They just had the head of safety, or what ever he's called, in MS on and he's saying that people are just not leaving. They were "storm weary" and just didn't take it serious. We had how many storms in how many weeks last year? Yeah, I was weary too - but I still took the necessary steps. They had some WARNINGS - nothing major.

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

Also - when you see the pictures of traffic leaving the areas - it's way too light for the number of people that live there. People are just not leaving.

I have a horrible feeling it's gonna be very very ugly.

"Storm-weary"? From what storm are they weary? He must have misspoken - they've had nothing to get weary from.

The heads of parishes around NO are ordering their own mandatory evacs. What a moron the NO mayor is.
What a lame-ass that Gov is, too. Is anybody in charge there?

I've been looking at the footage of the traffic too. I would die to have such light traffic here in Broward on even a normal day.

Oh get this... I read that it is a very Catholic city, so many are praying. Hello? God must be looking down saying, "You have cars stupid!" GRRR.

I'll tell you what is frickin' scary. There is a little barrier island called Grand Isle... there are people there NOT evac'ing. Can you believe it?

We had people in Pensacola stay on the Bay in Grand Lagoon during Ivan. They're now sleeping with the fish.

Scary stuff. Truly scary. And... thank you for the link! I don't know why I don't have you on my Florida blogger blogroll!

I'm a little confused...the SuperDome doesn't have independent generators? What the heck?

Bou- the treatment for big hurricanes is the same as for snakebite: your car keys. You get in the friggin' car and get going.

They've had how long to get the SuperDome ready? Like Bou said in her post, Ivan gave them a good scare last year, but it evidently didn't scare them enough to actually get their shit together and prepare for a storm. Unreal.

Do you believe this? They are turning people away from the superdome stating that they only have one generator and they want to keep the occupancy to a minimum. *sigh*
This is AFU.

But they just opened it an hour ago!

My mother-in-law is trapped in a nursing home, recovering from a fractured pelvis.

My wife is freaking and I'll be liveblogging it.

This is where I wish I had my own helicopter.

I don't get this, Matt. Last year during Ivan, Alabama evacuated the nursing homes.
This is screwed up.

I wish your mother-in-law the best.

Crack, you're the best!

I'm sitting here blogging, my wife is on the phone with our Priest, my parents are planning for the post-storm trip. The whole thing is surreal. Not in a good way.

I just found out a friend of the family, who is a doctor in one of those hospitals, is having to stay through this mess.

It takes 72 hours to evac NO. And she just made it mandatory today. And not even on her own accord. Makes me sick.

This was screwed up. I can't understand what they were about with their dawdling.

I keep wondering if MadMags is still in the area, though I think now maybe she was by Baton Rouge. Still too damn close.

I'll take my earthquakes, thank you. And the occasional still-at-large alligator in the park lake.

That's right. Bridget was from Louisiana.

I can't beleive the lamers y'all have out there that can't catch a gator. Sheesh.

I partly grew up in Louisiana and lived in N.O. for eight years, and I think all the dilly-dallying is typical for that area. It has a Third World mentality. Whatever happens is the will of God (even if all you had to do was move your picnic from under the humongous rotten tree limb you noticed and ignored and that fell and killed you). The city is permeated with it. It's the reason the New Orleans Saints will never win a Superbowl.

Most of my family members within the strike zone have evacuated for the high country -- except the aunt who lives in a house that replaced the one that fell down on her during Camille. Some people...

BTW, Sheriff Harry Lee is a Chinese American good old boy. What do you get when you mix Cajuns and Chinese -- I don't know but I always chuckled when I heard old Harry talking.

I enjoyed ol' Harry. Me and him are simpatico.
He should give everybody's press conferences- IBM, the Whitehouse, doesn't matter. Just put Harry in charge of the deal.

Yeah, my sentiments, too, about Harry (in other words, what Donnah wrote).

Damn! I get more angry by the minute as I watch these news channels with the coverage of total social breakdown in hurricane striken areas when these people should be rising to the occasion. First, these people that chose to stay behind to "ride out the storm" and now need to be rescued should foot the bill for rescue efforts. I am not including, invalid,elderly, or others that could not evacuate. Second, the looting and the interference of people stopping these rescue efforts. Hey looters, why don't you loot some brooms, mops and household cleaners and clean up the mess and swill your standing in waiting for the rest of the country to help you. Where is the self respect and pride that you as Americans have? You can wade through waist deep water to steal, but not get yourselves to safety? I'm completely disgusted.