When angry sea storms billow and rage

The tropical storm Ida pounding into the Alabama and Mississippi Coast tonight, reminds me of a little more that a year ago when Gustav was bearing down and we decided to head to the Alabama coast to ride out the storm.   We learned that these systems are so big they make life miserable a long way from land fall -- especially on the coast.   

My sister and her husband rented a condo on Perdido Key on the Alabama coast line where we all watched the anrgy sees and agitated winds pound the coast line.  Our power went out the first night and the condo grumbled and moaned through the night.  Just crossing the street was strenous, and any attempt to attack the beach was beaten back with spray of salt, water, sand, wind and whatever could be loosed from the earth.



--steve buser

Hurricanes' leftovers being ground away

Some of the aftermath of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav showed up in large piles of fermenting mulching on the parking lot for the New Orleans Zephyrs baseball field.

SRS, the contractor for Jefferson Parish, was using this 80-tons-per-hour chipper to shoot the resulting mulch into about fifty 20-foot piles on the parking lot. It was one of three sites in the parish and one of dozens around the region, trying to eliminate the trash problems.

Fermenting? You didn't really notice it until you got close to the pile, but the smell was that sharp, sweet smell of fermenting biomass. The foreman at the site noted that the piles were being hauled away and would only be there a few days, eliminating the need to keep turning the piles.

And soon, evidence of the two storms, which only had a passing glance of a blow on the New Orleans area.

--steve buser

Hurricanes Ike and Gustav show what we depend on

I made a quick trip over to Beaumont, TX this week to check on my son, Shawn, who had a tree through his roof from Hurricane Ike. This sign reminded me of our return from Hurricane Gustav a few weeks ago. Staple were hard to come by. I remember going into the local grocery store to pickup bread, milk and eggs. There were no eggs. I got the second to last loaf of bread. I had to settle for whole milk, the only kind they had.

It is after disasters like this, that we learn how we depended on businesses and government to provide us with a comfortable way of life. Things can change dramatically in just a few hours.

Oh, by the way, things in Beaumont seemed to be getting back to normal quickly.

-- steve buser

Venetian Isles -- living on water in New Orleans

As we were flying in on the airplane to New Orleans, this was the view down at Venetian Isles, a waterfront subdivision in New Orleans East. The subdivisions with canals up to each block, took on a lot of water from Katrina ( The eye passed right by this area) and in Gustav and Ike which pushed water up from the Gulf.

On the right, is the pass from Lake Pontchartrain into Lake Catherine and eventually to the Gulf.

-- steve buser

The bustling business of hurricane readiness

This picture was on the morning before we were heading out of town in the face of Hurricane Gustav. I was walking over to the coffee shop for a morning refresher. The Home Depot was just opening. These carts were lined all over the parking lot. It had obviously been a very busy night and apparently they didn't have enough help left to bring them in. I would think HD sold a lot of plywood and other hurricane supplies as people boarded up to get out of town.

We have survived unscathed a glancing blows by two hurricanes in the past few weeks. Now things are back settling down.


- steve buser

Fly it high, guys

A bucket truck in to repair the damages from Hurricane Gustav (the one before Hurricane Ike) passed me by on the street the other day and I caught a glimpse of this. Old Glory proudly flying on the back with the bucket.

And why not. These guys have a lot to be proud of -- when a city of nearly 300,000 goes totally dark from a Hurricane and you can bring it back up in just a little more than a week, I think you deserve to be proud.

Of course, we all get a little ansy when it is our house that still doesn't have power. Personally, I get a good feeling when I see these guys working.

Just think, they will no sooner throw the last switch on the Hurricane Gustav damage than they will have to head off rebuild what Hurricane Ike has done.

Fly it High, guys.

-steve buser

Situation returning to normal

I think this sign refers to the after-Gustav settling in. Don't worry, things are returning to normal. In most of the area curfews have been lifted, power is back on and life returns to the way it was. That of course is not true of the parishes close to the Gulf of Mexico that took the direct hit --they still have a lot of "digging out" to do post Hurricane Gustav.

It now looks like Hurricane Ike has decided to strike the Texas coast line -- guess he wants some place that has already been knocked down.

Check Hurricane Ike's progress at I Do Not Like Ike

--steve buser

Gustav evacuees return to Ike fears

I never used someone else's photo on this site before, but I thought this photo caught the feeling of what is going on in New Orleans. This is a FEMA photo by Barry Bahler. I used it on my new site IDoNotLikeIke where I am keeping up with the storm and trying to document somewhat the feeling that an approaching storm brings to residents in along the Gulf of Mexico. (take a look -- frequent updates)

The evacuees assisted by the cities, state and feds ae returning to the area by bus, train and plane. Most schools are opening back up today except in some parishes closer to the Gulf.
Power for Entergy, the largest provider of electricity in the region is more than 80% restored by an army of 14,000 workers from 24 states. Here's a excerpt from an Entergy presentation that shows how fast the power was restored in the New Orleans area.

Disaster relief programs are just getting into full gear. Meanwhile the eye on Ike continues.

--steve buser

Going home -- the continuing saga of Hurricane Gustav

We were debating when was the best time to start the trek back to New Orleans from our Hurricane Gustav Evacuation to Florida. Linda learned her parents were heading back to Mandeville because of the conditions in Alexandria, La where they had holed up from the storm, only to find it followed them. They told tales of tornadoes and a hotel without power. So on the road we were, leaving Perdido Key to the pelicans and other regulars who were showing back up.

We decided to try to meet them at their house to make sure things were okay. They weren't. The place looked normal and there was no damage, but there was also no power. That was not going to be tolerable for anyone for long in that stifling "after-the-hurricane" heat. Linda's dad is 87 and on oxygen so we needed better conditions.

We borrowed a generator from a friend, opened old wooden windows that hadn't be raised in years. Then we hooked up a big fan and try to blow air through the house. It worked somewhat, and got some that "closed-up-house" feeling out.

Her brother Danny showed up with a small window air conditioning unit a few minutes later and as darkness was stealing the light, the new appliance was shoved in the window and a cool, but not cold breeze poured out of it.

We decided we couldn't leave them alone. The unit could barely keep one room cool, so we all bunkered down in the living room (Linda, me, her parents, her mom's friend Ruth and Linda's sister Karen) on sofas, recliners, mattresses and what-have-you. We draped sheets over the open doorways to keep the cool contained.

All went well till this morning when Linda's dad got up to use the restroom. On the way back he slipped in the hall and split his head open. Off to the hospital with him we went. Probably a concussion.

It makes you realize how we depend on all the comforts that keep our society going. It also reinforces that warning that cities after hurricanes are filled with hidden dangers.

Hopefully power will be back up soon.

Gustav, goodby and good riddance.


--steve buser

Hurricane Gustav: Weather to go home?

The guys with the big bills were back yesterday as the offshore winds started subsiding a little bit. Still strong, the winds were apparently down to a pace that the pelicans didn't feel as threatened. They were enjoying soaring on the winds over the beach. Several of the pelicans were sitting on the poles in the bay behind us on Perdido Key, so I wander over for a few shots.

The clouds are still rolling across the beach and off to northwest to feed a dying Gustav. We are listening and watching the news trying to find out if it is safe to venture back to New Orleans and what the traffic will be like. Cells phones are hard to communicate by -- "All circuits are full at this time." Everybody must be checking in.

--steve buser

Riding out Huricane Gustav

Riding out the storm can be done in style, as this young man shows in Perdido Key, Florida, where we were holed up, in windy and sometimes tropical storm conditions.

It looks as if we will not be able to go back to New Orleans until Thursday or Friday. They have to make the streets safe from the ravages of Hurricane Gustav. Meanwhile, our cabin-fever has become acute, so we are driving up and down the beach road.

--steve buser

A way out of town

Linda and I made it out of town and to "safety" in Florida leaving our place yesterday at 3 p.m.. This is the intersection where we took leave of the I-10. To say the traffic was at a crawl, would be an exageration. So we took out bets on a backroad -- heading out Highway 90. It took us 3 hours to get out of New Orleans to the Slidell area.

We finally pulled into our Florida destination ad 12:30 a.m., feeling lucky we left when we did.
More details from on the road later. Let me catch some sleep.

--steve buser

Goodbye Gustav lines form

This is the scene this morning at the staging area in Jefferson Parish to evacuate person without tranportation as Gustav approaches the region

The second picture is at the evacuation staging area in New Orleans in front of the Union Terminal Station -- people waiting in line to catch an evacuation train to Memphis. This too is for people without tranporation out of the city.

The reidents were picked up in their neighborhoods and bussed to the Union Terminal. A long line formed a everyone was processed (getting names and address etc. so that relatives can find them). The long line of buses down several blocks held the incoming groups -- keeping them in the air conditioning until it was time for them to get in line. That kept their time in blazing sun to a minimum.

Gustav continue to keep his eye on the Louisiana coast line, according to weather forecasters.


--steve buser

City of New Orleans Evacuation Plan

Southeast LA Evacuation guide and map

Keep track of Hurricane Gustav

I thought that if you are visiting this site today you want more information on Hurricane Gustav and what is going on in the New Orleans area

If you want the "right now" data on Hurricane Gustav down off the coast of Cuba, the NOAA has a buoy down there near the pass between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula. Click here to watch the winds, air pressure and temperature there.

To get a list of other links, look on the right hand side of this page at the very top. Click there to see a page of links.

On the list, click on "weather" and you will have a smorgasbord to choose from including satellite image and more.

I will do a few more posts today.

--steve buser