Hurricane Katrina Pictures » Waiting for the power to go out

Waiting for the power to go out

It’s 11:40 p.m. local time here in Baton Rouge, LA. We’re already getting some squalls from the outer bands of Gustav. It rains for a little while then stops.

I just checked the Weather Underground Tropical Weather page and Gustav is in cooler water (85 F vs. 90 F) than it was earlier. That may slow it down just a little and cause it to be a bit less organized. It’s still a category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speed of 115 mph, gusting to 140 mph. The pressure has dropped from 968 mb to 954 mb which has us all concerned that Gustav may strengthen before it makes landfall at about 8 a.m. tomorrow morning (Sept. 1).

On his current path, Gustav will be on the west side of New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Both cities will be hammered by hurricane force winds and rain, and the eye wall may be close enough to New Orleans for the north side to hit the city directly. The eye wall is where the majority of damage and storm surge occur. It’s the strongest, most organized part of the storm and carries the most water.

Being on the east side of a hurricane is worse than being on the west side. The east side has more wind and rain, and causes more damage because the storm is turning in a counterclockwise direction and bringing water up from the Gulf of Mexico as it turns around the eye of the storm. On the west side of the storm, a lot of that wind and water has already been used up on the east side so the west side doesn’t get as much. Being on the east side also means hotter and more humid weather after the storm, so living without air conditioning and electricity is more miserable. If you are on the west side of the storm, the post storm weather tends to be sunny, drier and slightly breezy. It’s still hot but not nearly as humid and miserable.

I’ll write about how Gustav compares to Katrina and Rita after the storm is over and I can get back on the internet. All I can say right now is everyone has been taking this storm extremely seriously all week and we all started preparing as early as Wednesday when Governor Bobby Jindal and Secretary Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security started broadcasting on the local radio and TV stations. They announced all the mandatory evacuation plans Thursday and hospitals and nursing homes were all evacuated as of yesterday afternoon.

If you’re inclined to do so, please say a prayer for us that the storm isn’t as bad as we think it will be.

Thanks, and if you’re within the hurricane warning zone, take care and be safe.
Sherri

See more pictures in the Hurricane Katrina Picture Book by Jeffery Morgan

Read Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne.

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