Apparently, the coming storm has the potential to essentially destroy the city of New Orleans. Sadly, it looks like if this is the case, many will suffer and perhas die, just because they can't flee:

" Fleeing to safety was not an option for some people, especially in New Orleans, the below-sea-level city where more than 1.2 million were warned to get out of the metropolitan area.

"Got no place to go and no way to get there," said Latonya Hill, who waited out the storm Tuesday sitting on her stoop. Hill, 57, lives on a disability check and money she picks up cleaning houses or baby sitting.

"They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Hill said. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either."
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...rricane_ivan_13


Amazingly, there's no shelter option for the people left behind. From the same article:

" No shelters had been set up in the city because of concerns about flooding and capacity, Mayor Ray Nagin said"

That's amazing to me, that a city that's got such potential for flooding would have "no shelters" because it's prone to flooding.

I'd have to say that for the folks in New Orleans who ARE prepeared, this is truly "Go Time" as we all imagine it could be. I can see that of all the go-kit items one can have, transportation and fuel are - by far - the most important item to have. I can assure you that I'm carefully re-thinking my own go-kit, especially in terms of cash and mobility options. I'm also making more of my vital papers portable, and of course, lightening my load of non-essential crud. I''d imagine that a good drill would be to say you have 1 day to pack everythign you'll want to keep, because all the rest will be destroyed. What do you bring, what do you leave?

Point of interest: If you're computer is a desktop system and it's not backed up and you don't have time or ability to back it up, just pull the hard drive out and bring that with you. You can always get the data off the drive later in a new computer if your old one is lost.

Pulling the hard drive is very, very easy. It's the silvery box connected with a flat grey cable inside your computer.

Remember the words printed in big, friendly letters on the cover of the ‘Hitchhikers Guide of the Galaxy’? DON’T PANIC. Good advice here.

And remember the source quoted. What do they know? (See Rather, Dan, forged memos used by…). This is the beauty of the Internet - here is information from someone who is THERE (well, almost). New Orleans is not going to sink into the sea. Millions will not die. And, yes, they have (finally) opened local shelters.

I speak from experience. My wife and I are both from New Orleans. My parents and in-laws live there. (Yes, they both have evacuated to relatives outside of the city.) My family now lives in Baton Rouge, 80 miles up the Mississippi River from the city. We are feeling the effects of the New Orleans evacuation, and we will get some of the storm’s wrath.

The big story, at least for those of us who frequent ETS, are the problems that have been experienced in getting out of the city, and where to go. More on those below.

OK, a couple of facts and bone fides:

My brother and I (he is known round ETS and “Peanut”) survived both Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Camille in 1969, the last two big storms to hit New Orleans. Fun? No. Scary as hell for a child. Weeks without power, tainted water, streets blocked, and all that goes along with the devastation of a storm.

Only about half a million live in the city proper today. And we do have a rather extensive system of floodgates and levees protecting the city. We didn’t have anything like that during Betsy, and yes, parts of the city flooded.

The city has evacuated. The problem is that they were not prepared for the traffic out (it took people about 9 hours to get to Baton Rouge this morning – usually a 90-minute trip IF you stay within the speed limit. (Less if you don’t) The follow-on problem is where to put these refugees. There isn’t a hotel room available east of Dallas or south of Shreveport right now, and not enough shelters have opened. There seems to have been no plan to direct evacuees in certain directions out of harm’s way and have shelters waiting. Not smart.

Most people I know usually keep the basics on hand for times like these. Our family keeps enough food, water, and essentials on hand for 72 hours of self-sufficiency out of the back of the car. We assume if we had to leave, we would have to fend for ourselves for food and water initially, until relief supplies could get flowing.

Hope this helps.

My $.02. Peanut, over to you…….

…..CLIFF

To paraphrase a quote, " the first casualty in a disaster is truth." The majority of our corporate owned media either has a political or financial prejudice in reporting, or ignoring news events. I am involved in environmental issues. I am concerned about global warming. Not one of my resources failed to use the recent storms to address this issue. A friend in my political party suggested hanging chads would no longer be a concern in such high winds. Meanwhile, I'm trying to learn about the actual damage and welfare of people and many unique native and domestic flora and fauna. What works in a hurricane might work in a brushfire or earthquake. The possible loss of the citrus industry in Florida may reverse California agriculture turning into housing tracts. News is a product- Learn to read the packaging.

Yes, New Orleans has POTENTIAL for massive disaster. But the truth is that the city and surrounding areas live with this threat and usually are "equipped to survive".

The metropolitan New Orleans area has the best pumping system on the planet. Every hurricane season, every weather bubba is on telling people how to prepare. And the vast majority do and are experienced to boot.

My situation is good. On the down side, I only had six and a half hours at home between Friday afternoon and last night. I've been on duty all that time. Since I bought my house last year, I did not have plywood cut to cover the windows. I left work a bit early yesterday down in New Orleans. A local store assured me they had plywood. So I got to the store at 8am. Not true. They said there would be another semi load in a half hour or so. I called the stores nearer my house (60 mi NNW of the city). Sure they had some, but it wouldn't last an hour. So I stayed where I was. A bird in the hand and all that. Needless to say, I didn't get the plywood for some time.

I was able to leave the store and head home at 11. I thus joined the million or so evacuees. New Orleans has only a few routes out, all must go over water at some point. The bridges are key. I made the mistake of taking the interstate initially. Two hours for 8 miles or so. I then took back streets to, as the radio reported, the least traveled bridge. But others were listening as well. Another two and a half hours for a 23 mile bridge. When I could try a "road less travelled", I did. An hour and a half to get thru Madisonville. The last stretch, about 30 miles of all back country roads was less than an hour. I didn't get home until after 6 pm. And I'd been awake and going since 3pm the day before.

After eating (hadn't eaten since midnight), and getting my evacuee parents settled in, (they took 8 hours to get here), I went to bed without doing any preps.

On the good side, we stay pretty much prepared. While I couldn't be at home, My wife and I planned. She picked up any supplies we were lacking (batteries, more bic lighters, water bottles, non perishable foods easy to prep). I did buy a new chainsaw to help clear the road if we need to get out. We have food, water, medical supplies, tools, games, etc. And should things take a dramatic turn for the worst, we are ready to bug out in VERY short order, and have two or three destinations arranged.

Today, the wife organized supplies and made final arrangements inside (fill tubs with water, etc.) I got to remove anything from porches and yard (three acres!), and clear things from the old dinky shed into the new, almost finished shed. We also boarded up windows. I know it now seems the storm is going to Mobile, so we decided to downgrade from "Alert" status to "Exercise" status.

Right now, we're expecting decent winds. Since there are LOTS of pine trees here, we expect many downed limbs hitting the power lines. So we'll be out of power for a few days. Since we're on a well, no power means no water.

But we've done our job. I'm pleased to report that we are secured and ready for storm in all respects.

Lessons:

Begin your preps well in advance, and update at the start of Hurricane season.

Pay attention to weather.

Have a good map, and be familiar with less used routes if you must evacuate or travel.

If you want to be a survivor it requires good planning, good attitude, determination and flexibility.

Mental preparation helps, but nothing beats actual practice and experience.

The best asset you can have is a good spouse (Thanks Shan!!)

I'll report on the situation when I can, either here or http://thenakedemperor.blogspot.com/

Peanut