The Post NOT About Gustav
Aug 27th, 2008 by Nola
From all accounts, the City of New Orleans is aflutter with Hurricane Gustav. And frankly, I have done my best to stick my head in the sand about it. It is expected to hit land Sunday or Monday. We have cancelled our plans (for the third time) to visit CS’s aunt in Houston. Otherwise, we are on a wait-and-see plan.
Katrina was the first storm I ever evacuated for, and that was done the day before the storm when I called my uncle at 5 in the morning and he said, “You need to leave.” I cried, panicked, packed and left. And had no regret about leaving.
Now, with Katrina behind me, you’d think I’d be more willing to evacuate. You’d be wrong. The thing is, these storms take days to come in. And the weathermen LOVE to get all hot and bothered about how it’s going to be terrible: They cry wolf. A lot. We’ve had many friends evacuate time and again to drive like a snail out of and back in to town with everyone else and pay lots of money to stay in blah hotels in blah cities. Only for the storm to miss us.
Tonight, CS and I had a bit of an argument over plans. He insists that if it’s over a Cat 3, we are evacuating. Because of Sun. I, on the other hand, insist on a slower approach that will keep us here unless it’s serious AND coming pretty straight at us. Like Katrina. And yes, I know Katrina was a Cat 3 when it hit New Orleans. But it was a Cat 5 UNTIL then. If it’s a Cat 3 in the Gulf, it isn’t gonna get WORSE once it hits land. And Katrina, though maybe downgraded to a Cat 3, I assure you, had much more tornado activity than “regular” Cat 3′s.
But I digress. My plan is to have a generator and a window unit. We can stay cool and have access to a TV or laptop and keep the fridge plugged in. No long drives; no hotels; no issues with the pets; no heartache about what to bring and what to leave behind. And if it shapes up, say, the day before to be a serious storm that is barreling down on NOLA, we leave.
CS promised me a generator—in public—3 years ago. And we both kinda let it go until a storm is brewing. I called CS earlier today to ask him to finally live up to his promise; he assured me he’d make calls and take care of it. When he came home, I knew he had done nothing. And he hadn’t, claiming he was too busy. To which I responded, “If it were the new i-Phone coming out today that YOU wanted, you wouldn’t have been to busy, I assure you.” (Yeah, I fight ugly).
After a few rounds, CS argued that we didn’t need a generator; that neither he nor I EVER evacuated when we were kids and we lived through no electricity. Finally, he said, “You only want a generator because your grandfather and your uncle and sister have one.” And as I sharpened my lawyer’s argumentative claws, I looked at him and, well, looked away. He had me. Dammit, he was dead right and I couldn’t lie. So finally, I admitted it. “Fine. So what? When I was young, we’d call my grandparents during a storm and they’d be living high on the hog. TV. Air conditioning. It was like no storm was passing over them. Can’t I have that for myself? Can’t I “grow up” and have a damn generator? Even if we never use it?”
And he said yes. I can live high on the hog when storms come to town. If we stay. Which we are likely to do. But nothing is set in stone.
Sigh. What to do? What to do? I know enough to get gas today in case people start freaking out tomorrow and gas prices have already gone up. That’s about all I can plan to do, but I’m with you on not picking up EVERYTHING unless we know for sure. Talk about timing..I was moving this weekend anyways; now I have to deal with a crazed city fleeing the same time I’m trying to move.
Jane Moneypenny’s last blog post..My Fickle Friend
I’m sorry but I have to say go. Who knows which levee’s would breach this time. If you stay and the worst happens you could put other people at risk helping you. Some old lady somewhere could die because responders are taking care of you. It’s a selfish choice.
I was never one to leave either but I now know that we can’t trust the protection system at all. That makes a big difference.
I hear ya. I never evac’d until K. Don’t plan on leaving now except living off the grid doesn’t seem nearly as simple with a 6 month old baby :-\
pistolette’s last blog post..The Cone of Doooooooom!
I hear you. I lived in downtown Charleston for 7 years. A few months after I moved there, the Floyd debacle happened–forecast: Cat 5 headed straight for Charleston. There was a mandatory evacuation. My ex husband and I headed out, luckily on country highways rather than the one interstate that leads out of town. It took us 8 hours to go about 120 miles. The governor failed to reverse the eastbound lanes, and evacuated the entire SC coast at the same time, so folks were trapped on I-26 for up to 24 hours trying to leave. Of course, Floyd ended up being a very minor tropical storm. After that, I swore “never again.” Unfortunately, the forecasters have no clue.
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Be safe. (I would take the same approach as you though….)
I so hate this time of year. My parents were going to head my way (to FL) to get away from Gustav, but now we may be dealing with “Hannah”. CRAZY!
jen’s last blog post..I found “me” today…
Lady, if you decide to bolt, you can camp with us in ATL free of charge.
You are the first person I’ve ever known to live in an area where this sort of thing happens. I hate hurricane season. Please be careful.
shannanb aka Mommy Bits’s last blog post..Oh No He Didn’t!
Jesus Nola, just be safe, yeah?
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Well, we have hotel reservations. With the prospect of sitting in traffic to get to TX, I dug my heels in and said “NEVER!!” Now with FL out of the cone for Gustav (Yeah, I know about the other one), I have revised my plan, because DESTIN HERE WE COME!
I am totally being selfish, because we missed our FL vacay this year and here is my chance. I still don’t think it is going to be a big deal, but faced with no power or pool and beach, I am taking the Sunshine state. Until I have to cancel, because this thing is so not going to be a problem.
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[...] Comments « The Post NOT About Gustav [...]
I (with about 20 more years of living than you) never evacuated for hurricanes either, until a storm before Katrina (can’t recall which one), which turned out to be a dud. I evacuated for Katrina too, and of course was glad I did. Given the increased likelihood of flooding in our metro area nowadays–and given that I no longer trust the Army Corps of Engineers’ flood protection building skills worth a damn–I’m heading for high ground. Northshore–between Folsom and Bush. We’ll probably lose power due to winds, but we won’t get any flooding. I have five pets and a daughter (admittedly, an adult daughter) to protect! My sister is taking our elderly mother with her to Baton Rouge–also high ground. I have to go where they’ll accept my menagerie, which is a horse farm owned by friends.
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