Will anyone here be affected?
I have to hope my in-laws will be OK. Katrina did a number on them.
I can’t believe that was 16 years ago.
What is the current status of the hospitals in the area regarding Covid?
I have decided to ride this one out. First time I have every willingly stayed for a storm. Most of my neighbors have left. My house flooded in June, so I am actually in relatively good shape there. There isn’t much there to ruin. Of course if the shipping container floods that won’t be covered. All my household good are in the container. FEMA flood insurance only covers the main building. I am staying in a rented condo a couple of miles from my house. They are predicting a significant storm surge. I will be on the edge. Maybe I will stay dry, maybe not. The south Louisiana lifestyle !
The interstates are parking lots. People will be stuck on the road all night. Locals will take the back roads-but there are a lot of locals for the smaller roads. The storm will come ashore about 1PM Sunday. I don’t expect more than tropical storm winds where I am-but as almost always it is the water that causes the misery. That and the power outages. It is 92 and humid during the day.
We are now the proud parents of 3 cats. That was one reason I didn’t want to be cooped up in a car all day. They are beginning to get a bit antsy, tomorrow the ones that can will be on top of the cupboards due to the noise if nothing worse.
I will post as I can while the power lasts. I expect to lose it during the day tomorrow.
I was living on the south shore of Long Island back in the '80s, when a hurricane hit. I was the only person in my building not to evacuate, thanks to my cats. They hid in the closet during the worst of it. It was scary.
Keep us posted as much as you can, and stay safe.
I’m nowhere near there and don’t think I know anyone in the danger zone, but I am seriously creeped out by this hitting on the Katrina anniversary.
If it goes east or west of NO, then we will avert catastrophe. The big danger is having a Hurricane Harvey type event that just parks over the city and dumps massive amounts of rain all over the levee system.
I was in South Louisiana when Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992. The winds were terrible, but it’s the water that kills and causes long term damage.
I found it odd to see traffic backed up–but only in one direction:
Here in SC, after Hugo they set up a system so that during hurricane evacuations lanes would be reversed to that both sides of the highways would be outgoing. It seems like something other hurricane-prone states should have set up, too.
Ida made landfall this morning as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, LA around 1 pm local time. It looks like that is west of NOLA. The eye is projected to go over Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, the worst storm surge looks to be the east of the eye, so NOLA is going to have a hard time. I hope the levees hold.
My BIL & SIL are at the hospital where he works. Their cars are in its elevated parking garage. Hopefully their house doesn’t get flooded again, but they should be OK.
They’re probably heading for Houston, either to be with family or where they can find a spare hotel room. About 75-80% of Louisiana’s population is along the I-10 corridor, so that explains the traffic snarls.
My point was, both sides should be switched to “out”, not one of each.
Depending on where the photo is taken, I guess. If that’s a photo from around Whiskey Bay I think the last thing you’d want are drivers heading into Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
I’m not sure what you are confused about here. In areas about to be hit by a hurricane, one lane is headed towards the hurricane and one lane is headed away from the hurricane. In SC to help speed evactation during hurricanes the towards lane is switched to an away lane so that you have two away lanes and no towards lane. I’m saying that would have been a good idea in this case, too.
We used that for Katrina. It is very unsettling to look in your rearview mirror and see cars in all lanes on both sides coming at you. I was far enough in the front that I was traveling at a good rate of speed. And they just kept following. It was kind of spooky.
Part of the problem is that in southeast La. you need the cooperation of neighboring states. MS is willing, but such things take a lot of resources to set up. Every entrance to the interstate going the normal way has to be blocked and manned. If not, stupid people will inevitably try to drive the “normal” way and cause major problems. It takes time and resources. It works better in SC where most of the relevant roads are in the state.
I am on the Northshore about 90 miles from the eye. Wind is TS strength. Rain is moderate but constant. So far things are looking good, but it is going to get a lot worse in the next few hours.
power is flickering.
Covington, I presume? Stay safe