I typed this Monday, Sept. 1, part in the morning, the rest that night after I got some power! I didn't get a chance to post b/c... well you know why! Keep reading for details - it's crazy!
Part 4 - When I left off last night, I was so tired from my super long day! I rested really well, but I woke up at 4:30am, then every hour after that until the power went out at 8:06. I was basically awake but just lying there; of course I popped up for sure then LOL! The power was only out for about 10 minutes but trust me, it wouldn't be the last time! The weather wasn't bad then, just light showers & mild wind gusts, so I couldn't figure why they cut the power then, but that how it goes around here! At any rate, I got up, ate pancakes & bacon then watched TV until the power went out for the second time. It was out about 30 minutes this time. OH - last nigh I forgot to mention that not only are we under a hurricane warning, which basically means that we should expect winds over 70 mph, but we're also under a tornado watch... GREAT!!!!!!! I also forgot to mention that we had a 10pm curfew last night & the national guard was enforcing it!!!!!!!!
While the power was out & I was bored, I opened the door to see what was going on outside. I could hear the wind blowing pretty hard now & the rain was coming down more, too. When I opened the door, I noticed my neigbor's chimney had blown down... the bad part about that is, the hurricane is about 140 miles away from us right now & it's been downgraded to a category 2 storm. The weather isn't as bad as it will probably be later today or tonight & his chimney is gone. Our street sign also blew away, but my other neighbor chased it down & put it in his garage until this is over!
While looking outside, I noticed that the stupid sandbags I put in down at my front door, weren't preventing all the water from seeping through! So of course, I gotta' go out there in ALL THAT WIND & RAIN, to rearrange bags!!!!!!!! I put on my poncho, securingly it tightly, and parade through my kitchen door, under the carport to the front of the house. I started moving bags around & noticed two bags on the bottom layer had a small opening that allowed water to come through. I fixed the bags & ran back inside. I watched the trees blow & remembered my camera, so I went to put batteries in it so I could post a video or some pictures of the "goings-on" but then I got sidetracked & forgot LOL!
[INTERRUPTION: I can hear tree limbs/branches hitting the top of the house. I'm sitting in my room & the trees are blowing something fierce. Remember, we are only getting weather from the outer bands of the storm!! It's still about 140 miles away! Back to my regularly scheduled program!]
About 20 minutes later, I decided to check the front door again to make sure the sandbags were "working" this time. Of course, they were not!!!!!!!! There's still frickin' water coming under my damn glass door - GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! SO NOW, I GOTTA GO BACK OUTSIDE & REARRANGE ALL THE BAGS - do you detect the frustration in my "voice" LOL!!! So I gear up, go back outside, throw all the bags to the sidewalk & re-situate ALL of them. The rain was coming down much harder & the wind was worst this time around! I got soaked, not to mention the wind almost blew me away (I ain't very big)!!! I noticed my neighbor & his brother-in-law were on his roof trying to board up the area where the chimney blew from. Since I was so wet, I decided I might as well stay out there, so I grabbed the camera again. I narrating my recording so everyone could get a first hand look at what we're living right now & guess what??????????? MY MEMORY CARD WAS FULL & THE RECORDING STOPPED!!!!!!!!!! I'll be a monkey's uncle!!!!!!! I quit!!!! I came in, deleted some stuff from the camera then I got sidetracked & forgot LOL! I plopped down on the sofa & watched the rain blow across the street. I was wet, but I was cool so I didn't change my clothes. But then the power came back!!! Thank GOD, but then I got cold, so I changed my clothes. I probably should have changed them before I did now my throat is itchy & LORD knows I do NOT need to get sick!!!
So here I am, at 12:45pm and the power is out... AGAIN!!!!!!! It's been out for about 45 minutes & counting. My network is down so I'm typing in Word right now so I can save this to post later. I have about 48% battery life left on my laptop, so I'm gonna' turn this thing off so I can at least play games later if there's no power. So, while I'm bored to pieces, I'll go stand under the carport, try not to get too wet this time & video/take pics of this mess [trust me when I say it's a mess, now... It's getting worse as the minutes roll by] & hopefully I can post this & the next part with audio/visual effects LOL!!! Until next time, be breezy!!!!!!!!
Part 5 - Ok Hurricane Gustav, which, as of 10pm, was downgraded to a tropical storm is about 65 miles away from Baton Rouge. I finally got some power via generator! They tell us it could be days or even weeks before some people get power. This storm has been the worst in Baton Rouge history, surpassing what we saw with Katrina & even Andrew! We had wind gusts of up to 85 miles per hour & rainfall of up to 15"!!! Schools in our area are closed until further notice because they are all being used as shelters. We've had a curfew since about 6pm this evening. Police were passing by with loudspeakers threatening to take anyone out walking or driving to jail! I forgot to mention this morning that the levees in New Orleans & surrounding areas could possibly be breached. When I watched the news this morning, the water was surging OVER the newly reconstructed levees. Please keep those people in your prayers because it was looking pretty bad there again (although I did here that with the water going over would take some pressure off the levee & could possibly prevent a breach). Reportedly, there have been 5 deaths in our area - God help us all.
The power has been out since about noon or close to it. It hasn't been too hot because I got wet like 5 times & the wind was crazy! Once the rain stopped, I was able to go out & hang out with the neighbors for about 30 minutes. The wind was still mad crazy, but it was managable! I took pictures of the damage at that time. I haven't been able to log on or type my thoughts all day because I still don't have power. So much has happened since this morning, so I can't give a minute by minute account, but let me tell you that it's been hectic! I cleared the memory card in my camera & was trying to video the storm but it was just too bad to get out there. I was trying to hold the door to keep from getting wet & the wind blew so hard at one point that my finger was slammed in the door! A little while later I thought it was getting a little better & the next thing I know, I'm having to run back to the house because the wind started blowing so hard that I couldn't stand up!
I have pictures of lots of damage. There are three trees down in my yard: one tree split in half (more like 2/3 of the tree is gone)! It broke my neighbor's fence & fell on her carport. The other part of the tree fell on my house! My satellite is laying on the ground & so is parts of my roof (not a major part - THANK GOD - NO leaks or anything)! The pecan tree in my back yard lost half the branches; there are pics of that too. The tree next to my carport lost lots of branches as well. I mentioned in Part 4 that my other neighbor was on the roof fixing a hole left by his chimney... well, he actually had to fix two holes because he lost both chimneys on the house. The lady that lives next door to him lost her entire tin roof!!!!!! Her whole family was in there but they were able to run to their neighbors for shelter! Pieces of tin flew all over the neigborhood! Most of it's in my yard LOL! A piece was wrapped around a tree & there is a piece in the street a little piece down. A neighbor down the street has a tree on her house and a power line leaning out in the street. Across the street from the house without a roof, there is a down pole (not sure if it's phone or power - probably power because we have phone service) & a tree! Around the corner is a house that basically just caved in... two actually. The building across the street lost an awning that tumbled as far two streets over! Part of it flew threw this man's window; thankfully he wasn't in that room when it happened! This is not something anyone could have planned for. We knew there was gonna' be damage but this is just... I'm speechless.
I'm gonna' watch the news for a little while and then I'm going to bed. I know that there are people praying for us because by the time the storm hit us, it was down to a cat 2 hurricane; that was about 9:30 this morning & now it has passed! It's quiet around here - no wind or rain. Solemn, actually to see complete darkness. The only thing you can hear for miles is the sound of generators working. Our neighborhood sustained lots of damage, but it can be replaced. Everyone is alive and well, so I thank you for your prayers & God for keeping us safe! My family is truly blessed tonight! We're not as comfortable as on a normal night, but we are blessed nonetheless!!!! If anything interesting happens, I'll try to followup but for now, good night and thanks for allowing me to share my adventure with you!
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