I just talked to Tom Grace, the blog reader who e-mailed me last night saying he and his family would be leaving New Orleans this morning. They are indeed on the road, halfway to Jackson, MS. (Their destination is Memphis.) He said there’s moderate traffic, moving at 65 mph. He’s going to call back later, when he’s off the road, so I can give him the necessary information so he can file audioblog reports.
Here’s what he e-mailed me a few hours ago, before leaving:
We have the house almost buttoned up and the car half packed. We will be leaving New Orleans within a couple of hours. Have to pick up my 87 y.o. mom, then head North, across Lake Pontchartrain, where we will meet up with my wife’s family before taking I-12 to Memphis. At the moment, we are planning to take both cars, though we may leave one of them on the North Shore, in Covington, LA, which might be a safe place for it. … I just want to leave early, before “the lemmings” as I call them. Most people will decide to leave about the same time, then it could take 10 hours to get 30 miles, as it did for my son and his family last year when they waited just a few hours to evacuate for Hurricane Ivan.
Anyone else in Katrina’s path — or in the process of evacuating from it — please feel free to e-mail me if you’d like to file some first-hand reports, either by audio, or if you have a camera phone, or whatever.
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Categories: Hurricane Katrina
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August 27th, 2005 at 4:21:17 pm
I see from WWL’s website (at 3:18 CDT) that the Saints-Ravens game is still on for tonight. Lemme see: Estimated evacuation time 72 hrs, Katrina due Monday daybreak (say 42 hours from now), hmmm… anybody wonder why people have trouble taking evacuation warnings seriously?
August 27th, 2005 at 4:22:06 pm
At 4 pm Eastern, CNN departed from its usual Weekend warmed-over recycled crap to report on Katrina. Said authorities will soon begin “contraflow traffic” on the N.O. access highways ~ i.e. making Some but not All of the Inbound lanes, Outbound. / Governor Kathleen Blanco (I think that’s right) had a news conference and urged everybody to be Calm, especially when driving on the Road Out. / CNN also said authorities are urging, or will urge, people Not to use the Huey Long Bridge. Where IS that? Is it across Pontchartrain? Every Man a King. Nowait, I Digress. :) // CNN reporters in the French Quarter are being asked by dumbass tourists, “Oh, gee, do you think we should leave, we’re having such fun.”
August 27th, 2005 at 4:56:53 pm
The Huey crosses the Mississippi in Metarie. If you think of a straw with the center of it pinched between your fingers, you have the Huey P. Long Bridge. Not the greatest logistical marvel in history. Not to mention the fact that the whole thing sways in a gentle breeze.
My wife would rather poke hot needles into her own eyes than use the Huey.
August 27th, 2005 at 5:03:45 pm
The Long Bridge crosses the Mississippi, and carries US 90 + Union Pacific RR Tracks. The highway lanes are cantilevered onto the outside of the main trusses!