August 28, 2005
katrina
what can anyone say or do but get out of the way..and that's looking fairly impossible..left houston early thinking i-10 was going to be clogged..who knows when that rain will hit..as if the chaos isn't insane enough already..
4 hours back home sweet home...and
it was eerily beautiful all the way...the literal calm before the storm... all i could think of were all those families 4 hours behind me..on the same pavement..taking their families and their beloved pets and fleeing for their lives..leaving home behind possibly forever..i've driven in bad rains on those span bridges before, it was plenty frightening without wondering if there would be a new orleans to return to.your home is going to be 30 feet underwater in less than a day...what do you do? what do you save? what really matters? what if fleeing is more dangerous? didn't most the people that died from katrina in florida get hit by falling trees?
i saw on the news this morning, tourists in the french quarter walking around saying they can't get out..their flights were canceled yesterday..no rental cars..no cabs..it's a good thing they didn't have access to the internet or the news, cause their friendly banter with the interviewer was straddled by two stories of imminent and total destruction..thank goodness they got that twelve pack of bud light...they are going to need it...
now my eyes are starved for more satellite imagery and hopefully live footage of new orleans looking like a complete ghost town..i will of course say my prayers for the big easy..and i'll be thinking of Lafitte's..and of those other fine places and hoping they don't exist in memory alone..