Not looking good

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LanceD

LanceD

Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2005
Messages
1,590
Location
Houma, La, USA.
Well things are looking pretty bleak for my hometown in Louisiana. Hurricane Gustav is headed straight for my backdoor towards Terrebonne Bay . I live 30 minutes from the bay. Predictions are for it to be a category 4 or possibly a 5 by landfall. There's a mandatory evacuation for Houma, the town I live in at 4:00 pm today. We decided we are going to ride out the storm by closing the shutters and boarding everything up. The roads are packed right now and will only get worse tomorrow.

We feel we'll be better off staying home. We've got enough food, water and generators running for several days and other neighbors on either side of us. We can all count on each other to help out if needed.

The biggest problem with evacuating is that when it's all over you aren't allowed to come back to your homes for several days. Once the hurricanes past you want to be able to start working right away to pick up the pieces.

I'll see everyone once this is over.

Lance
 
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Lance, my friend .... I hope to hell you know what you're doing.

Thanks for letting us know where you are .... we'll be watching Houma on the storm map.

Once you get power back ... let us know how your doing.

Good luck man!
 
Good Luck Lance...I'm from Houston area and from what I see it's about 60/40 Louisiana or Galveston... My sister in law is in The Woodlands and she's sticking it out.

I sat in a funeral home parking lot and parlor for nearly 24 hours when Allison settled in over Houston... My office was high and dry, but the wife's office about 3/4 mile away was under 4 feet of water and their building was raised about 3 feet above the parking lot. We left Houston the week after Rita.. but were already planning to move for our retirement when she blew in. Everything was packed and sitting stacked in the garage and we were just praying no flooding..

Just keep your family safe and under cover. Let us know you okay when it over.
 
I don't envy you Lance; this is one ugly storm -- very organized and already very strong.
I track the storms here and it doesn't look good for y'all.
At least thirty minutes isn't as bad five -- that's where my friends and coworkers
were in Waveland when Katrina came ashore.
A lot of folks I know had the storm come in one side of their homes and go
out the other. :frown: Is everything you own really worth the risk of riding it out?
Best of luck to you.
 
How do you avoid leaving if it is a manditory evacuation? I am sure you are aware that Houma is called the Heart of the Louisiana Wetlands. You live in basically a swamp. If this thing slows down and sits over you long enough to dump 15-20" of rain, you will wish you had gone to Shreveport. Give it another thought and see if maybe you shouldn't go. I just hate to hear of people dying when they could have avoided it. Check the storm on Monday and if it looks like it's big and bad and headed for you, git while you can. Good luck whichever! George
 
Get the heck outta there, Dude! Things can be replaced, but people can't.

Fingers crossed and prayers up for you...
 
Gustov

My wife and I have a girlfriend that lives up the street from you in Lafayette. Our prayers go out for both of you.
 
We in the North West can olny imagine what it must be like, Take care and our thoughts as well as other members, are with you and your family
Be safe!!
 
I've been through many a hurricane and rode all of them out. It's sure to be a tad bit frightful. Make sure you have plenty of supplies. Me and my family wish you the best of luck. Our prayers are with you.
 
You're definitely in our thoughts and prayers over here. Who knows, it may turn and come over to my area (Houston). Either way, there's a good chance that my company is going to send myself and my family to Austin in case we need to implement our disaster recovery plans. We're in the software industry and our data centers are in Houston and Austin.
 
Lance,
Will keep you and your family, friends and neighbors in your prayers.
My son is in the Coast Guard and stationed in New Orleans. Everyone was called to the base Saturday at noon to finish preparations, ride the storm out and get ready for the aftermath cleanup. His wife, at least, has been with us here in Pearland for the past month so we didn't have to worry about evacuating her, and she is 8 months pregnant.
 
Don't wait to the last minute, hit the road..pack up your most valuable items and bring them with you. That's what I would sure do, and then I'd move to Michigan where there are no hurricanes, mudslides, earthquakes or just about anything else, and the housing is a real bargain right now. I wouldn't bother with tools and such, but your irreplaceable photo's, the computer <just the box portion is fine>, your finished pens, any artwork that's valuable, and oh yea..grab the kids too!
 
Good luck Lance and everyone else down in that neck of the woods!!

Lance, seeing the flooding that JohnnyCNC went through, I highly recommend you leave and come back when it is safe. You don't want to get stuck having to tread "water" for 36 hours.

GK
 
Lance

I wish you the best of luck. I know the uncertainty of leaving and not knowing when things will return to normal can be a very big part of a decision to stay, but this storm is very strong. When you look at the damage a strong storm can generate, there is little a person can do to insure their personal security.

I hope you and your family stay safe, and I hope the storm weakens before landfall. Please reconsider a major inconvenience for personal safety. Let us know when you are able that you are ok.
 
Lance,
I got into New Orleans around 6pm last night. It took me about 4 hours to get to around Biloxi and about 8 hrs to actually get to my house in Fla. Many of my co workers live in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, even down there by you. Last time, some of them left, some of them didn't. Those of them that stayed said that it was the worst decision that they had made. They had a terrible time after the storm. They thought that they had enough food, water etc. This time those folks were the first ones to leave.

Lance, I know that you might want to stay with your things, you don't really want to spend 6 hrs in traffic, you don't want to have to find a hotel or a friends to stay with. Down there in Houma, you are probably what, (just guessing) 5 feet above sea level? If your place floods, you could be the person sitting on top of your roof hoping that someone will fly by and see you. Yeah, I have sat out a few hurricanes as well, but if it reaches a cat 4 or 5, I'm getting my kids and wife and leaving. Where I live, I won't flood, but a huge tree limb could fall on my house.

Please rethink staying down there. Pack up the lathe and important papers and drive out. I'd like to meet you face to face one day.
 
Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers very much.

We're just sitting down now watching the news and updates. Traffic going east is unbelievable and I don't see how this will all be cleared up when the hurricane arrives. Ther's no change in course so it still looks like we'll get a direct hit sometimes before noon tomorrow. We'll probably lose electricity by midnight and the feeder bands of rain and wind by late this afternoon.

Thanks again everyone and if I can I'll let someone know how we're doing.

Lance
 
Well, best of luck to you and your family. I'll also keep you in my prayers. Does anyone here have a phone number for you? Maybe they can try calling you every so often and keep us updated.
Be safe
 
Lance, I've been in Houma and love it, especially the place I can't remember the name of that serves crawfish and other seafood 24 hours a day. However, it is damn near sea level. Please get the hell out of there!!
 
Sending prayers up now.

Boy, I'm not sure after Katrina I'd chance riding one out down there! Good luck!!!

You mentioned you had generators so at least if the power goes out you can still turn pens... ;-)
 
LanceD said:
I don't see how this will all be cleared up when the hurricane arrives.
Click to expand...

Much of the contraflow has been cancelled. The traffic has lightened. This means that most everyone else has made the smart move and vamoosed.

Take it from someone who has "survived" several hurricanes in Louisiana.

GET THE HELL OUT!!

You still have a few hours. There are lots of high and dry places here in the red clay hills of NW Louisiana.

Just thinking of your well being.
 
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Lance,

I urge you to reconsider. But if you stay, please have somewhere elevated to go in case of flood waters. Good luck and my prayers will be with you.
 
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