God Help the Gulf Coast

New Orleans is on the brink of disaster for the next few hours. The hurricane now looks like it shifted a bit to the east which may spare the city the absoulute worst case scenario but that only means Biloxi will be demolished.
My oldest brother is still in New Orleans holed up at his office building with two other doctors and their extended familys. I talked to him last night and they feel safe but they could be trapped for days if the storm surge tops the levee on Lake Pontchartrain.
My niece works at a Vets office and if I know her she brought every patient they had with her. I couldn't sleep much last night worrying about all of those people and animals. 40,000 prople in the Superdome could be without power and toilets.
Every hotel in Houston is booked to capacity and people had to continue on to San Antoino to find a room.
Just have to wait now and pray.

 

I hope everyone comes through it ok. This morning on the news they were talking to a few people that decided to stay and not evacuate. I saw a video of all the people staying in the Superdome and it would be horrible if they didn't have power or toilets.

 

I can't imagine not evacuating. As my husband put it, if the water tops the levees, New Orleans will become a huge bathtub.

 

my prayers to eveyrone in that area, I watched the coverage this morning, I cantr even imagine, I hope the supeerdome holds up, they said sa small part of the roof tore off and some other bldgs have collapsed

 

If you've ever had to evacuate you would understand. It is awful. You are stuck in traffic hours, many people get stranded b/c they just run out of gas waiting in traffic, it's almost impossible to find gas, then when you get anywhere, there is nowhere to stay unless you have relatives that are somewhat near. We did it once and I would never do it again. It took us 10 hrs to get somewhere 2 hrs away, with 5 cats, 2 dogs and 2 horses, not to mention my grandmother and great grandmother(99! at the time). Then we had to sleep outside - I slept in the bed of our truck for 2 nights. NEVER again. I'd rather take my chances with the hurricane.

But I know what you say about New Orleans. I lived there briefly and Loooved that city. All those old, beautiful homes and other places....it would be a tragedy if those places get destroyed. I couldn't imagine being stuck in that Superdome. But I don't guess they allow pets there... And Biloxi, I went there for a concert, that is a beautiful place too. All those casinos may just float away.

 

Is it possible to get out of those places when you first know the hurricane is coming, rather than waiting for an official evacuation when all the streets get packed? Or is there never that much warning?

 

I guess that to me, New Orleans is different from someplace like Florida getting hit by a hurricane. The whole city may flood and there will be no quick way to get the water back out. Right now there are people trapped on their roofs and the water is still rising. How would you protect your children and your animals in conditions like that? Set the dogs loose and hope they could swim to safety? I don't think I could deal with that sort of helplessness. I think I'd choose the lines of cars and sleeping in a truck bed.

I am praying for everyone affected by this storm. Dukesdad, please let us know when you hear your brother is safe. I imagine it will be hard to communicate with him for quite some time.

 

I can't even begin to imagine how helpless both the ones that evacuated and the ones that stayed must feel.

First knowing that some is coming that you can't do anything about besides evacuate or board up the house and hope for the best, and then having to deal with putting your lives back together after.

 

I guess you could leave early, traffic would probably still be bad..as well as getting gas, hotels, etc. But it is always so uncertain. The thing could change direction at any minute. By the time you really know where it is going to hit, there isn't much time. Honestly, the best thing to do is wait until the last minute, like when the outer bands are already there and then leave. Most of the traffic will be gone...you won't have anywhere to stay or get gas or anything like that, but if you plan ahead that is the best thing to do.

I guess I just got so jaded by our whole "evacuation" experience that I just couldn't do it again. I figure the house would be flooded either way...I'd rather be in my house with the water than stuck than evacuate.

 

I guess I picture the water rising above roof level and THEN what do you do?

My husband's engineering firm has been asked to provide people to go down there and help out. I haven't heard back yet if he is going to volunteer. It would be most likely a 90-day assignment.

Any word, Dukesdad?

 

Update,
I got a message from my niece that my brother and his family are OK and weathered the strom in their building but conditions in New Orleans are getting worse due to a break in the levee and water continues to pour in. No sewers no safe water, no power. The Governor has now ordered the complete and total evacuation of the city.
There has been no further word from my brother since my niece talked to him late yesterday. I can assume he is assisting at the hospital which was next door to his office building.
My other brother is on his way back to Baton Rouge from Shreveport and my sister-in-law called from her cell phone and left me a message that they were almost home. I tried to call both her cell phone and home phone but only got a voice mail on her cell and no answer at home. My guess is that BR also has a lot of communication outages.
I'm am sure my New Orleans brother will help evacuate the hospital and eventually find his way to BR to stay with my other brother.
I can't imagine what kind of hell those poor people are going through that are still trapped in New Orleans.
Houston is now full of people from LA and also animals. Many hotels are dropping their no pet rule so families could bring their pets in. Now wondering about the huge Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.
I'll post any further news as I hear it.

 

well guys, i'm in Baton Rouge, safe at least. Our whole parish (St.Bernard) has 12 ft of water. I have been speaking to a fireman friend and he said there are hundreds of bodies floating that they are passing up. They believe the levee was blown on purpose to flood lower 9th ward and St. bernard to try and save the city. Thats what they did during betsy, but the levee has now broke innew orleans/metairie line

 

glad to hear you are okay Jay, prayers to everyone in the LA Miss area

 

Whew! I'm glad your brother is okay, Dukesdad. And Jay, I'm glad you're safe as well! What a nightmare.