Hurricane Gustav--The Aftermath

Trees blocking roads were a common site after the hurricane. Several people in neighborhoods were blocked in for days before they could get out. Lucky for me, the area I live in is new and there aren't many trees around.

It's been over 48 hours since the hurricane and less than 25% of Baton Rouge has received power back. During the storm 100% of the city was in a blackout. Luckily for me, power came on after only 28 hours, but several other friends and other parishes are not so lucky. At work, I am the only manager with power.

Miss Ella and company left us on Tuesday after the storm, because their home in Vermillion Parish had power. That seemed to be quite the little miracle. The storm was supposed to head west directly to their homes, but after hitting Baton Rouge, the storm veered north and they were spared.

I've learned more about hurricanes in the past four days than I ever knew before. One interesting fact is that the east side of the hurricane is much worse than the other parts and that's the section that went right over Baton Rouge.

News reports say that we had 80 mile per hour winds with gusts up to 91 miles per hour. There are tons of trees down all over the city, power lines are down all over the city, because the city is essentially a black hole, a curfew has been enacted over the past couple days and anyone out after 8pm can risk going to jail.


This tree fell on a house on Goodwood Blvd. which I passed on my way to work the day after the storm.

I tried to go to a grocery store today and they were only letting a few people into the store at one time, so I stood in line outside for 40 minutes, before finally giving up and leaving, because I had only moved about 15 feet and was still 100 feet from the door.

We have more guests tonight. Jerome's parents (Fred & Winnie), Jerome's brother (Chad), Chad's partner, (Timmy), Jerome's niece (Bailey), Todd H, Todd T, and Lewis M., are spending the night because they all are without power. Unfortunately, Chad and Timmy's house had a tree fall through and made a huge hole in their newly constructed house that they just moved into last week. They have been there for a grand total of 7 days and now this has happened.


The new refugees

News reports state that 50% of Baton Rouge should receive power back within 1 to 8 days after the storm and the other 50% of Baton Rouge should receive power back within 3-4 weeks. That's crazy!

For more up to date information on a day to day basis, the local paper is www.2theadvocate.com


This tree blocked a route on Government Street, on my way to work and I had to turn around and find another route the day after the storm.


This tree blocked a route on Jefferson Street, on my way to work and I had to turn around and find another route the day after the storm. There is also a downed powerline in the foreground.