Bostonians and Gustav
Dave and Marc were in New Orleans for the end-of-summer Southern Decadence celebration, decided to leave early, but their flight was canceled and then their hotel shut down:
I am not one to panic but this got me nervous...no flights, no hotel, and no car....what's a Bostonian to do? We decided to walk to the gay section of the French Quarter yesterday afternoon and oddly it was still busy, the bars were open and everyone was acting like nothing was happening. I was so puzzled at the sense of total denial by Decadence promoters and attendees alike but we decided to take action and I am glad we did as we got the last rental car in town and hopped in like Thelma and Louise and drove to Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi. It was a lovely 7 hour drive in bumper-to-bumper evacuation traffic but we arrived last night around 9 pm, checked into a Holiday Inn, and got online to plan our exit strategy. ...
Somerville resident and Mass. Emergency Management Agency employee Graham Campbell is now in Baton Rouge, where he's helping to staff the Louisiana state emergency operations center:
It's 5 AM. We landed at 7PM last night, came to the Louisiana State EOC for a quick briefing, and then I've been working here since then. My fleabag hotel will feel like the Ritz. I need a bed badly.
B.K. DeLong is organizing a Wiki site for relaying Gustav information.
Michael Page notes that Sean Kelly of Channel 5 flew to New Orleans and is now doing local reporting for a New Orleans TV station.
Some local Red Cross workers are now in Alabama.
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the news said that Gustav is
the news said that Gustav is double the size & strength of Katrina. I'm worried about it.
Hurricane parties
Folks in New Orleans have a long history of ignoring that a hurricane is bearing down on them and throwing parties instead. Folks all over the Gulf Coast, in fact, do this. It has always frustrated me.
they do that here too. I've
they do that here too.
I've heard about Gloria Parties & Bob parties.
The weather is changing, and these storms are nasty. They have to evacuate or get stranded or arrested.
Gloria and Bob
I remember Gloria and Bob, including standing out in the street with a bunch of neighbors waiting for one of them. They were nowhere near the strength of Gustav (or Katrina or Rita), and I don't recall any major evacuations in advance of them.
As I recall hearing, Gloria
As I recall hearing, Gloria is considered the strongest hurricane to hit the northeast coast.
Gloria: "More than 350,000 persons evacuated the low lying areas on Long Island, and in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and southeastern Massachusetts. The Hotels in Atlantic City closed down for the first and only time in their history."
OK, my memory is bad then
I guess it just wasn't considered strong enough in greater Boston for any evacuations.
Stronger than the Hurricane of '38?
The one for which you can still see high-water marks in RI towns (and, of course, the Providence hurricane wall)?
But as somebody who covered Gloria (drove around in the middle of it like a complete fool, of course, managed not to drive into or over any of the live wires down on Rte. 9), I dunno, didn't seem *that* bad up here, nothing approaching your basic Florida hurricane.
Clarification
Clarification.
The Long Island Express ('38) was actually a worse (cat 5) hurricane than Gloria (cat 4), and both came ashore in Long Island (Gloria as cat 2, LIE as cat 3).
The distinction being that 38 kept going north while Gloria followed the coast hitting the Atlantic coasts of MA, NH and ME, making it the worst hurricane on record to strike the northeast coast that far north. Sorry if what I wrote earlier led to any confusion.
I meant that the storms
I meant that the storms hitting the islands & NO are stronger, I doubt that there are hurricane parties after Katrina...if it can scare me in New England, I can't imagine what it's doing to the people there, but I'm sure they're not partying.
Don't be so sure.
Don't be so sure.
I guarantee there are
I guarantee there are parties going on.
Out of the frying pan...
You know, Biloxi was hammered hard in Katrina too. Why would you drive to the coast instead of inland if you're trying to flee a hurricane?