There is a natural disaster (well, maybe) to watch. Hurricane Ida is taking aim at New Orleans. Mayor LaToya Cantrell calls for voluntary evacuations inside levee system as Ida threatens
At least there is some sanity coming out of a politician in a big city, though it isn't hard to see that you should get the hell out of Dodge New Orleans
Hurricane Ida is forecast to hit New Orleans on the anniversary of the landfall of Katrina. Which actually made landfall in Mississippi, not Louisiana. But still. It is forecast to be a category 3 hurricane on Sunday. Katrina was a category 5, but just before it made landfall, it dropped to a cat 4.
“If you have medical needs or wish to voluntarily evacuate on your own, now is the time to start,” Cantrell said, noting that the situation was "very fluid" and additional information would be forthcoming.
Mayor Cantrell said that Friday. So props to her for doing something. (Do you remember Hurricane Harvey, in Houston?) But people won't leave. It's too hard to leave. And so we will probably have a repeat of Harvey; let's hope it's not a repeat of Katrina.
Personally I think people are insane for living in conditions like you find in NOLA. But people called me crazy for sailing a small boat out of sight of land. So, to each his own.
But one thing you can be sure of, is that if things go pear-shaped, and you find youself in deep yogurt, expecting the .gov to save your ass is a losing proposition.
For info on the storm, you can use the following official, and unofficial links.
- National Hurricane Center of NOAA: for official predictions, charts, etc.
- Mike's Weather Page: for a collection of other links with cool data
- NASA's GOES Satellite Imagery: The cool videos you see on the news
The current imagery from GOES-16 shows a clear strengthening of the storm as it passes over the warm water of the Gulf a Mexico. If I lived in New Orleans, or anywhere along that part of the coast I would be leaving. (Or have already left.)
Took daughter from Gulfport, MS to the New Orleans airport Saturday. I-10 was heavy traffic from 20 miles inside Mississippi all the way into New Orleans. The causeway, about 26 miles, to the north shore of the lake was very slow with heavy traffic. I-59 north bound had heavy slow traffic. Took east bound back roads once we were back in Mississippi. Daughters flight was scheduled for 1430 departure, she didn't board until almost 1700.
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