Hurricane Gustav

[wingdarkness]

Well about 3 years ago a little storm called Hurricane Katrina completely pwned my life...Since I've lived in New Orleans for almost all of my life I'm used to over-playing and underplaying hurricane impacts, and for the most part me and my family have avoided many a threat...But then came Katrina, which utterly pwned my life and my career at the time and forced me to live in the not-so-shabby city of Houston for about 17 months...

At the time of Katrina's destruction I was right at my computer chattin' it up with #animesuki members and forum-members who all thought I was insane for just sitting down...Now granted I was spooked and far too arrogant to admit it but again I've weathered so many of these things sometimes you feel like you can ride them all out...

Well when Hurricane Gustav came spinning thru with all the power of Juggernaut on steroids I refused to let this happen to me again...To hell with jumping over downed powerlines, and climbing past tree trunks in a scene that felt worst than Jurassic Park at the time...To hell with dodging looters and bypassing bums who hot-wired city buses for fun as they slammed them into adjacent buildings...This time I was gonna dip, and dip I did...

Sigh...Sometimes the irony is too thick to take, but I've just found out that while Gustav was still a pretty bad storm, it wasn't even close to Katrina's level and I've also found out that my home is pretty much no worse for the ware, and I'll probably have to be back at work sometime next week...The thing is, since I've evacuated I've had some of the $hittiest luck in recent memory and have been thru an experience that makes me feel like never leaving an impending hurricane again...

First off deciding to evacuate is expensive as hell...Getting gas, food, hotels, and the like will kill your pockets in such a small timeframe, and if that isn't bad enuff the traffic involved with leaving would make a tortoise blush...Secondly preparing your car for this kind of journey can be suspect at best sometimes...Then there is the hell of the hurricane itself when and if it appears while you're still apart of this lockjam...But I digress if only to get to my true story...

I left 3 days in advance and I have spent almost all the money I had put aside for important things I've been trying to accomplish all year...I drove from New Orleans to Hattiesburg, MS and something happened to my car that I just can't even explain...My true destination had been some family members in Atlanta, Georgia, but I've been stuck in MS for the last 3 days...2 of those days with me and my 23 year old cousin sleeping in my broke-a$$ car that couldn't even get looked at until today because yesterday was labor day in-addition to being a storm day...No hotel vacancies to speak of, no shelters to speak of and no businesses really open until today...

Tried to leave on Greyhound yesterday, only to find out the buses (which were confirmed to be coming) were canceled and I was placed in a police paddywagon as they sent me and my cuz to some church outta the movie Rosewood where we were suppose to stay...We called a taxi and got the hell outta there so fast that my car actually felt like a room at the Ritz...You really haven't lived until you get hit by an endless cycle of relentless pounding rain in a CVS parking-lot for 2 days...

I had to go into my health benefits package and take out money just to be able to tow my car back home, get a new rental, and finally get inside of hotel room for the first time today...I am humbled and I am defeated in alot of ways and suspect that the next time there is a hurricane I'm gonna ask for that bastard to give me all it's got...I'll take on the eye next time...I'm just so upset and so utterly vexed that I let the hype around this storm take control of my life...I left with a working car and a surplus of funds, and I'll return with almost nothing...So I guarantee you next time I will be that stupid guy that stays at home during the "storm of the century" (As our retarded mayor said as if he was atop Castle GraySkull with a sword of enlightenment)...This $hit has been something out of a bad movie and everything from my transmission virtually exploding to the one green bar of internet connection I'm getting from my Belkin wireless just to write this post has been an experience I would never wish on anyone...

[ApostleOfGod]

Real talk... Best regards to you and the other victims too.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Another Tropical Storm has been created. I should watch out for it since it just hit Haiti >.<

I live about 100+ miles from any shore line to the east side and about 200miles+ from the south side so I should be rather safe if this one goes Hurricane # 5 this season >.<

Best regard to you too, wingdarkness.

~Aoie

[Mystique]

Life is a bitch and irony is her sense of humour.

Glad your home and area wasn't too worse off for wear.
Frustration aside from having spent you time, energy and money for a storm that had eventually calmed down by the time it hit New Orleans, money can be remade and lost and remade, lives once lost are lost forever.
The Mayor telling you all to go at the time when the hurricane was in the gulf with the power it had, shouldn't be met with derision.
Alternative is for him to say 'it may not be so severe as katrina by the time it gets here, so hell, stay in your homes.

Life's sense of humour is irony.
Who knows, mother nature may have been on the game and that storm could have been worse and lives could have been lost or damage worse, if more people decided to stay,
It's a very very big risk to take, and with the haunting memories of 3 years ago, who'd wanna risk it again being stubborn and sticking outta pride.

I'm sorry your trip to Georgia didn't go well so the entire thing (plus mediocre storm) has left a bad bitter taste in your mouth and a few hundred (or more) dollars out of pocket, but you did what you could do at the time.

When round 3 arrives, taking into account how the storm has progress and what damage it cause in the Carribbean islands before it gets to you (but then it still can be unpredictable) and having seemingly experienced worst kinds of fate on both sides of the coin, perhaps you can find middle ground as to what to do that hopefully benefit you.

[Zoned87]

If I was you I would just get all the cash I would and take off in a motorcycle, find a cheap hotel somewhere up north to ride it out.

Get a water/fireproof safe for your house and put everything important in it... or maybe you could... move?

[solomon]

Well, I sympathyse with you pal. But I am glad that they really went all out on the evacuation, even if the storm wasn't as bad as Katrina.

Hopefully, NoLa will return from the ashes (most likely will sooner or later)

Sorry to say though, that I will avoid living in the Gulf Region like the plague now seems like too much of a hassle, not to mention too hot. (furthest south I'll go is Atlanta)

[TigerII]

I am in Arkansas, and we are getting flooding from Gustav.

[wingdarkness]

Thanks for the kind words...I wish I could have responded sooner...but this is the first time I've had internet access, since I wrote it...This $hit has been pretty bad though...That is no lie...

If I stayed home I'd have money and a car...Now I'm broke with a broke car...But I'll recover somehow...