Last night, Hurricane Ivan entered the Gulf of Mexico and now all of the gulf coastal areas are under hurricane watch. Right now, most of the parishes (counties) along the coast are under voluntary evacuation. My office is closing at noon and then we are heading out of town. I have no desire to be stuck on the roof of a building while everything else is below water for weeks on end.
"A witty woman is a treasure, a witty beauty is a power!"
Very smart to get out, Planderella and BEK. Beautiful New Orleans is no place to be with Category Four Ivan steaming ashore.
Ivan's path appears to be taking him right over Orange Beach, Alabama, where the Gedunker family vacationed this past June. (Hope everybody will be okay in Phoenix V).
I've come to watch these storms and to think, if Ivan goes on this path, it'll hit the Goddesses and H and RJ. Not to forget Floridays. Over here is Dragon and jestes, over there are Planderella and BEK. Of course, Kobayishi is in Mobile. Does anybody elese do this, or am I totally eaten up?
In any event, my thoughts and best wishes are there for everyone in Ivan's path.
I have seen
old ships sailing
like swans asleep
I don't blame you for leaving. Ivan is gonna be a nasty one! My family is on their annual vacation in Destin (right on the beach!) and got there on Friday. They had a few nice, sunny days and this morning they had to turn around and head back home.
Here on the Atlantic side of the state, we are very grateful that it's passing us by...
Good luck!
Are you guys heading up the I-59 exit? Or are you thinking you might be better off going toward Lafayette with the unknown landfall location. I think I'm going to send my mom toward Lafayette.Originally posted by Planderella
It does sound like we all need to get the heck out of town. The most current predictions show it hitting around the Alabama, Mississippi state line. Real bad new considering my mom, sisters, and the majority of her side of the family lives there.
“Ahh! Beer. So many choices. And it makes so little difference."
- Bender
Good idea to leave town. I talked to my Mom on the Texas coast and she's considered part of the emergency employees so she will not get to leave if it hits Texas.
Stay safe!
When Jesus said "love your enemies", he probably didn't mean kill them.
Rushing to evacuate - and then the waiting - that's the worst. I'm sure some of ya'll have done the drill before. For those of you, and your families, in the potential path, best of luck, and keep us posted when you can.
Be sure to get well out of town, and find a nice comfy hotel so you can at least evacuate in comfort. (my plan next time!)
Best of luck to y'all in the Gulf. I wish you the best. Make sure you take before and after pictures.
I read that when it was gunning for Jamiaca, the leader (pm/governor?) asked that everyone pray that it not hit them, it must have worked because they didn't get a direct hit. We will all do the same for you guys on the Gulf.
We've got a houseload of friends and family from the Panhandle heading our way. No one's taking any chances with this one. I think Charley taught the important lesson that it's the wider warning area that's important, not the "projected path".
As long as the Grim Reaper of Weather is not in your town (aka Jim Cantori from the Weather Channel), you should be safe. He always seems to be right in the middle of the direct hits for any storm.
All the best to my fellow Cyburbians to the west of here--stay safe. Our offices were closed at 10 this morning when mandatory evacuations were announced for Areas 1 through 3 (I'm in 4 even though it's 2 blocks from the beach). I stopped for some more cash and jug wine on the way home. Spending tonight in my apartment then it's over to my boss's house tomorrow morning on higher ground and farther from the Gulf to hunker down, drink wine and smoke cigars (I think this one is calling out for a Cuban). Thanks for your thoughts everyone.
Here is a list of recent purchases to wade out the storms:
1. battery operated hand held color TV from Radioshack
2. Two battery operated Coleman laterns.
3. lots of batteries.
4. monopoly game
5. Plan to order battery operated fans on line very soon
be sure to make up lots of ice in your freezer to use later. I filled tupperware containers and used them in both the frig and freezer to keep each cool after losing power.
Good luck... We are thinking about you guys.
You darn tootin', I like fig newtons!
Be safe, people. This is one ugly storm.
Worse yet, it appears that the alien invasion of North American is being timed to coincide with the hurricaine.
Oh, wait. I think that's part of the satelite.
Never mind.....
All these years the people said he’s actin’ like a kid.
He did not know he could not fly, so he did.
- - Guy Clark, "The Cape"
I have cousins who live in the Caymans. They spend Sunday night in their bathroom, along with about 8 of their neighbors and 6 dogs that were swimming in the flood waters. They were initially in a shelter, but it sustained heavy damage and had to be evacuated. They fled to their apartment building. The roof was ripped off of their apartment building. They spent the rest of the night hunkered down while getting drenched from the rain and pounded by the wind. Amazingly, they are all ok. They lost everything they own. Their car disappeared in the storm surge. They will be flying back to Utah as soon as they can.
Eeek. I hope BEk and Planderella were able to beat the traffic out.
From CNN this morning.
A good friend of mine called me last night and wanted me to go with him to New Orleans for a hurrican party. I politely declined citing my work obligations. Apparently he is friends with a bar owner somewhere in the French Quarter. The place has never closed in its XXX years of continuous operation - not even for major hurricanes.
I just dont get the wisdom of that.
Well, here I sit in my office 60 miles from the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a 200 mile wide storm bearing down and my boss says, "If you have to leave the office just make sure that you package up some work to take home with you." Yea right!!
Oh and forget about trying to buy provisions at this late date even if you can get to a store through the evacuation traffic. We have US Highway 49 from the coast and I-59 from New Orleans currently serving as evacuation routes. Both go right through the middle of town. I went over the Hwy 49 overpass this morning and all I could see in either direction was bumper to bumper traffic. Should be a fun couple of days.
Oh yea, you guys might be interested to know that the Mississippi Department of Transportation website has realtime traffic cams set up in strategic locations throughout the state (talk about big brother). They should be interesting to see right now.
A word to the wise ain't necessary. It's the stupid ones that need the advice.
--Bill Cosby
Good luck and God's protection for all those in it's path. I understandf that they were evacuating as far north as Hattiesburg, where I've got some in-laws.
I am in Hattiesburg and as I understand, there is no room in the inn here. In fact, the last report that I received was that the nearest hotel rooms are around the Memphis area. In fact, officials are not letting anyone get off of highway 49 or I-59 in Hattiesburg. All of the traffic that I see right now is going straight through the area.
If I can manage to maintain power I will post updates over the next 24-36 hours and let everyone know how things are here.
A word to the wise ain't necessary. It's the stupid ones that need the advice.
--Bill Cosby
Check out the New Orleans radar for a wild depiction of the approaching rains.
I wish there were a scale on that radar map - check out the size of the hurricaine's eye! :-C
Be safe!
All these years the people said he’s actin’ like a kid.
He did not know he could not fly, so he did.
- - Guy Clark, "The Cape"
Wow that is some serious rain. I have lived in the desert so long I almost forget what massive rain is like.
CNN quoted the New Orleans mayor is saying that anyone who stays in NO better have access to a second floor in their building, and be able to hack through the roof if the water rises that high.But they still expect 400,000 people to stay, including 100,000 who rely on public transportation and have no way to evacuate.
Thanks-isn't there a voluntary evac for Hattiesburg?
Whoa, the news is getting crazier. The mayor of NO said tonite that he did not agree with his emergency management director, who said NO would need 10,000 body bags for drowning victims. And I had not heard the story before that during Hurricane Georges, 14,000 evacuees trashed the superdome, stealing t.v.s, seat cushions, etc. and leaving tons of graffiti on the walls.
Hope all Cyburbians in the path can get word out that they are OK.
I'm kind of anxious to hear from planderella end bek. I can't even imagine having to wonder if your house is going to be there when you get back.
As most of you probably know by now, The eye of the storm passed over Gulf Shores, Alabama. Hattiesburg is receiving a good bit of rain right now and some pretty good wind gusts. In a brief ride around town I noticed a few tree-tops down but no real significant damage. In fact, I am in my office right now. I don't have power at my house but we still have power at my Father-in-law's house (where we stayed last night). It appears that east central Alabama is getting the worst of the weather right now.
We did not have any kind of evacuation orders for Hattiesburg but we are under a curfew until about 6:00 p.m. this evening and most of the businesses are closed today.
I plan to be here for a couple of hours doing a bit of writing but will probably head home around noon.
It would appear that Louisiana and New Orleans were spared and significant activity.
A word to the wise ain't necessary. It's the stupid ones that need the advice.
--Bill Cosby
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