a friend of mine has been living in New Orleans for a couple of years now, and has evacuated with most of the population. the follow is a note he sent through his best friend . . .

We're staying in Baton Rouge at the Tracy Center.
There are some folks from Catholic Charities who just rolled in and are getting things together.
When I left New Orleans last night, traffic to BR was OK.
During the night, I've heard it took some folks many, many hours to get anywhere to the East.
But the interstate looks to be flowing rather smoothly through here.
What I've seen on the news suggests all roads out of NOLA are clear or are becoming so.

This may have something to do with the fact that we've evacuated 95 percent of the population of the coastal parishes since I have no evidence to back that up but word of mouth and what I'm reading on the internet. Friday. The Times - Picayune is reporting 1.
1 million have now evacuated the coast to areas north of I-10 and I-12.
That is a very, very good thing.


Now the real waiting begins.

Waiting to see what friends
As if we haven't done enough of that already. Waiting for the storm to turn. and family are doing and where they are going. Waiting in traffic. Watching as the storm pummeled Haiti and Jamaica and Cuba and knowing what may be in store for us.
Wishing it would just go away and not hurt anyone else. Waiting in line at the grocery store.
Hoping it is not our turn.
Seeing the green and yellow rain bands coming into the Weather Channel's radar sweep, and waiting for them to start rolling
over our own zipcode. And the waiting is terrible.
Everything is closed in this part of Baton Rouge, so I don't have the distractionsof being out and about.


Not that any sane person would be out and about right now, but I like having the option.


I'd love to take a nap.
I'm exhausted and sore and didn't sleep well last night.
I've had that bitter taste of adrenaline in my mouth for about 18 hours now.
Or that may be the coffee and cigarettes mixing together because I forgot to brush my teeth before I went to bed last night. Whatever it is, I can't get rid of it.
I feel like I used to back in Athens after an all nighter.


Went to mass at noon. Prayed.

Once you're done petitioning the
Thanks to everyone out there praying for New Orleans and South Louisiana. Almighty, please remember that we've got a lot of evacuees out there. Some may have come your way.
Drop off a canned good or something at the local shelter.
I know you've got something in the cabinet you aren't going to eat. And some Crystal hot sauce.
Everything tastes better with a little hot sauce.



I've gotten so many texts and calls and voicemails today I feel like one of the cool kids. That reminds me, I need to charge the phone up. Power won't last too long once things really get going, so the phone and the computer will need to be charged.
Cell towers will probably be down for some hours, so if you call and don't hear back don't worry until Wednesday.


Yup. I'll try and be back later with updates.


p