Katrina & the Waves Are Coming....

As I write this, Katrina is barreling toward New Orleans. "Not a party storm" is the way a commentator just described it on on Fox News. This is a deadly category 5 hurricane, and it looks like it could be VERY bad. Tomorrow morning it is expected to strike the city with winds in excess of 160 mph. Worst case scenario: complete devastation - goodbye New Orleans.

Michelle went to Mandeville on Thursday to make wedding arrangements and attend a baby shower. Mandeville, where her mother lives, is on Lake Ponchartrain opposite New Orleans...directly in the path of impending destruction. Because of the storm Michelle had to return early, and her family had to leave their homes. Her mother is staying in Lafayette with Michelle's brother Devon and his family. Her brother Dale, his pregnant wife Barbara, and their two boys also had to evacuate. They arrived here last night at about 3am (after a 6+ hour drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-10). They spent the day with us but left this evening to go stay with friends in Houston. Flooding and wreckage may await them at home, but in the meantime they were enjoying an impromptu vacation. The boys got to do some fishing down at the pond. Most refugees should have it so good.

Michelle and I were planning to go back to Mandeville in September...hopefully Mandeville & New Orleans will still be there. It would be nice to revisit the French Quarter and drink hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's after this hurricane blows over. Here in Lumberton the weather has been strangely calm, with no rain or high winds. Katrina is a huge storm, hundreds of miles wide, and we still might get some rain in the next 24 hours.