Riding Out the Storm

Where do I start? The day of the storm? The day before?

We decided it was time to do something when Katrina was a Category 3 storm heading for the Lousiana coast. Originally, they'd projected its path as crossing the Panhandle of Florida,but those projections kept being revised westward and more westward, until the projected path stopped--over Jefferson Parish. Right over my house. The nightmare scenario, where hurricane-force winds push Lake Ponchatrain over the levee and into the city.


( Read more... )

Then it was time for the rest of us to pack and go.

Next episode: Pine Tree Hell

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Exodus

I find it very hard to write about our journey north. Obviously, we got somewhere, or I wouldn't be posting this--but the trip out was far tougher on body and spirit than riding out the storm was.


As mentioned previously, the daughter got off to college relatively uneventfully. My husband drove his car, and after getting everything packed up, Mom and I took her car. Well, after getting Mom packed up. If you remember, I only brought 2-3 days of clothes with, and they were getting pretty ripe now. Mom, knowing now that we were going to be gone for an indefinitely long time, packed for a rather longer trip.

The plan was to go up our usual route to Tennessee, via I-59, with my husband following in his car. I'd heard something on the radio about the eye passing over Hattiesburg, and suggested tentatively that we go up I-55 instead, as I-59 might have a few problems. However, the several hours extra that would add on to our trip caused some debate--Mom's back hurt her, and taking longer than necessary would be rough on her. So, we decided to go up I-59. We had no idea what we were getting into, and no way to find out. Only radio stations were still talking about what was going on in New Orleans; we didn't even know what path the storm had taken. No TV, no phone, no cell phones, no Internet, no information at all.

( The Search for a Road )

( The Search for Gasoline )

( The Search for a Room )

Lessons learned:

• Pine trees make lousy paving material. They are too lumpy.
  
• A good road has two clear lanes. All other attributes are luxuries.
  
• Hot water, hot food, power, and air conditioning are luxuries worth rejoicing over.
  
• Americans are too dependent on cell phones. We need more ham radio operators.
  
• Be grateful to have a bed to sleep in. Be doubly grateful if it is your own.
  

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Centralization is bad for survivability

Scenario 1:

You get your food from the supermarket, your water from the city water main, and your power from the regional grid. You communicate via cell phones, which require intact cell towers and switching system, or via The Phone Company's lines.

Scenario 2:

You live out in the country, and grow some of your own food, get your water from your own well, and have a back-up generator and a generous fuel supply. You maintain and use a ham radio.

What happens when a massive disaster strikes in either case? See New Orleans for scenario 1. As for scenario 2, I know people in a similar situation out in the country. Sometimes they get cut off from town by ice-storms and blizzards. No big deal.
( The rant continues... )