Blogger “Ernie the Attorney” tried to get out of New Orleans
but after 4 hours of driving I had only made it 15 miles. I was alone and tired so I decided the safe play was to return. It’s kind of sad when the ‘safe play’ is to go back and wait to be pounded by the gnashing fury of a Category 5 hurricane.
He’s intent on chronicling his experience on his blog, including photos from his camera phone as long as his connections hold out.
His current post says:
I almost certainly won’t have power soon (if the cellphone towers get hammered, which is pretty much a given). I probably won’t be able to post much to the web, but I have my paper journal. It never needs rebooting. So I’ve got that going for me.
He’s the blogger to keep track of for a terribly personal view of what seems to be building into a massive disaster.
As non-blogger myrln observed:
The potential worst-case scenario with the hurricane is too horrible to believe:
Given that New Orleans is a bowl below sea level, and given the plethora of petrochemical industry in and around the city, and given the likely storm surge of 20 feet, a state health official says they’re looking at the possibility of a “witches brew” of poisonous chemicals, petroleum, sewerage engulfing the city and a poisonous air flow above it. Imagine, he said, houses below the surface of that for some time to come. Asked for a guesstimate of the likelihood that tomorrow evening we might be looking at a New Orleans and saying, “We have lost a city,” he responded, “I’d say it’s 50/50.”
Of course, the moneyed class is already saying, “Yup, this’ll drive gas prices up even more.”
Fill your tanks tomorrow.