looked like they would be open any time soon. There were, however, quite a few people holed up in their homes, etc., so there is a lot of movement around there.

Mandeville is a much more severe story. There are Sherrifs working checkpoints preventing all but emergency personnel from getting into the area -- according to official policy. We had to show a driver's license, and I explained that I was looking for a friend's mother (someone who wrote in to this site), and we were very concerned because she was elderly and we had been told she hadn't evacuated. The Sherrif let us in. When we got off 190 on Hwy 22 (where that checkpoint existed), we were a bit in shock. I thought Covington would have prepared us, but the volume of trees down in Mandeville was far far greater. There didn't seem to be water damage, but lines are down all over, trees are down all over -- especially all of those neighborhoods as you go down 190 and it becomes Florida St -- tons and tons of trees down. When we got to Corondelet, the street was blocked, as were all of the streets parallel. We parked and walked into the neighborhood, and saw many many houses with trees down on them. Many trees down across the road. Lines on the street and in yards. Transformers lying on the street. Light poles snapped in half.

There were a very small contingent of people still in their homes, but I don't know what they're going to do for services. They did have running water, but nothing else -- no phones, electricity, gas, stores, etc. I think it's going to take them a week or more to even get the trees up off the ground, there were just that many. The neighborhood we walked through was fairly close to the lakefront and a man who had stayed through the storm said they had not had water damage. (He'd lived there since '49, and said he'd never stay behind again.)

Hammond just got cell service back up and running (at least for Cingular), so if you're trying to reach someone's cell, you may have better luck now.

Photos up in a few minutes.

Katrina, Slidell blog -- info

For those of you looking for more specific information on Slidell -- I'll keep posting here as much as I find out, but you may also want to check out this terrific resource from Brian Oberkirch:

Slidell Blog

I'll report back on the Mandeville area this evening -- as much as we can see, which I'm not sure how much that will be.

ADDENDUM: I'm closing comments on this entry because someone keeps spamming the comments section. I wish I didn't have to do this, since some of you are still communicating through here. If you have information you want me to pass along, check the e-mail address described in the left hand column and I'll be happy to post it for you.

Katrina, Mandeville area

I'm going out this morning to the Mandeville area. We're buying groceries and supplies (whatever we can find -- the stores are almost picked clean, and I'm not exaggerating). We've got some family and friends still in their homes there and they're running out of everything.

Later on today or tomorrow, I'm going over to the Red Cross location to see what sorts of things they need besides monetary donations. For example, thousands and thousands of people who are now here in Baton Rouge have no extra clothes except the ones they arrived with. I've got several bags of very nice clothes that no longer fit us that I was about to donate anyway, so I'm going to carry them over there to see if anyone can use them. I'm going to try to find a store with personal hygiene items left (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc.) and get as much as I can afford to and bring that, as well. It's not much that I can do. If any of you want to donate something other than money, let me know and I'll get addresses for you.

Katrina, Slidell area news

If you have any information about the conditions of the area that you haven't seen anywhere else, please leave in my comments and I'll do my best to post them here. I'm paying attention to all the requests for info from particular areas and as soon as I see anything on your area of request, I'll post that, as well. If you don't see an answer yet, it's because I can't find specific information.

Last night, Mark posted in the comments:

Unfortunately I have more horrific news from Slidell.....the hospital completely colapsed today. As of the last report to me there were not any survivors. This is truely a sad time for all of the South.

Again this is coming from friends involved with the search and rescue efforts currently going on.

Devastating.

Reported by shebert in the comments:

My husband went to Slidell today-in North Forest and Whisperwood today (8-30-05). We took NO water at all in the homes in the back of North Forest. There was a small amount of standing water in the front part in the street but it did not look as if any entered the homes. We have digital video footage.

God Bless.

Katrina, Slidell area

From this great site, comes this sad news:

Capitol news bureau
Much of Slidell is under water and likely sustained the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina, tate Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, said Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Calling the devastation �total�, Schedler said, only slabs remain where dozens of houses were blown down and several feet of water remain in the Slidell Memorial Hospital on Gause Boulevard as well as throughout the old town area off U.S. 11.

Slidell is a suburban community of about 25,000 people northeast of New Orleans near where Interstates 10, 12 and 59 intersect in St. Tammany Parish.

Schedler was interviewed after being briefed at the state Office of Emergency Preparedness. He said he could not return to his district.

�Slidell is as bad as New Orleans east and some other areas in St. Bernard Parish,� Schedler said. �It�s a problem that will be with us for months and years.�

State Police Troop L evacuated its Slidell headquarters during the storm, set up a temporary command in a fire department, then had to flee that center, he said.

Katrina, more information

I'm back and thank you all for the good wishes for my dad. He's going to be okay.

Mark said this in the comments section, and it breaks my heart:

I just spoke to a good family friend who has a son doing search and rescue operations in Slidell as we speak. The reports of bodies floating around is sadly very true. He stated that there were dozens around his flat bottom boat. I will post more once I have more information.

The news is so devastating coming out of there. I watched one of the local radio DJ's on the news early this morning -- John McDougall (I believe is his name, I can't find info on him to confirm yet) -- and he ended up in tears telling of what he'd gone through the night before. If you've seen the photos of the Hyatt -- he was in the building directly in front of it, and they broadcast all night. There was no phone service in the entire city, but for some reason, the radio station had phone available. The people who were stranded on their roofs couldn't get through to the police station, so they would call the radio station and tell them about being trapped in their attics or on top of their roofs. Since John also couldn't get through to the police, he'd broadcast these people's phone calls and addresses and the police, who were monitoring the radio station, would then know where to go find the people. John said one of the most upsetting phone calls he had was a young(ish) woman who said she was in her attic with her two year old, her two month old, and her grandmother. The water was chest high and they had no way to break through the roof to climb out. When she was giving her address, the cell phone went dead, and John couldn't get her back online. He said this morning he still doesn't know if the police were able to find her from the beginning of the address she'd broadcast.

There are many many stories of voluntees and all of the first response team who are bringing their own boats and going out to rescue... and when another shift comes on duty, they stay. They won't go home, they're still hard at it, trying to save as many lives as they can.

Here in Baton Rouge, there are thousands and thousands of refugees, and we're putting them up in churches, schools, civic centers, and many many personal homes. There are homes where there are thirty people there because the friend told all of his New Orleans friends and acquaintances to come. If he had a sliver of floor space, they were welcome to it.

Most of these people have lost everything. Every. Single. Thing.

Many of them don't yet know where their loved ones are. And we have no way of finding that out because the phone service is completely down in those areas. Tens of thousands of people won't have jobs to go back to, because their jobs are gone -- the buildings are gone and even if they made it through the storm, there won't be any customers to buy any goods or services.

Luke drove out to Hammond today. Of the part he could see, including out by the airport, there are powerlines tossed all over the place and there is no phone service in a great portion (almost all) of that parish. There are a ton of trees down and some wind damage to buidings, but it doesn't look like they've had anywhere near the type of water / flooding that is evident in other parishes, like St. Tammany.

The conditions above are essentially the same for Covington from what Luke and Amanda could see; we have heard Mandeville is essentially the same. We have heard, but have no confirmation, that these three places haven't had the type of water damage feared.

There are at least two levee systems compromised, according to the local news, and the water continues to rise in New Orleans. I have just heard two different but similar plans to try to block the water. One plane was that the Army Corps of Engineers was going to lower three-thousand pound sand bags onto the broken levee and build it back up. Another was that they were bringing in thirty-thousand smaller bags, presumably to fill in the smaller breaks. I'll update this as I hear any specific confirmation.

Right now, they must stop the water from coming in and then get some of the water out before the rescue efforts can get in full swing. All of those big trucks and convoys with supplies only have one tiny way into the city. The city has to get at least one major thoroughfare in to be able to bring in the water and supplies and to get the rest of the evacuees out.

The biggest focus, however, is to save lives. I have heard on the radio that there are estimates of 70,000 lives lost, with projections that this number will go much much higher. The water these people are in is contaminated: some gas lines have broken, some oil lines, all of this is floating on the water.... also, there are snakes and hundreds of clusters of red ants, pretty vicious because they're floating and looking for something or someone to cling to, and they cluster in the hundreds when they float... so if someone tries to swim and swims through them, they'll be bitten multiple times.

Senator Mary Landrieu said all of St. Bernard Parish is under water, save roof tops. That's how bad it is -- they didn't see dry land. Homes, refineries, etc. Same with Placquemine Parish.

If you want to help, I urge yout to donate to The American Red Cross. Many people only brought a few things when they evacuated; the thousand who were rescued from their attics or roofs have only the clothes they had on. The need is huge. Your prayers are mose appreciated.

brief pause

This is Tamar, posting for Toni. She had to rush her father to the hospital after he started having chest pains. She'll probably be there all day.

If you've contacted her about missing relatives in Hammond and Mandeville, she wants to let you know that it's being researched and she'll be in touch later tonight.

Also, Brendan Loy's blog still has the best, most up to date links and info on the hurricane aftermath.

Katrina, comprehensive report from New Orleans Mayor

Mayor Nagin of New Orleans was briefed late this evening by FEMA and others as to the extent of the damage in and around New Orleans. There is only brief mention of a few of the outlying areas, and the news sounds very grim. Here's the video feed of his discussion of the state of the catastrophe with the anchors at WWL News out of New Orleans.

This absolutely breaks my heart to hear this.

Katrina, Hammond info

My son drove to Hammond this evening to check on his house, which is near Southeastern. All cell service was off as he neared the city, and the entire place was blacked out -- still no power. He drove across town, trying to find a pay phone to call us to let us know the status, and no pay phones were working. There are lots of trees and power lines down all over Hammond. He didn't see a lot of water, though it was late evening at the time. The same is true of Mandeville, from what I've heard. If you're trying to reach them, there just isn't any cellular or regular phone service in those areas. There are, however, a lot of power crews, rescue personnel, state police, sherrifs, etc., going through the neighborhoods.

Katrina, more photos

More photos... These are stills from some of the local footage I was describing a couple of hours ago. Brendan's been doing a fantastic job of gathering all of the bits and pieces of news and putting them into one spot.

Katrina, more damage info

News reporters who had made their way into Mandeville earlier today just now made their way back to the station in Baton Rouge. They actually tried to call in this report two hours ago, but there were no working phones in the area.

They're showing footage right now -- lots of trees down, power lines down on the road. (Some wires are live and it's not clear which are and which aren't.) The police have all entrances into Mandeville closed and are not going to be letting anyone go into Mandeville until the road crews / electric crews can get in there. There's water standing in some areas -- closer into to Covington and the Tchefuncta River. (I have no idea if I spelled that right -- that's the spelling I see on Google.) They're saying that most of the damage they saw is from wind, not water (at least in the areas they could get to).

Katrina, rescue efforts

Governor Blanco just came on the local news and said that people were being rescued in St. Tammany Parish, Jefferson Parish (an entire nursing home, more than 100 people, were just rescued), as well as rescues in St. Bernard Parish. Damage in St. Bernard is being described as "catastrophic."

People are being rescued three and four at a time. The rescuers are worried because people are on roof tops or on porches and when they see the boats, they dive in the water and swim to the boats -- which is extremely dangerous. (There's the possibility of downed powerlines and toxic waste in the water.) A lot of these people have cell phones and are talking to loved ones elsewhere, so the Governor is asking that if you're talking to a loved one and they're waiting, to please tell them to stay put and let the boat come to them. Remember, the boats are traveling on what used to be streets, and there's no way for them to know what's under the boats (especially if the water is eight feet deep in some areas -- there may be cars beneath them).

They are finding a lot of people alive. They believe there are hundreds more alive out there and they're putting a lot more boats into the water in the morning. As many boats as can safely navigate tonight will remain on duty trying to find people.

They just showed an aerial shot of New Orleans... and ohmygod, it's a huge lake. It's north Kenner... near Treasure Chest Casino. West Esplande Mall... it's a lake completely around. Three to five feet of water. Tens of thousands of homes flooded. The entire area of Kenner.

Katrina, damage photos

I forgot to mention last post that we saw footage from local newscasters from the New Orleans area. They were on I-10 and were showing sections of Veterans (near Clearview) and it looked like a lake. There was a point where the railroad trestle crossed the interstate (?) -- I'm not as familiar with that area, but the interstate at that point was completely underwater. A reporter from Hammond said that she spoke to a team down in New Orleans and she was talking about new posts which had been put in near the new pumps. (Again, I'm not as familiar with this area.) The posts were marked in one-foot intervals, and are 17 feet tall, and the post were under water at that point. The water may have drained by now, but that was the report two hours ago.

They just showed images from Plaquemine Parish -- lots of destruction of homes there. They showed a brick two-story building in what looked like a downtown area where all of the bricks were on the ground and there was extensive wind damage to the top floor. There were people on the ground floor (unable to open the door for the debris outside the door) and they were waving to rescurers who were approaching the door. They looked relieved and not panicked.

If I hear anything specific about St. Tammany Parish I'll post it here.

There is an abolute "no entry" to New Orleans announcement going all over. If you're not an emergency personnel, you won't be allowed in.

Also, if I hear any more about that Days Inn in Slidell or the bodies (God, I really hope that one was wrong), I'll post.

Here are a few photos:

Our neighborhood:

Port Allen (just over the Mississippi River bridge from me):

Other areas with trees down (north Baton Rouge area):

UPDATE -- Senator David Vitter is on WBRZ news right now and says that he doesn't have much news about Metairie or St. Tammany Parish -- that no one does right now. He'd been over at the central emergency office (I've lost track of the correct acronym) and they, nor FEMA, has any better information than what you've all heard so far. When the anchor asked him why he didn't know much, he said that it's partly because most of the people evacuated and partly because no one can really get into those areas yet to assess anything. There are still people on their rooftops in St. Bernard Parish waiting for a boat or a helicopter. Some deputy sherrifs have been taking their own personal bass boats and going out to find people.

They're trying to get helicopters up to get some aerial photos before it's completely dark.

Katrina, 4:42 p.m., latest news

I don't know what you all are getting by way of national news reporting. We're listening to the local news (courtesy of the generator) and have heard a lot of disturbing news for the New Orleans area.

The top floor to a Days Inn hotel in Slidell is missing. The entire floor. There's no word if anyone was in the hotel waiting out the storm.

One reporter said there were bodies floating in the flood waters in Slidell. (For those who aren't familiar with the area, Slidell is essentially a suburb to the east of New Orleans, so they would have had some pretty bad winds.) I am very very much hoping this is a gross exaggeration, but they sounded pretty firm about it.

The Mayor of Kenner (a suburb to the west of New Orleans) just stated that 100% of the homes in Kenner were either flooded or had structural damage and he didn't expect people to get back into the area for two or more weeks.

All of the New Orleans areas are now under a "boil water" alert -- the water is now contaminated and not safe to drink. One of the news anchors said you have to boil it for twelve minutes to be safe. Of course, without electricity, that gets complicated, unless people have propane.

Luke just got back from taking the second generator to my dad / mom / grandmother and I now have photos. It's going to take me a few minutes to upload.

Katrina, missing persons board...

The following announcement was just sent to me and I thought it a good thing to post. I'm copying it in its entirety here. I'll be having photos up of damage in our area and surrounding area in an hour or so.

NowPublic ANNOUNCEMENT:

____________________________________

NowPublic has set up a missing persons board to help victims of Hurricane Katrina find those who go missing during the storm.

If you want to publish the photograph of someone you are looking for you can upload it to the site by clicking here or by sending an email to:

news@nowpublic.com.

If you include 'NP 17228' in the body of the email then your email will be automatically posted with other photographs. If you have any information about any of the photographs posted here contact the owner of the footage by rolling over photograph or video and following the instructions that are provided.

You can also post a comment about individual photographs (or videos) by clicking on the image and posting a comment (adding a report) on the page that comes up.

If you have any questions please contact us at clorenz@nowpublic.com.

Katrina, 12:32 a.m.

We lost power about 10 a.m. this morning. Got the generator up and running and just realized the DSL is still good, so I'm able to post.

The damage around here looks minimal (thank God). There are limbs down and lots of debris around, but from what I can see from our home, most of the roofs and such are intact. There are a few small trees down, but nothing that looks devastating. It feels like the wind is still gusting hard, but hopefully, that will die down soon.

When the storm wobbled a little to the east, it spared Baton Rouge the worst of the brunt, but I've got lots of family in Hammond who stayed there -- and from what we hear, they were hit pretty hard. We're running the refrigerator, the TV and the computer on the generator. We have propane and a grill for cooksing, and we have water for a few days.

It sounds like the flooding in New Orleans is still going to be pretty bad. Not quite the catastrophic predictions we feared, but there are collapsed buildings the sheriffs can't get to and I've seen reports on the web of at least a hundred residents waiting on their roofs, hoping someone would come and pick them up.

When I have any other news, I'll post to the blog. Thanks, much, everyone, for checking in and for your good wishes.

Katrina, 8 a.m.

Mostly watching the wind blowing. Lots of leaves sheared off and on the lawn. Only a minimal amount of rain right now.

Managed to get some sleep. Am relieved Katrina turned slightly to the east.

Katrina, 2:30 a.m.

Light rain, now, pretty steady in Baton Rouge. The winds gust, then everything stills a moment, then more gusts.

It looks like the hurricane's back down to a Cat 4, though that's little comfort.

I really should try to sleep. There's a longing to go close my eyes and feel safe in my own bed, and then there's the awareness that the storm is heading in now, and will be here (essentially) by morning, and if I stay awake, it'll be better. You know, because if I stay awake, I'll somehow be able to keep it from hitting here as hard. (Well, one can dream.)

Katrina, 1 a.m.

I see on the news that they're saying there are gusts up to 25 mph here in Baton Rouge. The tops of the trees are moving, and there's a steady swishing-hum as the trees sway. After that first band of rain, it's been relatively calm.

Katrina, incoming evacuees

By 8:30, most -- if not all -- of the local stores were closed. There are a few random Circle K types convenience stores open with long lines at their gas pumps. Carl tried to run one last errand, but could not get out of the neighborhood. Hwy 30, (which intersects with I-10), had a zillion refugees from New Orleans. Hwy 30 runs parallel to 1-10 and becomes Nicholson -- which, for those familiar with the Death Dome of LSU (the stadium), Nicholson runs right by that stadium. I don't know where everyone is going. It's scary to see they're just now getting out and may still have hours to go before they get somewhere safe.

Most of the gas pumps are empty. I doubt if there will be a tank of gas available here by tomorrow.

Katrina... prepared...

There's an edge of expectancy, as if half of the state is holding its breath, watching with dread. When you've done all you can do, you just wait.

Over on Brendan Loy's site, he's got the urgent weather message from the National Weather Service from New Orleans. It's extremely bleak and sobering. Oil has already surged above $70 / barrel, and the market isn't even open yet. I imagine it'll hit near $100 by the end of the day tomorrow.

We just got the first rains -- already a hard rain. I have been obsessively watching the weather news. I should be writing, especially while we have electricity. It's hard to focus on anything else.

My neighbor has about twenty refugess family members up from New Orleans. We've got a couple, and I know many people have taken in friends and family who couldn't get a hotel room or who didn't have the money to get out. Our neighborhood resembles a parking lot from the vast number of cars. We're one of the few neighborhoods to have underground untilities. I'm sure we'll lose power at some point, but at least we won't have the large power poles knocked down like they were during Andrew, and live wires on the streets.

We're in Baton Rouge -- far enough inland to be a place of refuge for the people out on the coast of Louisiana, far enough to rationalize staying. However, we expect it to be pretty bad here. I'm praying the storm doesn't wobble a little to the west -- it would make it doubly bad for New Orleans as well as for here.

As far as being prepared, I think we've done all that we can think to do. We have extra gas for the generator (our neighbor borrowed the other one). (Our neighbor has been informed that if my mom and dad and grandmother end up needing it, he's out of luck.) We have candles galore, matches, propane, water, tons of food. I've done all of the laundry (on the assumption we'll be without power for a while.) We've braced the new fence in the back yard, stored everything we could in the garage and tied down what we couldn't.

The one thing that amuses me is the vast quantities of beer / alcohol sold prior to storms. Lots of people figure they're going to be stuck in one place for a while, might as well turn it into a party. When we were at the grocery store earlier, all of the beer aisle shelves were empty. Lots of people are going to be wet, but they're gonna be happy about it.

Katrina, 175 mile winds

Just got back from a slew of errands. Absolutely everything was packed. Fortunately, everyone had a good attitude about it and there was a lot of visiting in the lines, chatting and joking. Most of the gas pumps were either empty or had long lines. The "express" lane in the grocery store (for ten items or less) had more than twenty people in line, and the other lanes were worse. Shelves all through the store were picked over.

I'm relieved to see that New Orleans opened up shelters for the people who couldn't get out. It seems pretty dumb to wait until the last day like this -- they should have done it yesterday. I worry about people -- the elderly, the sick -- who live on their own who can't get to the shelters. Hopefully, someone is canvassing those neighborhoods and checking on those people.

Of course, if New Orleans floods, the massive pumps that keep the water out may not be able to pump the water fast enough.

My cousin made it back... took her four hours longer to get here than normal, but I'm glad to know she's safe. My dad has gone down to Pierre Part and tied and chained down the fishing camp. (The camp isn't very structurally sound.) Carl is currently boarding up his dad's store and everything here is as ready as it can be.

I'm going to try to blog through the storm -- as much to be able to remember the details later as for anything else. Going through Andrew was a strange experience, but I have forgotten so much.

Katrina, CAT 5

Woke up a little while ago to the news that she'd strengthened to a CAT 5. It's sunny and breezy here, and surreal to know that a storm of that catastrophic size is bearing down on us. I've been on hold with the phramacy for almost thirty minutes, trying to get some medicine refilled. We've got extra gas for the two generators we own, and we've got big water coolers we'll fill up tonight for drinking water. Bathtubs will get filled so we have water in case the power to the water goes out (for toilets, etc.).

When Andrew made it inland to us, it wasn't nearly a CAT 5. I can't remember what it finally hit land as here in Louisiana -- maybe a CAT 3? By the time it reached Baton Rouge, it had seriously decreased in strength, and it still disrupted everything for weeks and weeks. Some people were without electricity for about three weeks, and there were so many downed trees, that some neighborhoods couldn't be navigated for a while.

I cannot fathom what this storm is going to do. And yes, for the first time for a hurricane, I'm actually nervous.

Katrina, CAT 4

I just saw on the news that the hurricane's been upgraded to a category 4. Still headed straight for us.

Carl will have to go board up his dad's store -- lots of plate glass windows there begging for flying debris. Luckily, his dad kept all of the boards used last time, so there's none of that waiting in line at Home Depot for hours to get plywood (if they still have any).

Luke made it in from Hammond (finding a circuitous route) and Jake's settled in at his own place, so the kids are safe.

I'm not sure about the fishing camp down at Pierre Part. My dad (who is obsessive about these things, having gone through Camille and Betsy) has probably already gone down there and tied everything down. I hope.

It's slightly windy outside, but not loud or crazy. I can't imagine the surprise huge storms like this would have been many years ago before there was the ability to forecast. The nature of the hurricane is that it is often sunny and nice just prior to the storm, and conditions can change radically within a few hours.

It's annoying to watch the weather channel and all of the reporters they have out on the beaches going on and on. On one level, it's as if they pump up the panic for ratings. Then again, lots of people ignore the warnings completely and do really dumb things (like go swimming in the rip tides), so maybe there's a good reason to make it sound like the end of the world. I just wish that once the network knows that the storm isn't going to hit in, oh, say, Alabama, that they'd drop the reporting from those beaches... because how much, really, can that person say? I heard one reporter talk three times about how the beaches had just been refurbished after their last big hurricane. It's frustrating, sure, it's costly (if another one hits them), sure, but since Katrina's not heading that way, it's pretty much a content free reportage. It would have been far more fascinating if they'd shown what was really going on in New Orleans and the frantic pace for them to get out.

My cousin's dad is in the hospital here (very bad heart attack and stroke). (He's not my uncle, but my dad's first cousin.) (It gets confusing.) She had to go back to Mandeville today to get her house prepped for the hurricane (storing outside furniture, etc.), and then she was going to come back here. I'm not sure if she's going to make it in because I heard they were routing everyone on Interstate 12 north to Jackson, MS. If I'm not mistaken, that's how she would have come in, so I hope she makes it. Her dad's having surgery Monday (asuming the hurricane doesn't affect the doctors / nurses, etc.)

hurricane Katrina

The good news about hurricanes is that we can, at least, see them heading our way. That's pretty much it on the good news meter. For quite a few of the last hurricanes, it looked like we'd get a lot of rain, and it ended up being sunny and nice for us instead. Now, it looks like it's our turn to be slammed.

The traffic coming out of New Orleans is insane. No one can find a hotel between here and Houston, and I've been told that it's also pretty booked as far away as Dallas. There's a lot of advice being bandied about on TV about it being better to head north or east, but the path of the hurricane is going to be north-east when it hits land. At the best, if you can get far enough away, you're only going to have heavy rains, but if you're east, you'll have that a lot longer than those in the west. Hence, most people head west.

In Baton Rouge, we're far enough inland to where the storm dies down a little before it makes it to us. There are exceptions. Most memorable to me was Andrew, which spawned all sorts of baby tornadoes and lots of damage to homes and businesses. There were seven or eight very large trees down in our back yard that next morning (and one was very large and would have crushed our neighbor's house if it had fallen the opposite direction as expected). Right now, there are several large trees around this house, so we'll probably get a lot of downed limbs and some wind damage. I really hope we don't get any trees down, because the houses are closer together here than in the place we lived when Andrew stormed through. (ha.)

The storm prep going on is escalating. We just got back from the grocery store and it was a bit packed and more people flowing in to stock up. Luke picked up his girlfriend from Mandeville (just north of New Orleans) and they're stuck in the heavy traffic heading our direction. A trip from N.O. to our house would normally take a maximum of an hour-and-a-half. During these kinds of evacuations, that time generally triples. No exaggeration. State police announced that they were shutting down the exits off I-10 in Baton Rouge. Which means, for Luke to come here, he'll have to get off the interstate north or west of here and double back on surface streets, easily adding another hour to the travel. Imagine what it would be like for the people heading to Houston.

New Orleans has been really worried about having a major hurricane shoot up the mouth of the Mississippi. The flooding for something like that truly will be catastrophic, and a lot of people are going to lose a lot of their things. The worst hit will, of course, be a huge number of people who can't get the insurance to cover something like this.

Another annoucement was made indicating that New Orleans was considering opening the Superdome to all of those who didn't have the money or the vehicle to get out of town. If that sounds like they're a little reluctant, they are -- one of the last times they used the Superdome, there was an astounding amount of vandalism and theft. If it wasn't nailed down, it walked out of there.

People often ask me how on earth I can live in a place that has hurricanes. Well, the truth is, we haven't been really impacted by one in our city since 1992 (Andrew). We had enough warning to be prepared. I compare that to the possibility of unpredictable earthquakes or blizzards every year in the north or tornadoes in the mid-west, and I figure every place has its problems. I think we get a fair bit more warning than the others, though, which makes it easier to live with.

That said, it makes me tense. I don't imagine I'll be sleeping much for listening to the wind and seeing how bad it is and if the trees are going to hold.

I have no clue what to call this one

The street which leads to our neighborhood has gotten exponentially busy due to (1) massive overbuilding of new condos and (2) all thirty-thousand LSU students returning to live in said condos. And apparently, when you move into a new area and there is only ONE STREET in and out of said area, the way you drive on that street is to accelerate three thousand miles per hour in the TWO FEET of space between you and the next car and then slam on your brakes to see if you can give the guy a coronary or until every driver in the lane has a full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder melt-down and takes out the oncoming lane of traffic. It's the Russian Roulette school of driving.

And it's confusing the hell out of the squirrels.

There are approximately three billion squirrels who live in our neighborhood. One billion of them are in our back yard while another billion are homesteading in our attic, but that's another story. Right now, the squirrels don't know when to cross the street without being squished, and it's starting to freak me out. The last thing I want to do is hit a squirrel, and they're so dazed from the 114 degree heat index and confused from the traffic and the trees are near enough to the road that they just randomly drop onto the hot pavement and RUN LIKE HELL, and then CHANGE THEIR MIND and then they are like frogger, trying to get across between cars and I end up shouting instructions to them because we all know squirrels can understand batshit crazy southern women.

Yesterday, Carl and I were going out to eat, with me driving. A baby squirrel dropped onto the road right in front of me and ran toward the other side of the street, then changed its mind and ran back, nearly running under my car and the whole time I was screaming, "STOP IT STOP IT, TURN AROUND, NO NO NO NO, NOT THAT DIRECTION, WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR MOTHER TEACHING YOU?"

And Carl's direct and immediate response to this was to look at me and say, "You know, they really ought to make it mandatory for the squirrels to watch that movie."

"What? What movie?"

"You know, Alcatraz."

"They need to watch a Clint Eastwood movie?"

"No, not that one, the one with the green ball thing in it."

Looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg silence, while I mentally race through movies with green things.

"Oh. You mean The Rock?"

"Yeah! That one."

"Why in the hell do squirrels need to watch The Rock?"

"So they can learn how to go through that choppy thing. They can see Sean Connery and get all inspired before crossing the street."

He looks at me as if this is a perfectly valid suggestion. (Sometimes, with Carl, I never really know for sure.) It's then I remembered that he's been outside every day, working in the 114 degree heat index. I fully expect him to start playing frogger any moment with the traffic. But maybe he can teach the squirrels a thing or two.

overheard

I really loathe grocery shopping, but every once-in-a-while, there is a reward... like overhearing the following conversation between a couple. To understand this, you must know they were in their late thirties (my guess) and dressed in jeans, t-shirts, nothing odd or attention-grabbing. She was, however, on the D-cup side of the divide.

GUY (looking a little too michievous): I hate that bra you're wearing.
WOMAN: What? Why?
GUY: The material's too thick. I can't see where your nipples are.
WOMAN: That's sort of the point.
GUY: We need to go stand in the freezer section. That way you wouldn't have limp nipples. Limp nipples. Hey, isn't that the name of a band?
WOMAN: Maybe they have a baseball bat section.

I can only guess that they'd either been married a while or dating a while since she didn't deck him right there.

I'm not sure how to answer that.

I have actually had to say, out loud to a stranger, that I'm a writer. (I bought a car and they asked me what I did for a living.) I fully expected the cynical eyebrow. You know the one, where it snaps up so high, it stabs their hairline and they start gushing blood. Yeah, that look. I was so certain that they wouldn't believe me when I said I had actually gotten paid (you know, enough to call it a "living" to justify giving me a car loan) that I went prepared: I brought a copy of the contract, a copy of the check, a copy of the deposit slip, a copy of the bank statement, a copy of all my financials, a copy of my birth certificate and marriage license to prove I was the person on said copies, my shoe size, a list of my favorite hiding places, the address to my evil twin, Skippy, and my aliases.

They never looked at any of it.

Nada.

They did, however, look (briefly) at my driver's license, which I no longer even resemble. I used to have blonde hair, and now it's back to brunette and cut differently and I'd lost weight and basically, anyone off the street could have grabbed that license and looked as much like my photo as I did. Indiana Jones looks as much like that photo as I do now.

So, they glance at the license, write down my SS#, go run the credit, never look at any of my financials, and they gave me the keys to the car. The entire time I was sitting there, I kept expecting the big vaudeville hook to snatch me out of the showroom, because who the hell believes a writer actually makes money?

I still feel like I got away with something, though I'm not quite sure what. I really wish they'd written down evil Skippy's address, though.

People so far have been exceptionally supportive when they hear (usually from my mom) that I've sold something. (I think my mom's covered about one third of the western hemisphere. You hear your phone ringing? Don't recognize the number? It's my mom. She'll go away as soon as you tell her you'll buy the book.) Anyway, everyone's been great, but occasionally, someone will say something which completely stumps me. I'm not quite sure what to say in response. Here are a few examples:

"You got a shark in your book? Because if you don't, you really should put a shark in it. That's what sells 'em." (er, okay... a shark in the swamps in Louisisana... maybe that could work)

"When will your book come out? All of my Sunday School friends and I have a book club, and we can't wait to read your book!" (Well, will they faint to read "fuck," "hell," "sonofabitch," or "goddamnit?" 'Cuz if so, can you videotape the meeting?)

"You should have a wizard in it. A wizard and a shark. Man, you could have a wizard that has to beat a shark. Wow, you'd sell billions." (:::blank:::)

"Wow, you're gonna be like that JK Rowling chick." (I don't think my mom can buy that many books, but I'll ask her.)

"When you get rich, are you still gonna be nice to the little people?" (I'm 5'3"... you mean, there are people littler?)

"Hey, can you get that Harry Potter lady's autograph for me?" (Uh, yeah, sure. Jo and I are thisclose. It's getting to the point of being annoying, with her constantly coming over here, borrowing my clothes, asking my advice, whining about being a billionaire and how much pressure that's going to be on her next series of books. I keep telling her that it's not my damned fault she's richer than God, go harrass Him for a little while, but damnit, here she comes again. Ugh.)

"I don't read books, but I guess I'll have to buy one, since I know you and all." (Sure, why not. Hey, all's fair in love and war, baby.)

y'all take care,

toni