Hurricane Gustav Evacuation

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by Monique, under Animals, Daily Life, Nature, New Orleans, Outdoors, Photography, Plants, Travel.

As I make this blog entry, I am still decompressing from the last week+ that I have been through dealing with my first hurricane, Gustav.

Having moved here in 2006 post Katrina-land, I really didn’t think I would ever have to go through anything like that. And I have not, because Katrina was a real bitch. Luckily, my experience was very watered down (no pun intended) compared to what they went through for Katrina. On the flip side, we didn’t get nice fema payments and red cross money like they did in 2005, but I wouldn’t want to go through anything like that so no big deal. Those things are for those in need.

I am rather pleased with my experience, it could have been ten times worse, and I hope that the next couple months while we prepare to move aren’t plagued with anymore “5 day cones.”

So as I attempted to make some lemonade with the sour fruit I was given, I decided to take some pictures and capture some images to bring my experiences to the internet, even as the dry nature of text and images lack to convey what it is really like. It’s the best I can do.

Here is where my camera started, snapping a picture of little 9 lb Penny the miniature pinscher as she prepared for an adventure. It was easily 100 degrees F, we had lots of water, and Penny was excited and well behaved as always. Tongue hanging out, ready for some fun, safe with her human friends.

On the highway we would see dozens of other dogs, all kinds of animal pets, even a ferret. I tried to take pics of them all, and in the craziness I got off a couple of shots.

These dogs didn’t have it as good as our little buddies, they had to ride in the hot sun on a trailer.

There were parrots, poodles, and we even saw a ferret. These nice girls let us take their picture.

Highway 10 getting out of New Orleans, through New Orleans East and around the French Quarter, was gridlocked. There were people out of gas, overheating, drinking beer, and walking around. Crews of big trucks with dollar sign rims were pushing in and out of the lanes, everyone desperate to get out.

Military presence was everywhere. Desert camo painted trucks and soldiers were blocking exits, and planes were in the sky.

I have to also add, even though we’ve lived here now almost 2 years, we really have not officially toured all of the Katrina destruction. It’s too depressing. Especially when you’ve already lived in New Orleans and know what hurricane damage looks like. Its really boring and you can only take so much.

So it was absolutely surreal, being in gridlock traffic going 10 mph (we traveled 60 miles in 6 hours), and seeing all the damage in New Orleans east where houses were under water. They sure do have a lot of work to do still, and no clue what Gustav brought on this area. We flew past this area on the drive home.

The following pictures are *before* Hurricane Gustav. These are images of damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Unsettling, unreal, and not something I need in my life. Good luck to those rebuilding!

Some little houses on a demolition list somewhere:

An old apartment building, damaged in Katrina, right before Gustav hit:

Now Leasing? Rebuild New Orleans? (insert laughter here) Once again, this is Hurricane Katrina damage from 2005, its now 2008. At least it isn’t radioactive, right?

After 6 hours of crawling on the freeway in the worst heat and humidity you can imagine, we ended up in God’s Country, aka Mississippi. We were in a dry county, as in they don’t sell liquor there. Only 60 miles yet a world away from the debauchery of New Orleans. It was beautiful, sans the crawly things.

Banana spider anyone? Everyone is “pretty sure” they don’t bite. I’m not worried about finding out the answer to that. But they get to hang around because they eat flying things that bite, so they’re actually our friends in that sense. I just took pictures, opposite of the wind blowing the web around.

We arrived Saturday at almost 11pm. Sunday was a rush to any stores open for last minute supplies, and watching the news. Monday arrived and so did Gustav. It was my first experience of a hurricane, after living with my husband a veteran of hurricanes for over 10 years. He has some stories, I have one now too.

At the last minute we went out to walk the dogs one last time before it hit, and he showed me the rain bands in the sky, the outer strips of the storm that whip around and it was upon us.

Within seconds of snapping this picture, the sky opened up and water began dumping. The wind picked up almost instantly, and it was the most intense show of weather I have ever seen. Don’t mess with mother nature, she will win every time. This was barlely a demonstration of what she can dish out.

So we all huddled inside, tried to keep calm, and occupy ourselves. The tv screen glitched and power flickered a bit, and eventually it went out. Lucky for us, our prepared family member in Mississippi had a generator. They were cooking red beans on an electric stove, so we would have had to survive on chips and cheese crackers if not for some power. The electricity did come back up at the end of the day, so we didn’t have to sleep witout air conditioning. Again, it could have been a LOT worse.

The wind was whipping all over, we watched the trees literally bending over through the windows. It was a twisted sort of excitement with everyone oh-no-ing as the trunks bent and swayed, nearly snapping as they danced back and forth.

It was on the other side of the house, luckily it feel the other way, and only a couple people even heard it snap. An oak tree went down, and took out the new fence. Almost forgot to add - “new fence” - this beautiful Mississippi estate was purchased with insurance money as their former residence in Pass Christian Mississippi was washed away with Katrina. And by washed away, their hot tub was in a tree hundreds of feet away. They lost everything. Luckily they have a beautiful home now and all their vehicles are paid for, but talk about starting over.

With the fence went the wire that keeps the dogs contained. These beasts could eat their way through a white picket fence, but they have on shock collars and will not go within ten feet. They didn’t figure out that the wire was down, but we didn’t encourage them to discover this fact. They are actually both big puppies and sweet dogs other than them knocking you over with their affection.

The men soon busted out the chainsaws and someone brought their four wheeler, so they started hacking away the tree into piles to be burned. The kids went out into the yard and helped pick up branches. It was a mess all over. It shortly after started to rain, and we all had to go back inside.

Luckily, things wrapped up on Tuesday, and by evening it was announced that our neighborhood would be open at 6 am on Wednesday. We woke up at 4 am after a long and unsettling night - cabin fever an understatement with 20 people, kids, dogs, and interrupted habits - and hit the road just after 5 am. We flew past the law enforcement just as they were setting up barricades to check id’s allowing only those from our area in. We didn’t have to wait, others sat in line for 20 hours. We did good. Really good. We got home in under an hour, in the cool twilight air.

Now I sit here with boards on my windows, hoping the rest of hurricane season does not bring another evacuation before it ends. The yard is still a mess, its been three days and I am still decompressing. Regardless, I am planning ahead and packing all of my belongings. I’m evacuating of my own free will. But this time I am taking all of my possesions, and not returning to settle in a danger zone where I get an automated phone message telling me there is a mandatory evacuation and I am in danger. California here I come.

I love South Louisiana and New Orleans, but as I have always been told, its a great place to visit.

I give thanks to all the forces that kept me safe. My husband, his wonderful family, and the will to succeed engraved in my head by the people who raised me. My Grandparents traveled way too far (from France) to ensure I would grow up in a safe, happy place. No problem, I can do it again.

amended, Sept 17: The move is on hold for now, still in our future (along with a better evacuation plan), but we are going to be alright.