Liz has a great idea to help folks who have no place to stay. Pls reco.
I wish I had better news to report. As of 11:00 PM EST Hurricane Katrina is tracking dead on into New Orleans, is now a Category 4 storm, and will make landfall apprx noon Monday right after high tide. THE EYE COULD BE ~40 NAUTICAL Mls IN DIAMETER AT LANDFALL. THERE ARE NO SHEARS OR UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES TO WEAKEN THE STORM AT THIS TIME. Because most of New Orleans is below sea level, this storm could submerge significant parts of the area meaning basically all of NO and the Mississippi Delta. There are refinaries, energy shipping and storage, warehouses of toxic chemicals of all types in this area. It could all mix into one hell of a toxic molotov-cocktail. More below including evac info, projected path info, and press releases. Along with some personal insight into why you want to evac even if you think your structure is solid or you feel lucky.
A hurricane warning will be issued within the next few hours for an area centered on New Orleans meaning a hurricane is expected to make landful within the next 24 hours. If you would like to leave the NOLA area but have no place to stay, a couple of folks in comments are offering their homes for you to stay in. Look in comments.
Six-part series on what storm could do to NOLA at Torta's diary
Evacuation: New Orleans & Coast
[Link] LA--Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today issued Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, declaring a state of emergency for the state Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat ...
National Hurricane Center: Katrina & Projected Path
Live, Local, Weather & Travel by ZIP Code
Schematic of a storm surge. This could be a killer in ten different ways for Katrina
Speculation on level of damage from a Category 4 to 5 Hurricane on the Delta/NO Region. Hat tip: moondawg
Last hurricane season I personally rode out three separate hurricanes in the space of a month and half in Florida. My home is constructed of cinder block and reinforced with aluminum. I put the roof on myself, using the best shingles and related materials money can buy, all storm rated, reinforcing the plywood and trusses with double widths around edges. The interior of my attic is cross braced and all the corners and hoists are attached by climbing rope which I can crank down to high tension. All my windows were boarded up and I mean solid with custom made plywood blanks reinforced with metal strips set with fixed 3/8 inch mason bolts over the windows. Our house number was spray-painted onto the front window shutter in case we needed emergency help in the middle of the storm. My garage door was anchored with masonry bolts into the cement floor and braced with two-by-fours. I parked my truck sideways in front of the garage for added protection. Are you getting the idea I was prepared? Frances was the worst, three-day, howling black, screaming, waste of time I'll never forget, and it was only Cat 2 to Cat 2+!
Although my house was relatively undamaged, there were trees laying across the street, power lines drooping through all our backyards, houses with their roofs peeled off like a sardine can, siding was littered like confetti from the ground to the top of the tall pines. Worst of all, there was no power, no water, no Internet, no cell phone service, and no way to travel because the roads were blocked with all kinds of shit, for four days. There was no gasoline at all for five or six days anywhere that I saw. It was over a week before we got power and phone back.
When your house is boarded up and your power is out during even a minor storm for a few days, you grope around in the pitch dark with flashlights eating out of cans and sweating your ass off. You let pee stand, and you flush crap down using a bucket of water from your bathtub (Which you better know to fill up just for that reason) to get a partial flush. Anything that can go moldy does including wood. Every creepy, crawly, slimy thing outside wants shelter: Spiders crawl across your body in the dark, gnats and mosquitos invade, frogs and lizards swarm into the garage and come up through the plumbing. Food rots, bottled water starts tasting stale, the banana peel you forgot about last night is a slimy patch on the counter with ants all over it. It's like this day and night until the storm is over.
Point being: You don't want to stay. You don't want to if you don't have to, even if the storm is not that bad or you think you'll be lucky. Civilization unravels tout suite in a huge area. EMS is overwhelmed even after the storm has gone. The loss of power and covered windows and the total lack of anything to do means you sit there in the gloom and listen to your house being hit like it was on a driving range in the middle of a hail storm. Trees are alive, the tops toss wildly like huge animals are up there thrashing through them, they bend into mighty bows, they crack like lightning. And it goes on and on at high decibels until you think you're deaf. With nothing to fucking do, no decent food, no TV, ect. If you're in the path of this thing, have your car packed with food and water and be ready to go by midnight. Buddy up with a neighbor or a friend in case one car breaks down. Have emergency provisions to last at least a week stashed back home in water-proof containers in the attic just in case you have to return.
I have a bad feeling about this one folks.