Sixteen years after Hurricane Katrina pummeled New Orleans, we got pummeled again by Ida. Back in 2005, I wrote this blog post predicting that "massive change was coming" to the city.
That turned out to be true. Change came. And it was sudden, harrowing, and frightening.
Intense hurricanes are like that.
Waiting for the impact is scary, especially in the low lying areas near the coast.
Hurricane Ida hit the coast with sustained winds of 149 mph (i.e. a Category 4). That's severe.
The wind was extremely high everywhere and sent all kinds of objects flying, or skidding down the street. However, for the first time, I didn't experience any of this.
I missed this hurricane completely.
I had left town last Friday before the storm was projected to hit New Orleans. I had a road trip planned with my brother to visit Nashville and see my daughter, which I did. But then the storm took a bead, and the worrying started.
Mostly, I was worried about my wife Donna who was back home with her eighty-year-old parents. They were worried too because the storm was quite intense.
But Donna and her folks made it through the storm safe and sound, even though they were understandably frightened during the hours of intense high winds. Obviously many people endured serious damage.
Now, the hardest part is dealing with the aftermath. As in:
That turned out to be true. Change came. And it was sudden, harrowing, and frightening.
Intense hurricanes are like that.
Waiting for the impact is scary, especially in the low lying areas near the coast.
Hurricane Ida hit the coast with sustained winds of 149 mph (i.e. a Category 4). That's severe.
The wind was extremely high everywhere and sent all kinds of objects flying, or skidding down the street. However, for the first time, I didn't experience any of this.
I missed this hurricane completely.
I had left town last Friday before the storm was projected to hit New Orleans. I had a road trip planned with my brother to visit Nashville and see my daughter, which I did. But then the storm took a bead, and the worrying started.
Mostly, I was worried about my wife Donna who was back home with her eighty-year-old parents. They were worried too because the storm was quite intense.
But Donna and her folks made it through the storm safe and sound, even though they were understandably frightened during the hours of intense high winds. Obviously many people endured serious damage.
Now, the hardest part is dealing with the aftermath. As in:
- Flooding
- Levee breaches
- Roof damage
- Toppled power transmission lines
- Cellphone outages
- 911 service outages
- Drinking water outages
- Maybe even regular mail outages
The good news is that, as with Katrina, generous people offer all kinds of help. Seeing people help each other, and make sacrifices to do so is reassuring and inspiring.
Sometimes you make amazing new friends. The aftermath is different than the onslaught. And so now...
People understandably want to find out what's going on in New Orleans.
My recommendation is to use a tool like Twitter and follow people who are "boots on the ground," because that's where most of the best information can be found.
If you want to see what a curated Twitter list looks like, here's the one I set up for Hurricane Ida. I'll keep adding useful sources as I come across them. So that's something you can make use of, hopefully.
Also, think about what this wise person says, "Life's about change. How we face it is a choice."
During Katrina's aftermath, I noticed that some people made better choices about how to face the devasting changes. And they came out better than those who didn't.
Not everyone finds it easy to make the better choice. But it's possible, and everyone should at least strive in that direction.
If you need encouragement and support finding the right mindset/approach check this out.
Also, keep an eye out for all the good people out there. There are many good samaritans among us, maybe more than we notice during the good times.
;-)