August 29 2005
We are also in what meteorologists refer to as the 'northeast quadrant' a phrase that will drive you nuts when trying to keep abreast of an impending storm. If you note my little red arrows, this is the way the wind circulates and obviously, we are on the bottom of this, thus, bearing the brunt of the winds.
It is interesting to note that Katrina came in on a high tide. For some reason this seems to have made a huge difference in flooding. I think, but am not sure, that the high tide combined with the teriffic storm surge magnified the ordinary tidal difference.
Also, highly unusual, is that Katrina came in during the day, and most hurricanes (such as Camille) came in at night. I believe things would have been a LOT worse if it would have happened at night, as there were many stories of people having to climb into the attic( when pressed to get higher and higher to avoid the rising water, where else are you going to go? But what are you going to do if you can't break through the roof?) or swim for safety. This could have been horiffic at night.
Occasionally during the storm I ventured out of the 'safe' room , a couple of times out of need to cover a busted window and to close the front door that had blown open - and watched out the back window as everything was flying by (plastic bags, shingles,leaves, branches, various things.) These storms are more powerful than you can imagine. Even as the winds were dying down after the 'big' part of the storm was over and we went out to see what had happened, the wind was strong enough to sting the skin. In retrospect, that was sorta a dumb thing to do. ;)
My Experience with Katrina -Text page 1 page 2 page 3
Photos start here and are linked from page to page.
By the way, this was the only map that I could find that demonstrated what I was trying to show. If anyone from the map company has a problem with my using it, please email me and let me know. Thanks! HOME
