I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to buy some gas and to pick up some of Jake’s thick sliced cheese. The weather was beautiful in contrast to the last couple days. The sun was out and some of the late summer heat had let up. I pulled up in front of the gas pumps and Jake came bustling out. We passed some time complaining about gas prices as is normal while Jake is filling my tank. Jake was certain gas is going to become even more expensive after the damage left by Katrina. I thought he was about right, but did not see much to be done about it. After the tank was full, I pulled over to the side of the store to park as I was planning to stick around a while and see what was up with the Charlie’s Philosophers usually gathered by the pot belly stove inside the store.

As I walked inside, I spotted Hermann Spencer, Hurshel Ledbedder, and my good friend Bob Havershold over by the stove. I wandered over to join them and heard Hurshel saying this hurricane was the one people were going to be talking about for years to come. He doubted New Orleans would ever be the same. Hermann offered his opinion this was the worst hit on a major Southern city since Shermen marched through Atlanta.

Bob turned my way as I walked up and asked if I had any rain up my way. My reply was not so much as you would expect. I had gone to bed Monday night with the promise that we would be getting the full force of what was left of Hurricane Katrina about seven in the morning on Tuesday. I awakened sometime after midnight with strong winds and some rain, but I live nestled in the middle of several acres of tall oaks, so the higher force winds were whipping the tops of the trees and not getting down to where I live. I listened to the weather for a while and checked to see that I still had electrical power. I had expectations that, along with having to go out in early rain come daylight, I would likely have to get ready for my appointment by flashlight. To my surprise, when I awoke about six o'clock I still had power and, while the wind was still up, the rain was merely a light drizzle. I could not find any news on local stations. All I got was commercial radio doing normal programming, so I decided the crisis had passed by. I drove to my appointment in moderate to light rain.

While Mississippi took Katrina head on and coastal areas sustained unbelievable damage, It was New Orleans that took the headlines most of the day. The storm hit Mississippi and moved on, leaving our people to start digging out and repairing the damage. We knew what we were dealing with, but the fat lady had still not come out to sing for New Orleans. Katrina did not hit New Orleans dead center as had been expected but, after the storm moved out, major flooding was the issue still at hand. Several of the pumps that keep the city free of water had gone out early on, and by mid day the barriers that hold the water at bay had been breached in several places. There were pictures of water pouring into the city that had already become a lake. No one seemed to have a good idea how to stop the water or how to get the water already inside the city proper out. It looks to be a long and difficult job ahead.

Hurshel thought it had been a rather stupid idea to put a city the size of New Orleans in an area below sea level in the first place. Were the city builders not aware something like this could eventually come about? Hermann came back saying he did not believe the city started with the idea of having a major city in harm’s way. If New Orleans is like most cities, it began as a trading point and became a good meeting place for hunters and trappers. Other folks moved in for one reason or another until you had a small town. By the time someone noticed the place could flood in high water, there was no inclination to move out, so barriers were built around the city. When time passed and no major floods came, people in New Orleans figured they never would, least not in the immediate future. That mind set worked pretty well until Katrina. Then it was too late to relocate several million people in a couple days.

Bob said authorities did a pretty fair job of getting residents off the impact area before the storm hit. People were filling motels as far north as Corinth and likely even farther. He heard Fred Harbin has a cousin from Biloxi that has moved in for the duration. Hermann couldn't understand why some people refused to move out of the path of the storm when they knew what was on the way. Were they crazy or what? Bob thought there were probably a few with a misplaced sense of their own bravery who just had no idea how powerful this storm could be, but there were others who felt they had to stay and try to protect their possessions and were confident they could survive. There were others, examples were given in New Orleans, who simply had no way of getting out. They had no automobiles and all the busses and planes were full. There was just no way possible for them to leave. Evacuation was not an option. No one seems to have any good idea yet what the total cost of Katrina will come out in property and lives, but it is likely to be higher than anyone wants to speculate. All we can do is dig in and start repairing the damage and rebuilding from the loss. This is the sort of world we inhabit where, ever so often, Mother Nature throws us a big one just to get our attention.

You always get some interesting quotes from people in a situation like this. One smart mouth was of the opinion that New Orleans had survived Mardi Gras, so Katrina should not be a problem. But Bob’s favorite comment came Sunday afternoon before Katrina hit from the Harley Davidson bike owner who said he would have staid put in New Orleans to face the storm if it was left to him, but all that dirty water would not be good for an expensive piece of machinery so he was gonna get on his hog and ride out away from the storm!

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