New Orleans is virtually swamp land and is sinking a few inches every year. They bury their dead above ground so they won’t emerge during a rainy season. In fact, much of the South is swamp land.
Not only New Orleans will be devastatingly affected if Gustav hits land with the force of Katrina. The whole Gulf Coast area was affected by Katrina. One small town lost all of their police equipment and stores – there was no town left. My niece lost her house, car and all her belongings. She lived in Pascagoula in Mississippi which is a coastal town.
The damage Katrina did to New Orleans has not even been completely repaired yet.
I really don’t think New Orleans has has enough time to prepare for another hurricane. Nobody or no town is. New Orleans is evacuating it’s people now afraid the levees won’t hold. The damage flooding can do is horrible and the aftermath is even more so. The wind will put the city without electricity and it is terribly hot there. There is no way to prepare for the wind that comes with a hurricane.
The snakes and mosquitoes, even without rain, are plentiful. Nobody is ever prepared for those. Once the water subsides, mud, snakes, alligators, etc. have to be cleaned from your home with a lot of water damage to your home.
I am a native southerner and it is no fun not being able to get in touch with your family – not being able to communicate with them because there are no signals or land lines.
Towns and cities north of New Orleans were also whipped out of shape by Katrina. I have a friend in Jackson who is in a wheelchair. Her mobile home is surrounded by huge oak trees. She was home alone when the fire department came and ordered her to evacuate. She had no way so they took her with them. Five minutes after she left, one of the oaks fell on her home splitting it in half.
Take it from me – there is no way New Orleans or anyone can prepare for a hurricane and the tornadoes that whirl a path up through Louisiana and Mississippi or any other state that might be handy for them to tear up buildings, down trees, kill people and leave them without water, electricity and no air conditioning.
It is so ironic that my nephew is in management at Howard Industries, the company that supplies transformers to cities and towns when they are damaged by bad weather. Just this week ICE raided them for illegals. I do so hope that they are covered. My nephew worked eighty hours overtime when Hurricane Andrew hit.
I pray for those people and hope the hurricane dwindles.
