Friday, September 23, 2005

Which way will it go?

So where will Rita end up? I'm thinking it's heading for Louisiana again, and I'd be very surprised if it hit any farther west than Beaumont/Port Arthur. Levees or floodwalls in New Orleans have failed, been breached, overtopped, whatever - water is pouring into the 9th Ward again, and they're predicting 8-9 feet of water for the area. And Rita isn't even there yet!

K's sister is back home in Covington, where they're predicting tropical storm-force winds, and of course there's the risk of tornadoes spawned by the hurricane. My bio mom is in Lafayette, and doesn't plan to leave - I talked to her yesterday, and she said traffic was already so bad on the main route out of town that she wouldn't make it far enough to do any good. She's probably right, but still, it makes me nervous that she's staying. My dad is in central Louisiana, as are K's parents - there are predictions of some pretty serious weather for them, 10 to 15 inches of rain and 70-80 MPH winds. My dad doesn't think it will get that bad, so they're staying. If it rains 15 inches, the bayou behind his house may be *in* his house. We can't get in touch with K's parents - cell phone calls don't go through, and they don't answer at the house. We're hoping they headed north to stay with family, but we don't know. And we've got other family all in that area - Lafayette, Sulphur, Baton Rouge, New Orleans. So wherever it hits, someone we know will be affected.

It's really hard to keep my mind on work right now, but I know I need to. I'd better try to get something done. More later.

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