Gustav!

[dalangdon]

Things are looking pretty grim down towards New Orleans. John got called down there today as part of an emergency response team to start evacuation trains. I just got off the phone with him, and they are closing the hotels tomorrow morning.

Hope everyone down that way is taken care of. If you are stuck in New Orleans (you Southern Decadence boys) head towards the train station, which is right by the Superdome.

Yikes. Here we go again....

 

[~sudsshane]

well~

It appears New Orleans may be a target, but living in Hurricane Central, I can say up from experience that this storm could head anywhere. So, hopefully New Orleans, will dodge this bullet.
One good thing is Louisiana now has a COMPETENT Governor in Bobby Jindal. Hopefully he will stay on Mayor Ray Nagin's A** to ensure every preparation is made. How that guy was re-elected is beyond me.

 

[dalangdon]

Yes, if nothing else, we can count on Bobby to conduct an exorcism. After all, he has experience in that ;-)

 

[alr2903]

Divine Decadence

It was sad to see the disappointment on the faces of the revelers that spent their money and came here. Since there is no longer any Vertical evacuation in high rises, the visitors will be bused to some airport to get to a hub, If they are not out of Louis Armstrong by 6pm Sunday. we are packing up tonight we live on the west side of the river, leaving early am. Our 2 cats and assorted family members. We are off to Memphis, we have a spec. house i purchased during my mom's recent illness. Wishing all the southerners best of luck. This is not looking good, Shane, you guy's sure had your share, 4 landfalls from that pesky Fay. and now uncertainty with Gustav, looks like Hanna (sp) will threaten Florida this coming week too. be safe. alr2903

 

[whirlcool]

Have we heard from 58limited? He's in an area where they are having a mandatory evacuation.

Our news tonight said that by morning we'll have 45,000 New Orleans evacuees from the storm here in Houston. I-10 between New Orleans and Houston is jammed and the gas stations along the way are running out of fuel.

 

[58limited]

I'm fine

This morning the storm tracks all look like Gustav will stay east of my area. I'm waiting until the last minute to leave. I have 3 dogs and six cats, plus there are four cats left at my clinic and one very special cat that I agreed to take on for one of my clients that cannot leave - he is part of the emergency crew.

So evacuating needlessly is a major problem for me. I have been preparing, and I will decide by tonight if I need to install my plywood window covers. I'll pre-pack my important papers, family photos, my dad's paintings, and all of my guns (so looters don't get them). But if the storm comes this way, I probably won't hit the road until the just before the first rains are starting.

I have a hologram ID (the ID that emergency and critical personnel are issued) that pretty much will let me come and go as I please before and after the storm.

 

[seamusuk]

Some are refusing to go....

Including this Brit guy-Im in two minds if I sdmire his courage or think hes bloody stupid.....

Seamus

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/uk/2008/08/31/briton_defies_us_evacuation_order

 

[Maytagmom]

I was smart

I magically planned my vacation for Labor Day week. We left Houston on Friday morning. It's always a scary feeling not knowing WHAT is going to happen while you are gone. They can say NOLA is getting the hit all they want, but truely you never know what could happen at the last minute (like Rita)
15 hour evacuations with a standard was no fun, and not something I want to repeat.
I feel for those who are going to be effected by this. I am just glad I left when I did. I just hope I have a home to go back to, regardless if Hitler is still there. Anywho, that's what insurance if for, right? LOL
I did manage to get to spend a little time with westtexman!
THANKS BRIAN! It helped me alot. I owe ya dude! lol
Really loved his LG frontloaders. (had to throw in SOMETHING washer related)
Hope all have a fun and safe Holiday weekend!
I'm off road-tripping in my 4x4 TACO...
mm/C

 

[whirlcool]

Looks like the storm will travel up the state of Lousiana towards Shreveport and then maybe east to Dallas or back south to Houston. Houston is now officially out of the threat zone except for the possibility of some heavy rains on Tues-Weds.

It looks like they are handling the evacuation much better this time around. It's more orderly than last time. However, people who are arriving in Houston this morning are saying that it took 15-20 hours to make the drive from New Orleans due to the roads being so backed up.

Looking at the weather reports, I think Beaumont/Port Arthur will get maybe 50 mph wind gusts and 6 inches of rain. Not too bad considering the strength of this storm.

 

[58limited]

I have my window covers set out by each window, but I'm going to wait to put them up. The way it looks now, I won't have to but if the storm turns west, I can put them up in two hours or less and hit the road.

When I put these up for Rita, the paint on the window frames stuck to them and peeled off when I took them down. I didn't have time to repaint so I had to pay someone to do it (didn't meet my deductible) - that is why I'm waiting until the last minute to put these up.

 

[whirlcool]

David:

I know what you mean about the possibility of evacuating with multiple animals. Right now we have 5 dogs on hand. We are up in Spring, Tx (elev 38 ft) so we aren't too worried about ever having to evacuate. But the possibility is scary.

 

[panthera]

My best wishes go

with all you folks. We are only just now beginning to get things more or less back in order after a flood the beginning of August.
And we could immediately start bailing out as soon as the police gave the all clear. In a hurricane, you have to wait days or weeks to start, and that is what does so much of the really icky damage.

 

[58limited]

Sorry to hear about the flood, Keven. Did you sustain any damage?

The latest on our local TV says that if Gustav continues its current path, we might not even get much, if any, rain. Looks like I might get to put the plywood back in storage tomorrow (fingers crossed).

 

[appnut]

Todd & Gary and the 3 or 4 cats they have have left Metarie (suburb of NOLA) and are at Gary's sister's house. This is where they stayed the last time during Katrina. That's about an hour or so outside of NOLA wet or north--I don't remember.

 

[mixguy]

Gustav headed towards me

Hurricane Gustav is headed for for me in SW Louisiana about 8 mi SE of Lafayette, LA. Hunkered down in a house that has taken direct hits from Lilly, Hilda, Camile, and Betsy. I live right between the paths of Katrina and Rita, so not so lucky this time. Have my food, water for a few days and fresh batteries for flash lights and radio. Have a charged up battery for the computer desktop too.

 

[58limited]

Good luck and be safe. How far inland are you?

 

[whirlcool]

Gustav is not as bad as they made it out to be. It looks like everything is holding in NO. Sure there is wind damage, but no flooding reported yet. But you know how it is with these storms. You don't hear anything for a few days after the storm and then the reports of damage start coming in.
It's kind of gusty windy here in Houston. We're doing laundry and hanging clothes on the line and they are drying in record time.
Looks like Lafayette is getting wind gusts of 35mph right now with maybe some 50 mph wind gusts later. Looks like the eye will pass to the south of there. They definitely will get some rain out of this!

 

[alr2903]

We made it to Tn, travel time 9 hrs, usually takes 6, arrived at at 12:01 am Sunday. Max per gallon for unleaded was $4.10 in Mississippi. Bob, i was glad you posted about Todd & Gary. So far as Whirlcool posted, not much news is in and will not be for a couple of days. In a nutshell we are safe and sound,waiting for additional news and wishing The Very Best to everyone. We have family scattered, Pigeon Forge Tn,Tuinica Ms. Monroe La. Stay safe, arthur-alr2903

 

[whirlcool]

I'm glad to hear everyone in your camp is safe.
It looks like we are about to get the first rain from an outward feeder band within the hour. It's cloudy and windy.

 

[autowasherfreak]

I so glad it wasn't as bad as first predicted. I've been watching the news tonight, and my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone on the coast.

 

[xyz]

I live in Northwest Louisiana and I have seen alot of new faces around here. We went shopping the other day and had to go t o3 different stores to get all that we needed. The evacs have homesteaded all over my town and are eating all our groceries. LOL. Yesterday when the exodus began, you should have seen the gas lines at Wal-Mart. The police were there directing traffic and keeping the peace. I tell ya, Gustav wasn't anything like Katrina and the waves, or Rita. I plum got scared at my house and I'm just 30 miles from the Arkansas border. I'm far from the coast. But we made a lot of money cleaning yards here in my town after those storms. I put my rake and shredder to work.

 

[appnut]

I got an update regarding Todd & Gary--their house is fine, no fallen trees on it and such--a friend of there's who workds for the city went by. They are still at Gary's siter's with all the generators going. T&G may head home on Fri.

 

[mixguy]

I survived!

Got through the storm ok. Power was just retored here at 5:08 PM. This town usually gets the power up an running much sooner. Many poles leading into town were fallen in all directions mostly along the rural routes out of town.

Spent the night of the storm and after here alone. Every time I attempted to get out after the winds died down to clean the yard, the rain would start. Spent Tuesday night with my sister 30 mi west because she had power and most of all A/C! Wednesday I got sunburned in the face while raking debris out the yard. New Iberia had 80% power restored Wed. morning and stayed with friends there last night. The city of St. Martinville has started picking up fallen limbs placed at curb side today and resumed regular trash pick up as well. Lots more fallen trees from this storm from Houma, Thibodaux to Baton Rouge going north. Alexandria and Marksville in the central part of the state had more wind damage than from past storms as well. A few tornadoes spun off the storm and did damage in central Louisiana. One tornado near the town of Mamou killed two people. There was a report of an elderly couple from Abbeville were killed in Baton Rouge when a tree fell on the home they had taken shelter. I found out that they were former employers of my mother. We were fortunate once the eye arrived between Lafayette and New Iberia, Gustave lost most of it's wind "punch" and did not receive strong winds and more powerful gusts from the opposite direction.

Very thankful for the many people that come in from out of state to help us get back on our feet again. Over 9,000 with elecrical utilities are in the state working they couldn't do much until the rain stopped. The problems from Katrina and Rita did not happen.

There are a few reports of people cutting lines in getting water, ice, MREs and tarps. And some are greedy enough to go "double dip" if there are two supplies points in a community Fortunately the presence of the National Guard here is keeping that to a minimum. That is one thing that disappoints me about some people. We're lucky enough to receive free aid and yet there are a few that ruin it for the rest. Also, most of the people the media finds to speak on camera are most often not a true representation of this area of this state!

Starting back to work Monday!

 

[58limited]

I'm glad you are safe. They got power restored pretty fast too.