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([personal profile] pat Aug. 28th, 2005 08:09 pm)
Sometime yesterday, I checked on Katrina, which at that point was a low Cat 3. I filed into the "Significant Hurricane, Won't Hit Mom" file. (Some time ago, I figured out that obsessively following hurricanes was bad for my mental health.) After seeing all the flurry of activity on my friends list about the storm, I checked out the Weather Channel.

Wow. They're using the C-word.

I grew up in hurricane country. And in that area of country, there is always one storm that's spoken of with fear and trembling.

Camille.

The most intense storm to ever hit the U.S. My parents moved from Mississippi to Florida in January 1969, so we were not there for her. My sister, who was a nursing student at the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson, was. She heard the stories, saw the refugees from the storm. And the stories were horrible. People refusing to leave, hotels crumbling with people in them, apartments collapsing. Families being wiped out. Years later, when my family drove along the coast between Mobile and New Orleans, I still remember my Dad pointing out shells of buildings that had been destroyed.

And, at one point, they were saying Katrina was almost as intense (in barometric pressure, if not in windspeed). Dear God. Fortunately, they think she will weaken before she hits, but still...

I have a soft spot for New Orleans. I was born in Louisiana, I have a sister buried in the Metairie cemetery. My favorite comfort food is red beans and rice. I am sad that the city will probably be directly hit, and that there will loss of life. The city is too vulnerable to even a small hurricane, let alone a storm like this.

I don't have anyone directly on the coast -- my closest relatives are in Jackson, way inland. Depending upon the storm track once it heads inland, they could be looking at significant flooding risks. But I find myself still worrying about this storm. I am keeping everyone along the coast and in the city in my prayers.
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