Chris, Thanks for your concern, we appreciate it. We had just been through Isadore. We weren't concerned about winds with him, just flooding. Being in emergency, I still had to work. Closed roads were an annoyance. I actually didn't need my map, I just asked the cops at roadblocks about alternates. I got to work about 15 min late. Lessons - 1) have a local map. you might not need it, but who knows. Do this even if you grew up there. 2) leave early if you must travel. 3)Be flexible in your plannung and preparations, the unexpected WILL occur.<br><br>After our positive experience with Isadore, we watched Lili. She was to be a Cat 2 going into west Louisiana, no problem. I was napping Wed at about 2 when my wife came in from work. She told me Lili was now Cat 4 and shifting east. Oh [censored]. Lesson - 4) storms do what they want, prepare accordingly. We topped off our supplies, checked forecasts and made decisions. It looked like we were going to be on the eastern edge of the beaten zone. Because she suprised us, any evacuation would be last minute and the roads would be clogged. So we decided to stay local. We have animals and they aren't allowed in shelters. We also live in apartments. I fugured out that south winds would be our main problem and we have another apartment between us and the wind. So we stayed. <br><br>Lili decided to peak early and shift back to the west. So we dodged a bullet. For most of the worst of the storm, I sat outside in my front door alcove. We lost power at 0530. I just listened to reports on my radio, and read a Crichton book. Even though it wasn't as bad as we expected, it was impressive. At 0615, I heard a loud crash NW. Later we discovered a huge old oak had fallen through the parish hall of a church a block away Lesson 5) If a tree falls in Hammond, and no one sees it, it DOES make a noise. Power was back by noon, The wife and I even kept appointments to get our hair cut at 4 that afternoon. So we're doing quite well.<br><br>Overall lesson - 6) Don't get cocky, you can still be caught - literally - napping.<br><br>Also pay attention to news, but take it with a grain of salt. TV types have to fill airtime, even if they're saying nothing or are misleading. And it gets worse the farther the media is from home. The national types would have you think that Isadore destroyed us, let alone Lili.<br><br>Again, thanks for the concern. And thanks to you, Doug, and all our posters here. Even though I've been going through storms for lots of years, I've learned a lot here. That makes handling these situations much easier.<br><br>Peanut
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a prodigal scout, just trying to be prepared.
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