I have sat in front of the television all day. I can barely tear my eyes away long enough to go to the bathroom. I think the channels may have stopped playing commercials. I do not remember any.
The reports are grim. No escape. The worst hurricane since Camille. Maybe worse than Camille. The worst to hit an urban area.
Every now and then I trade gallows humor with the proprietor at Storm Digest and then the somberness overtakes me. New Orleans is likely to be underwater for weeks, only to emerge unrecognizable. The Superdome, shelter to upwards of 20,000, may not withstand the winds. They ask every official the same question and every one answers "I don't know." Levees are about 15 feet high — they have settled since being built in the 60s. The storm surge is expected to top 20 feet.
We have never lost a whole city before. I can't find anyone predicting anything less.
I visited New Orleans for a weekend when I was 17. It was beautiful. I intended to go back but I never lived in an area that made it an easy trip. My husband has never been.
I wonder if we will see it ever. Will Bourbon Street, old buildings set right at the leading edge of danger, survive at all?
I can't recall such a sense of dread before.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
Justene -- Well said. I'm largely speechless on the topic. We can all only hope now that it will be less than expected.
2 - Mary K. Williams
Amen.
3 - alpha
In our travels in the South, there have been Miami and New Orleans. New Orleans was fun - the street party on Bourbon and great food. Andrew Jackson won it for us in 1825 (I think). I hope we don't lose it to a "meteorological event". Good luck to the poeple for whom it is home.
4 - augrad
I, too, am saddened by all this. New Orleans is my favorite place on earth, and we go there alot (or used to). I live 3 hours away (Pensacola) and my family takes a road trip there about once a quarter. We were considering buying a condo on St. Peter st. in the Quarter, but I guess it'a a good thing we didn't, now. We never once have felt unsafe (even at 2:00 in the morning) walking down the street. Now, it seems like a third world country with all the idiots shooting at the very people who are trying to take them to safety. That is not the NOLA that I know. I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around that type of mentality. I just don't understand it.