Hurricane Ida

First off I will say that hurricane Ida was bad. Very bad. It is tied with the1856 Last Island and Laura hurricanes for the most powerful storm to make landfall in Louisiana. It is on par with Katrina as the most powerful storm to impact New Orleans. Because of the levee failure and flooding, Katrina was worse but the wind and rain of Ida were more destructive. The Mississippi River flowed backwards because of storm surge pushing in.

I do have to vent that the national news went for high drama and used the worst projections possible in every instance. Rain of 8-12 inches, isolated areas up to 20, became: National weather service predicts rain of up to 20″. Evacuations of those outside the levee protection systems, translated to: mandatory evacuations ordered through out the state. In the CNN live shot above, the reporter showed the river and then turned the camera to the French Quarter pointing out Jackson Square, the Cathedral, and Cafe du Monde—ignoring the flood wall dominating the middle of the shot.

The wind started in the early afternoon, followed by rain. The power went out around 3PM. As the rain and driving wind picked up water began to intrude in the house. Within a few hours we were constantly emptying buckets. Sometime after dark our roof began to fail. We could see the metal sheeting ripple and lift with each gust. Later we entered the stairs to our third story and instantly knew that a wind had been broken. A gush of wind pressure hit us in the face. Glass was everywhere and the wind and water were rushing in. The attic access was slamming up and down with the changes of internal pressure. We moved what we could away from the compromised window and shut the door.

The water flowing down our interior walls increased. We must have emptied fifty gallons from our shop vac before finally running out of batteries to run it.

We had moved our camper to the driveway ahead of the storm. Once the rain and wind subsided, we hooked up the generator and relocated. This would be our more-or-less comfortable home for the next few days.

What does one do when waiting out the storm and before the water gets too bad? Well if you have Mod Podge, you make a storm candle. Here featuring your local weather legend Margaret Orr and one of her favorite weather prediction summaries. During the storm coverage, she joked about having heard that people play a drinking game with some of the often repeated phrases.