Most students are back to class.  I know this because I almost got hit by three cars while on my bike.  Class is full of students, but distracted students.  Laptops on desks are mini-weather centers watching Ike.  Most projections have it going west into Texas or Mexico.  I say that with a lot of relief, though my relief is tempered by the realization that it’s going to hit someone.  How selfish is it to think, “Thank God it’s not going to happen to me.”? 

Power is still out in a lot of places, particularly traffic lights.  It took a friend two hours yesterday to commute home across town when the commute normally takes 20-30 minutes in dense traffic.  Some friends on Carlotta street (near campus) still without power and others have had their power go out after getting it for a few days. 

The curfew is still in effect (10 P.M.).  Grocery stores close at 8 so their employees can clean up the store and leave by 9.  Gas is cheap relative to the few weeks before Gustav ($3.55 vs $3.99/gal) and everyone is filling their tanks.  So it’s only sorta back to normal. 

I’ll blog for a few more days.  Hopefully I can post my stories about my regulars in the PMAC soon.  Thanks for reading.

A little older, but not much wiser,

~David

~ Pres. G.W. Bush in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina to Michael Brown, then FEMA director, 10 days before Brown left the office due to mismanagement of the agency.  ~

 Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency for Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ike.  This is a bureaucratic maneuver to free up resources in the event of an emergency.  I’ve read the actual letter written by Jindal to the President ( found here ) and the declaration of the state of emergency (found here ), but the jargon is too dense for me to figure out.  The best I can glean is that it allows access to federal resources (money, manpower, etc.) during the storm.  Jindal, and the rest of Louisiana, has been critcial of FEMA because of recent shortages of supplies.  FEMA promises to better for Ike.  Hm, heard that one before.  This is a segue into a quick rant about the inability of the federal government to manage itself.  Power company trucks from as far away as Arizona and Connecticut have been spotted and about half of the city is back up.  An impressive feat and done as a private company and not mismanaged by the federal government.  So the question is, how much of a difference does it make to declare a state of emergency to access to mismanaged federal supplies?

The answer is that it does make a difference.  Millions of dollars and meals are made available, but the frustration stems from promises that aren’t fulfilled.  There is also an issue of people doing for themselves, to be more self-reliant, but sometimes a person (or millions of them) need help.

This time last week I was preparing for a hurricane.  Today I prepare to go back to work.  Hopefully it turns out to be a good week.

I’ve posted more pics from around town here

Many who fled New Orleans for Gustav say they won’t leave for Ike because Gustav didn’t hit them hard.  Before you jump to judge these people as stupidly complacent, consider some of the following.   Sitting in traffic for four hours only to travel less than 100 miles and possibly turn around.  Travelling for eight hours and not being able to find a place to stay.  Leaving behind your family, your pets, your city to sit in an expensive hotel room.  Then travel back after spending all that money on travel, food, housing, and not to mention all the money lost from not working on top of any money you may have lost in property damage.  Some people cannot physically leave due to disabilities, lack of money and/or a car.  Fleeing your house during a housefire is easy because the danger is immediate and death is certain.  But when a known danger is slow moving, we have mixed reactions.  People in the path of a forest fire will stand in front of a wall of flames with a garden house.  Sometimes here in the Coastal South it’s easier to face a wall of wind with a candle and a bathtub full of water than to give up our livelihoods.  Before you say, ”but giving up your livelihood is better than giving up your life” consider what you would do.  I mean really think about it and don’t armchair quarterback the situation.         

Last night I went to Pluckers with some friends.  We all just wanted to get out of the house.  We showed up at 7:50 and all restaurants (I think I’ve been misspelling ’restaurant.’  What a stupid way to spell a word.  I hate French words with all their vowels in weird places) stop taking orders at 8 P.M. so they can close by 9 P.M. so their employess can get home by 10 P.M. (the BR curfew).  We were the last ones to get our orders in, orders that were selected from a very limited menu.  It was a calm Friday night as everyone went home or to some air conditioning somewhere by 9:30.  About 1/2 of my friends have power.  A couple of friends are sleeping on an air mattress in the lab.  Show offs.   The have and have not’s of power are very spotting.  The difference can be what side of a street one lives on.  Some people within an apartment may have power, but not others within the same complex.  In my field, that’s called high small-scale variability.  

According to my Ph.D. advisor, who has been here in BR for at least 30 years, Gustav was worse than any other hurricane including Hurricane Andrew in 1992.  THe power provider Entergy says that the amount of damage and need for repairs is 4x that of any other disaster to hit Baton Rouge.  I know I’m talking about Baton Rouge a lot, but we cannot forgot all of the other parishes impacted. 

 I’ve posted some of the after the storm pictures for LSU and a video.  I’ve also posted a video taken during the storm which can be seen here: http://brgustav.wordpress.com/30-hours-in-the-pmac/

Some good news, the Mardi Gras Mannequin at the corner of Highland Road and Parker Blvd has returned to her balcony.  Now we just got to get her some beads. 

Over and out.  Goodnight.

~David

Above is a picture from the electricity provider, Entergy (www.entergy.com).  It’s from a Powerpoint that can be found on their website and shows how much of Baton Rouge is still without power (updated this morning at 6).  Green=places with power.  Red=equals no power yet.  Their website has these predictions:  100% power restoration for East Baton Rouge Parish (where I live), September 24th.  For coastal parishes such as Terrebonne and Lafourche, October 1st.  Remember, parish=county down here.  Some weird thing from Napoleon days. 

A quick notes because I’m about to go to the Mellow Mushroom (restaraunt/bar) because I need to do something ‘normal.’ 

-A cold front pushed through yesterday so it was pleasant yesterday. 

-LSU has full power with A/C

-Classes will begin on Monday (not for me because I graduated suckers!!)

-No one can concentrate  on work, including the senior profs.  Everyone seems to have this hard plaque of distraction on their minds. 

-Curfew for Baton Rouge has been moved back from 8 to 10 P.M.  No, we’re not under Marshal Law, but the curfew keeps people off the road to prevent accidents because traffic lights are out.  People can be arrested for being out, but not many have. 

-A busted magnolia tree is no match for a chainsaw and seven people.

-A house in the Garden District is no match for a large live oak (note how the tree canopy is larger than the roof of the house.

At Park and Wisteria in the Garden District.

I will try to upload more pics this weekend.  Thanks for reading.

~David

Some of the damage seen around LSU. 

I laid in bed last night thinking about yesterday’s rant about the lack of media coverage down here.  I thought about how quickly I forgot about 100′s of thousands of victim’s in China’s earthquake this past summer or how many soldiers and civilians have died in Iraq.  My rant was very Baton Rouge-centric and I’m conflicted about my lack of interest in other castrastrophies, but want the entire world to see my own.  There’s some comment about human nature there, but I’m too tired to figure it out for now.

I’m sitting in my lab in the Life Sciences Building in nothing but my swimtrunks.  Sweat pours down my face.  Who designs a building so that you can’t open any windows????  The first floor in the ‘old’ part of the building has A/C so there are many people sitting ont he floor working on their computers in the hallways down there. 

It’s so hot because the sun is out.  That’s good and bad news for people without power.  The good news is that more trucks will be out so they don’t have to worry about lightning and really wet conditions.  The bad news is that it’s going to be really hot until the power comes back on.  Most of the power is still out for Baton Rouge.  In my estimation of those traffic lights that I encountered, only 1 in 15 are operational.  Every intersection is treated as a four-way stop which fills the main arteries into slow moving sludge.  I was at Albertson’s (grocery store) waiting for a friend and they only let 5-6 people in a time.  There was a line about 25 people deep around the building and in about 15 minutes, 7 people asked me if I the store had ice.  The answer was no (I had been told earlier by a manager).  Ice, water, cellphones and fans.  Desperately sought neccessities. 

Last night I had four people stay at my house and at one point there was a dozen+ people at my house just to sit in the A/C.  I’m happy to share, makes me feel popular.  >

Some people have asked about donations.  Really, there’s not much you can do unless you give to a church organization who is bringing down supplies or you can figure out how to ship ice.  Here is a foundation via LSU that I trust: 

http://www.lsufoundation.org/

There are still people at the PMAC.  I have posted some pics and narrative about my time there during the storm.

http://brgustav.wordpress.com/30-hours-in-the-pmac/

They still look for volunteers but I am so physically and emotionally fatigued, that I may not go anymore.  LSU will try to open school up next Monday, but if the A/C or power is on and Baton Rouge’s infrastructure remains debilitated, then I doubt LSU will make that schedule. 

Some restaraunts are open and there’s a Sushi place across from my house that’s open.  I may go later jsut to do something normal.  I’ll be sure to avoid the 1/2 special fish that may have been in the unfreezing freezer for a couple of days.  Some fish is supposed to be green, right?

More later,

~David

FoxNews has a headline ‘Sexist Media?’ referring to the treatment of the Republican VP Palin by the media.  CNN says something similar.  What?  Does that mean anything to anyone right now?  With 24 hours to fill I know there’s a lot of tripe churning, but are those really some of the most pressing stories right now?  There’s barely a glimpse of Gustav in the news.

2)

From what I’ve been hearing from everyone across the nation, everyone thinks Baton Rouge and South Louisiana is fine.  I tried to keep spirits up with the blog because I didn’t want a lot of scary, untrue stories leaking out like they did during Katrina.  But let me say this:  Baton Rouge is not fine.  South Louisiana is not fine.  We don’t have power.  People need food, tarps, water, oxygen tanks, dialysis, medical attention.  For fuck’s sake, how complacent are we as a nation? 

3)

I know we’re not New Orleans.  I’m sorry FoxNews, CNN, NY Times, that we don’t have people on rooftops or massive looting or dead bodies on the side of the road, but there’s still a story in South Louisiana.  If you need to find it, then ask the guy cutting the live oak out of his living room or the woman who’s gasping on the radio station for someone to bring her an oxygen tank. 

Thankfully, people are being let into New Orleans today.  I hope they have something to go home to.  

For my friends, thanks for the emails, but I’d prefer you leave comments below so that everyone can see your great comments.  Also, if you have a church or non-profit organization sending help down this way, please donate.  As for myself, I’m okay.  About to run short on Pepsi, but I think I’ll make it.   

~David

This will be brief and a hodgepodge.  I will give more detailed updates and pictures later.  

First, family, friends and myself are okay.  Baton Rouge looks like…well, it looks like it got slammed with a hurricane.  Trees are blocking roads,

I’m in the lab.  It has electricity, but not AC.  It is humid and suffocating in here.  And we’re lucky because the sun isn’t out.  I can’t imagine spending days in the Superdome after Katrina.  I’m no longer in the PMAC, but it was okay when I left so I’m sure everythings fine other than people anxious to get out. 

Not to be an alarmist, but Baton Rouge is f***-ed.  Four lane roads are often one lane of traffic as a slalom among the fallen trees.  A lot of stores are not open.  Some are.  There are ice depots, tarp depots, and food depots.  Large, multi-car military vehicles carrying supplies are common sights.  Along with guys with M4s. 

Campus is closed through Friday (Sept 5th).  If not longer.  Clean-up on campus happening fast.  Most of LSU has power.  The Oceanography building still doesn’t.  That means frozen samples are likely not so frozen by now.  Heads will roll on that one. 

I’m insulated from what’s happening on the national, even a local scene, so i don’t know the extent ofthe damage to the state or if South Louisiana is still on the nations radar.  There have been reports of gunfire exchanged between military police and criminals, but then some of those stories have been recanted as being false.  So it’s hard to get real facts sometimes.  The radio is being used mostly like a ”Needs Forum.”  People call in to say where ice is being distributed, what stores are open, etc.  While there is a criminal element out there, there are plenty of good deeds occurrring.  A gentleman called in to ask for a tarp.  Then he called back later, saying with some resignation that he needed help.  He couldn’t get the tarp on his roof and he just needed help.  The number of people who called in to ask for that guys number was incredible and made me proud to be a human being.  A friend driving west on I-10 to Houston said the east bound traffic is made up of mostly trucks with cherry-picker buckets from energy companys across the country.  I know that someone is paying attention.  As far as power, I got lucky and got power yesterday at 2.  I was suddenly the most popular kid in school and everyone came over for a ‘phone-charging party.’  Phones are almost as valuable as water around here.  I’ve also become a grocery store as folks drop off perishables and swing by later to pick them up.  “Thank you, please come again.”  

I’m paraphrase a quotation from an Entergy rep:  1/2 of Baton Rouge will have power in 1-8 days.  The other half in 2-3 weeks. 

Shit. 

It’s going to take a good two weeks to clear the roads.  And to illustrate how bad the storm hit, the LSU FOOTBALL game has been re-scheduled!!!!

President Bush is here.  I don’t agree with his politics and I deplore the almost sycophant-pandering to the public he will do with his photo-ops, but I do like that it brings attention to South Louisiana because we need help (not me, just folks down here).  It makes people around here at least feel like they’re not forgotten (thank goodness Bush wasn’t on vacation or it might be another three days before he got here). 

Baton Rouge has an 8 o’clock curfew.  Some of the hospitals don’t have power yet.  I don’t know what happens in a medical emergency situation.  It’s hot. 

Some flooding did occur in the 9th ward, but not as much as last time.  Can’t get back into New Orleans until ????

Take care and let me know you’re still reading this thing.  Otherwise, I’m gonna stop writing.

So much for brevity. 

~David

9am

Normal light rain persists.  All my friends and family are safe and resting.

12:30pm

Lots of trees down on roads but traffic flows. WinnDixie open.  Long lines outside.  Only a few people allowed at a time.  Store dark.  No ice.  Cash only.  Lots of clean up crews out.  People calm.  Lots of places still without power.

10pm

I’m ok and home with power.  A bunch of friends are over to party.  Every outlet has a cell phone on it, recharging.  Ate lots of meat.  Drank lots of warm beer.  Stores are opening tomorrow.  All is well.

4:30 AM

In the 30 lockdown in PMAC as a volunteer.  About 250 health needs patient.  One of my regulars, Don, wants me to score some weed. Military with automatic weapons keeps us company.  No sign of gustav yet.  Hot winds.  No rain.  Weather channel newscasters annoying.

1:30 PM

Gustav upon us.  PMAC leaks around doors. Lights off except emergency lights.

7:15 PM

Power on at PMAC.  It’s hot.  Wind still blows.

7:42 PM

Power out again.

Gustav comes to America

Instead of fielding phone calls all day, I’m going to try a blog for dessiminating information.  Hopefully I will be able to find internent/power during and after the storm to provide updates.  Look here to find out how me and my family are during/after the storm.  I appreciate the phone calls (I’m so popular during hurricanes), but please don’t have your feelings hurt that I can’t answer the phone all day right now. 

First, I appreciate all the phone calls and offers of places to stay, but I am staying here in Baton Rouge.  Mama, Cody, and other aunts, uncles, and dogs, are staying in Long Beach, MS.  Yes, this is a coastal city, but they are staying in the same house that they survive Hurricanes Camille and Katrina in.  They are not in a flood prone area (the 30-foot tidal surge from Katrina didn’t come even close to reaching them).  Yes, some the areas in Harrison County have been evacuated, but not their area.  Yes, I worry but probably not as much as my sister Melody and her husband Jamie who are in South Carolina chewing on the walls with anxiety.  I suggest they alternate between Pepto Bismol and Vicodin to weather the storm.  Here in Baton Rouge, the hatches have been battened, the geckos have been stapled to the fence so they don’t fly away, and I now have a fresh regiment of clean underwear.  I also have food, water, a bathtub full of water, a charged cellphone and the last seven 2-liter Pepsi’s left at Wal-Mart, so I’m good to go.   

Second, if you are looking for information, stop watching CNN and Fox News.  Based on what I’ve been hearing from you all across the nation (e.g., Baton Rouge has been evacuated, which is not true), those sensationalist bastards are not providing the correct information.  I suggest checking the Baton Rouge paper, The Advocate  ( www.2theadvocate.com ), the New Orleans paper The Times-Picayune ( www.nola.com ), or the Biloxi, MS, paper, The Sun Herald  ( www.sunherald.com ).  These websites are often overwhelmed with traffic, so be patient.  There has not been any looting reported.  Librarians are not being raped.  The city has not devolved to Lord of the Flies.  Rumors and hear-say do nothing but scare and misinform.     

Third, here’s how things are going so far.

As I mentioned, Baton Rouge has not been evacuated.  Mandatory evacuations for South Louisiana Parishes such as Calcasieu and Lafourche Parishes and the city of New Orleans have been in place since yesterday and this morning.  Interstates and major roads were conterflowed this morning.  Contraflow means all lanes travel in one direction away  from a city.  For instance, all lanes of I-10 on the west side of New Orleans all head west ( www.2theadvocate.com/weather/maps/27670594.html ). Judging from the sparse traffic I saw on traffic-cams and on I-10 here in Baton Rouge, everyone evacuated early (say Friday or yesterday).  During Katrina, traffic was so bad that it took 5-8 hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, which is normally an hour-and-a-half trip.   

So fare, the city is relatively quiet.  There is little to no traffic.  The clouds are low.  There are no squirrels on LSU’s campus.  It’s as if the city is holding its breath and waiting to exhale.  Stores such as Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart closed by 3 P.M.  Stores continually ran out of bread, water and batteries this past week. 

One place that isn’t quiet are areas of LSU’s campus.  I live right next to campus and I hear the shuddering blades of helicopters as they bring in people from across the state who need medical shelters.  The PMAC (LSU’s basketball arena right next the Death Valley, the football stadium) has once again been set up as a medical center.  Helicopters land on the track area adjacent to the field to offload patients.  Below are some pics including a dual-blade military helicopter (a Chinook?).  People have been arriving since 5 A.M. and there is a constant flow of helicopters.    

 

Twice I was run off by the National Guard and local police for being in restricted areas as I tried to get a good shot.  The first time the police rolled up on me I was simultaneously stung by a wasp that got caught in my shirt.  I ripped off my shirt, danced in circles and slapped at my back cursing as they ordered me to leave the area.  I am impressed at their patience because I must have looked crazy.  But they were quite stern when repeating their order.

Despite all that’s going on, there’s still time for Southern hospitality.  These gentlemen, who had been working all day and some of last night on connecting telecommunications betwee the triage center and medical centers on campus, took a break and offered me a beer as I rode by.  Of course I took them up on their offer.  Always time to make a new friend or two.

In case you forgot what I look like, this is me cruising around campus today.

For my friends who are college football fans, I just want to remind you of this. 

I’ve just been called to volunteer at the PMAC, but I have more to say and show.  As it stands, Hurriance Gustav is a Cat 3 with at least 115 mph winds and traveling NW at 20 mph.  It’s liable to make landfall late tomorrow morning with possible tidal surges of at least 15-20 feet in coastal areas.  It’s going to suck, but we will perservere.  To end, I would like to echo the sentiment on this truck.