Hurricane Gustav Before House Photo
Friends:
Here we are on the 3rd Anniversary of Katrina, preparing to evacuate from Hurricane Gustav. My husband, Antonio, works for LSU Health Sciences Center (medical center) in downtown New Orleans. He is considered essential personnel until they release him. We are unable to evacuate until he is released.
I am busy packing and securing the house. Our oldest daughter, Soleil (18), is a student at LSU in Baton Rouge. She left on Thursday to visit her boyfriend in Houston so she is in Texas right now. LSU is closed on Tuesday in light of the storm.
My youngest daughter, Eliana (8), is in third grade. Her school is closed Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Everyone on the Gulf Coast is taking this hurricane very seriously. Local, state, and federal government officials are working together to institute as smooth an evacuation as possible. Right now, Gustav has not yet entered the Gulf of Mexico so his path is still uncertain. They cannot pinpoint an exact landfall at this time. So that kind of leaves us in limbo. We don’t know whether to head east or west.
Our TVs are glued to local news, monitoring latest developments and waiting for voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders to be issued. Of course, my phone is ringing off the hook (and emails are flowing in) with people wondering what our plans are.
My brother is a police officer with Louisiana Medical Center (formerly Charity Hospital of New Orleans). He is emergency personnel and cannot leave. His four children (Jourdan (10), Camrynn (9), Ashlynn (7), and Jasmynn (6)) will be evacuating with my mom and stepdad. We plan on caravanning together to evacuate Louisiana. We will keep in touch with each other via 2 way radios if our cell phones stop working. I also have a GPS, which should help map out alternate routes if the evacuation routes are clogged. I just don’t want to spend 17-24 hours on the road! Ugh!
Contraflow (when traffic for the region is all outgoing) will be instituted for Orleans and Jefferson Parish Saturday night or Sunday morning. We want to try to get out before a mandatory evacuation order is issued. The news is predicting, as of this moment, that Gustav will make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. If it lands anywhere near where we live, that would be disastrous.
My hope is that we will evacuate and be able to return after a few days with no damage to our home. It’s hard to think that another Katrina-type scenario could happen.
I have packed up all my CD masters and book files, as well as essential office files. I am bringing more than I did for Katrina in the event we will be displaced for a while. We are elevating important items in the event our home floods. I have also packed our important documents – mortgage and insurance information, vital records, and photos.
You can keep up with me via this blog as well as Twitter (storyconnection). My webmaster, Heidi, will be putting important updates on the front page of my website. Please pray for all Gulf Coast residents…
My family and I appreciate your concerns and well wishes. Thank you so much!
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Saying prayers right now.
Dianne and family
My family’s hearts are with you. So glad to hear you are going to a safe place.
Best,
Pam
Hello,
My family lives the Birmingham area of Alabama. My husband and son are in the area around Thibodaux and Amite La working to restore power. My son works for Alabama Power and my husband is retired from there and now works with Utility Lines Construction who contracts work from Alabama Power. They take great pride in being able to come help when they are needed. At this time my son lives behind a wife with 2 small sons, one is just 8 weeks old and his other son will have his birthday in a couple of weeks and we hope he is home for this celebration. As he was heavy hearted to leave his family, he also has a heart to help others in need. We pray that life will get back to normal for all of those affected by this hurricane. Because we want our family to return to us as soon as able.
I just wanted you to know that people do care. Our prayers are with you and your family… I wish you well… God Bless You!
Your daughters dorm room looks AMAZING! I love it. I’m from Denham Springs Louisiana and would love to know where I could get the zebra pillows and that large picture of Marilyn Monroe that hangs over her computer desk… it looks like its made of rhinestones or something. Please let me know! Thank you so much! You can e-mail me here pinkberry141@aol.com
Thank You Thank You Thank You!
Dianne thank you for coming in once again to our school Catherine Strehle … I am an employee there as well as the mother of Jordan from Ms. Glass class, thank you so much for the wonderful compliment that you gave my son I really appreciate it.
Hope to see you soon Contrina