Wednesday, August 29th 12:30 AM
It's after midnight now. The power has been off since just before 9pm. I knew it would go eventually, I guess I'm just grateful that it lasted as long as it did. We've been sitting in the dining room with a few candles, snacking, drinking and listening to the radio... not much else to do at the moment. The storm is creeping slowly to the north west. It came ashore around 8pm in lower Plaquemines Parrish, but then jogged back out over water (Plaquemines is basically a peninsula that juts out into the gulf). The main part of Isaac is about 65 miles due south of New Orleans right now and moving at about 7mph, which is really slow... really, really slow.
The rain, the wind, the way the house shudders against strong gusts... it's a bit unnerving. Normally the house shudders when a large truck goes by on Rampart Street, but this is definitely different.
I popped out the front door a little while ago to check on our car which is parked right out front, and it was eerie. There are basically no lights anywhere. Luckily Rupert is safe and sound where we left him. The large apartment building across the street provides a good amount of shelter from the wind and rain, although the street is a bit flooded.
I have a feeling the radio is going to be our friend over the next 24-36 hours. It's comforting. I can now understand the stories I heard about Garland Robinett and his round the clock radio shifts during and after Katrina. The power is out, our computers are on battery power only, and our cell phones are dwindling down the more we use them. Battery powered radio is going to get us through. The occasional text message from a friend here in the city breaks up the monotony. It's nice to know we're all going through the same thing.
We're getting reports of higher winds from points all around the metro area. Gusts up to 107mph... that's not encouraging. The way the storm is tracking right now, as it moves to the west and north, the brunt of it's upper right quadrant winds will slam directly into the east side of New Orleans in the next 6 hours. That will bring storm surge up the Mississippi and whole lot of rain. The scary thing is the fact that it's moving so damned slowly. The longer it hangs over the area the more rain, possibly up to 2 feet of rain fall, count come down in the next day. The pumps may or may not handle that efficiently. I keep hearing this again and again: “This will be a good test of the new systems in place....”
Yeah, it will.
Now we just figure out how to keep food over the next two days until Entergy can get its crews out to repair the power grid. Isaac, we underestimated you. I think New Orleans is beginning to regret that.
And here come the rains again.
