Anyway, back to the original point (I tend to ramble!) we went all out for hurricane Dennis. There was a lot of buzz, and lots of 'hurricane work' at work. It did not affect us at all.
Then there was this little blip the next month called Katrina. What a dainty name! Sounds like a ballerina or something. I remember watching it, and as Florida had already had a hurricane, this one was supposed to go across Florida (which it did) get into the Gulf (which it did) and then turn and go back to Florida (which it did not.) It was a Friday and we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Mr Jimmy brought his boat and parked it under the garage area, like always.
We watched it, and it was moving more and more west.(To see a map of the path of Katrina, click here.) It was down there a good ways. See, you never know where a hurricane is going to go until the last posible moment, and when it is down south so far it can sit down there and 'churn', or gain strength. It was losing the barometric pressure in the eye, and the lower it is, the more powerful the storm is.
It kept going west. And west. And west. We were on the edge of the 'cone of uncertainty.' I was hoping to stay on the edge of the cone. While, of course, this is essentially a somewhat fictional demographic in they have no idea where this storm is actually going to go, being on the edge is better than being in the middle!
By Saturday, we were more in the Cone. Like a quarter of the way in. It had moved up a little bit, and was still heading west. I was starting to get nervous, and we were making our game plans.
I had somewhat of another large collection of works and works in progress in the studio, so we moved those as well as some photos and other things. Remembering what happened during Ivan(expecting everything to happen and nothing happening, and tons of work preparing and then having to undo it all) we left a good bit of everything there and just said, we'll pick through whatever is left.
You have to remember that this is the swealtering heat of August, where if you are in an air conditioned room and walk outside it is literally like walking into an oven. So by the time we made a few trips, and the irritation of it all, we just left it. What will be will be.
We decided to stay in our house. Our landlord said, "This cottage was on the beach during Camille, and it just floated up the road like a boat! She did nothing to it!" So he had them transported to his land where they sit today. If it made it through Camille, we will be okay here. NOTHING can be any worse than Camille.
It was moving more West, and now New Orleans was in the target. However, we are still very close to N.O., and at that destination, we are also in the infamous 'northeast quadrant', which we were so succinctly briefed on the year before with Ivan.
This is where the wind, water surge and general destruction is at its worst, I assume because of the way the winds circulate in a circular pattern. We were in this-if it was to hit New Orleans.
By Saturday morning, it looked like it was starting to move up with some seriousness, towards New Orleans. It was a little late, but it was what we all had feared. People started to evaculate, and everything was closing down and supplies were being limited. We were also almost in the center of the Cone.
By Sunday, the sky was getting cloudy, and somewhat windy. People were piling up in the SuperDome in N.O. and waiting for the worst. There wasn't a hotel anywhere to be had; we were sort of stuck now whether we wanted to leave or not. We decided earlier to stay and we had no choice now.
Late Sunday it was getting really bad, the wind and rain was picking up steam. Katrina was getting really close.She was also going to come in on a high tide wherever she landed. We are now in the center of the Cone, but N.O. was still the prospective target. Things were already starting to blow around. My husband suggested that we get some metal panels and scwe them on the windows facing the beach, just in case.
We went to the shop, and got some metal, screws and the screwgun.We left extra food and water for Pearl(our shop cat) It was right before dark and it was like a really bad thunderstorm with bad wind. I noticed the water by the marine shop we pass on the way to work was all the way, literally flush, with the building. I remember frowning and saying, "This can't be good."
Maybe it was overhype like it typically is. But probably not. It wasn't even here yet and things are getting wild! When we got home we screwed on the metal panels, which was no small task, the wind and rain was fighting us all the way. Page 1 3 HOME