We made it to Jenny & Herb’s house in Tuscaloosa yesterday morning and had a chilled-out Labor Day. Their kids Marlon and Leroy seem to love Persephone, especially Leroy (4), who regaled us with many tales of, “When I was a baby.” We had a nice tour of the downtown area and campus.
No cable TV here, but I kept apprised of Gustav via internet. (Twitter has been invaluable. If only we’d had that service during Katrina.) The good news is New Orleans seems to have been spared catastrophic damage. A full assessment should come to light today. Some other areas of Louisiana seem to have fared worse, but I’m still not sure which places took the worst hits.
The bad news is we can’t go straight back home. They’re not allowing people back in to the city today (Tuesday). Maybe tomorrow (Wednesday). But we probably lost power, and I don’t think it makes sense for us to go back until power is restored, and I have no idea how long that might take. Given the lack of severe damage, people will be pissed if they’re not allowed back soon. In fact it could discourage evacuations for future storms (like Ike, maybe).
We are eager to return and check on our property. Is our roof intact? Did anyone break in to our house? We likely need to clean out our fridge and freezer. But we’ll wait until we get the official all-clear. No sneaking in like Michael and I did last time.
Xy got a call last night saying that unless she heard otherwise, school would be back in session Wednesday. I don’t think so!
PS: Official estimates are that two million of us evacuated for Gustav.
Update: Michael reports our porch light is on. So we have power, though most of the city does not. Wonder if we ever lost it? Xy’s frozen breast milk stockpile may be safe. Here’s hoping. Pretty happy about this news.
Any way to check if your power is out, like calling your own house and seeing if an answering machine is still on-line?
Jon, we never got a landline back after Katrina, much less an answering machine. But just got a tweet from Mike confirming our porch light is on. A big woohoo moment.
I was glad to see your twitter updates B, Rachel and I have been talking and thinking about New Orleans, hoping for the best.
My only question is about the industrial canal. Have you seen the video showing the water coming over it? It makes me wonder what would happen if NO took a direct hit from a cat3 storm.
Anyways, peace to you and your family.
Please keep the updates coming – been thinking much of you, Xy and P these days.
hooray for porch lights!
Glad to hear the good news….Tell Jenny and Herb and the kids howdy, I haven’t talked to Jenny in years. Tuscaloosa? Wow, is anyone left in Bloomington anymore?
you should hit us up if you are driving back near nashville – we have lots of room and I know jer would love to see you and Kristi.
Hey B, I’m sure your booked while in Btown, but if you have some “free” time, we should meet finally!
Let me know what you think, if you have the time.