all quiet now

[nibot]

12:28 Neighbors across the street just left, evacuating to Arkansas.

15:25 Ice cream truck just went by. (-:

19:10 first rain and wind

21:09 All quiet again. I guess that was the 'first band', the first spiral arm of the storm passing through.

In the late afternoon (5pm?) I took another ride around the neighborhood on a bike. No slowdown at all on I-10 through town; traffic was moving swiftly. All the gas stations nearby, however, were out of gasoline (although some appeared to still have diesel fuel). And out of ice. I saw a couple small sandbagging operations, too. But, overall, still very quiet. A couple places (near the Perkins overpass) with rooftop billboards took the billboards down (slashing them with knives, I think!)—a good idea, 'cause otherwise those things would just be sails and would rip the roof off!

I did a little tour of downtown by car at dusk. Very boring down there, most businesses closed (it is Sunday afterall, so maybe they'd be closed anyway). I am disappointed that there are no local businesses pledging to stay open through the storm to offer a gathering place, a 'restaurant at the end of the universe.' But perhaps that would be ridiculous.

Saw several tugboats scooting here and there in the Mississippi. Fortunately the river level is very low. From the top of the levee you can see the whole inside of the levee, and then grass and small trees at the bottom, and then the river. (By contrast, a few months ago, the river was a few feet from the top!)

Still very calm at that point, but maybe a more urgent calm.

The local liquor store was doing a bustling business, however. They, too, were out of ice.

I'm told Albertsons was mobbed at 4:15pm. They boarded the place up and closed at 5pm. I'm told that Whole Foods was empty, open, and giving away free ice.

Someone on batonrouge says she saw two tornadoes this evening.

Someone on neworleans just posted a video of the hurricane's arrival there.

Add those two communities as friends if you want to follow what's happening... I'll probably just update livejournal until the power goes out. And use TxtLJ after that.

p.s. How do I, with AT&T and a Samsung SGH-a737, upload photos from my mobile phone to flickr? I tried the usual email gateway (SMS to 111 with the email address as the first word in the message) with a picture attachment, but it didn't work. I couldn't even email myself a photo that way.

Comments

[eightoclock.livejournal.com]

That hurricane video is nuts!