And now the whole state is in danger

[thatcrazycajun]

After a frantic call from the Songbird about Hurricane Gustav's increasing ferocity, I made my way to the nearest flatscreen showing CNN updates. All 67 parishes in the state of my birth have now declared storm emergencies, and mandatory evacuations are in force for most of the southern coastal third of the state. Authorities are saying Gustav could be, horror of horrors, even worse than Katrina in its destructive power (Mayor Ray Nagin called it "the real deal, the storm of the century"). Currently a Cat 3, it has potential to reach 5 by the time it makes landfall around 2 AM Monday. The state's freshman Governor, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, has wisely abandoned his plans to speak at this week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN to remain on the job and in state. He is on TV now holding a press conference, and so far seems to be handling himself somewhat better than his predecessor (and you know I hate like the mischief to be forced to admit this of a GOP leader).

In the 45 years of my life, the town of my birth, Lafayette, has never had more than moderately high winds and torrential rains to deal with from even the worst hurricanes that have hit Louisiana dead-on, simply by virtue of being so far inland. But now the weather forecasters are projecting Gustav's possible path as including a huge swath of Louisiana and Texas, including the cities of Houston and Galveston and as far north as Shreveport. A hurricane warning has been instituted by the National Weather Service for the entire Gulf Coast, from Galveston all the way east to the border of Alabama and Florida. And SB's sister, who had a house in Hattiesburg, MS that was supposedly just as "safe," was destroyed three years ago when Katrina's high winds knocked a large tree over onto it.

And to make matters yet worse still, a second storm, Tropical Storm Hanna, has formed out in the Caribbean and is bearing down on the Bahamas and Florida. Odds are it will gain strength and follow Gustav into the Gulf, just as Rita did Katrina.

I am calling my family in Carencro and Lafayette to make sure they are either safely out of town or battened down. If you have any reason to believe you are in the path or have loved ones who are, take steps now.

Comments

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

One slight correction, sweetheart. Louisiana has 64 parishes. Anyway, Dan and I are safely ensconced in Port Gibson, MS, between Natchez and Vicksburg. We want to go to Vicksburg tomorrow, weather permitting.

Pray for us. I hope it's not worse than Katrina, despite what Mayor Nagin says.

[crystalgee.livejournal.com]

I spent half of yesterday evening calling up family members-they are bugging out to different states.

Will be thinking of your family *hugs*

[crystalgee.livejournal.com]

btw may I have that icon?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

You may; I cadged it off someone else a couple years ago. Just be sure to give them credit.

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

Without revealing too much about overheard conversations at work (I work for the Weather Service), Dept. of Homeland Security has been putting procedures into place starting last Tuesday, when their models showed Gustav hitting Louisiana. I don't have a lot of fondness for Bush & Co. but the much-maligned Federal bureaucracy is trying to do a good job this time.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Do they have competent functionaries, responsible managers and bosses, and sufficient funding and flexibility this time? Or just cronies, Grover Norquist, and covering their ass?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Actually, despite history's usually showing that we utterly fail to learn from history, fed/state authorities do seem to have figured out what NOT to do from the experience of Katrina and are acting accordingly, for the most part; see this NPR News report (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94168392&ft=1&f=1001) for details.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]