IT'S LIKE SOMETHING FROM THE BIBLE

Well, after rushing off to Tyler and back again I'm exhausted. I also had to sit down and review my lines for Arms and the Man a little while ago because life goes on: we've got eight hours of catch-up rehearsal tomorrow, even though all LSU classes have been canceled until after Labor Day because campus is now a triage for the high volume of injuries out of the Big Easy--a media call has gone out for all Baton Rouge medical professionals to report to the Tigers' field house, just down the street from where we live. Consequently, I'm going to hold off for a couple of days on relating the details of our Star Wars like exodus from the hurricane zone.

In the meantime, here's some local coverage from WAFB TV in Baton Rouge. I tried to get something from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, but they haven't posted since the levee broke, which is ominous, indeed. Really, you may very well have already read this, because it's just a wire report, but I wanted to get some local flavor, and Baton Rouge's paper kind of sucks--however, TV news here has been wall-to-wall, so I want to give them a nod of the hat.

Blanco: Everyone in New Orleans Needs to Get Out

With conditions in the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans rapidly deteriorating, Governor Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday afternoon that people now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers need to be evacuated. She called the situation heartbreaking.

Because of two levees that broke Tuesday, the governor says the city is rapidly filling with water and the prospect of having power is a long time off. She also said the storm severed a major water main, leaving the city without drinkable water.

Blanco says that at midnight, all the boat operators trying to rescue people from rooftops were told to take a break, but they refused.

Click here for the rest.


New Orleans' Angel of Death: the levee breaks

I have to admit being freaked out by all this. I cannot explain how much I love New Orleans and what that place means to me--to some small extent, it's why I came to LSU. I will tell you one thing about our time on the road. In Tyler, the motel we found was full of evacuees from the Crescent City. I spoke with an older woman who told me that she had lost everything and that she was pretty sure that a couple of family members had drowned. What can you say to that? My simple statement, "that's terrible; I'm so sorry," seemed trite, especially because I then broke off the conversation because Becky and I had to check out to leave for our home in Baton Rouge. This is terrible, but it really is beyond my ability to truly articulate. It's horrible.

I managed to find a couple of blogs written by New Orleans residents who seem to be posting throughout the tragedy. I don't think they're actually there right now, but they seem to have some extra insight. Go check out on tender hooks and Looka!, and be sure to drop a comment in support.

UPDATE: Here's how these guys are posting in spite of the storm carnage; they're expatriates. The on tender hooks guy is in Lafayette, and the Looka! guy is in California. However, they've got what appear to be very close connections with the Big Easy, and are writing about Katrina's effects in a rather personal way. Very much worth checking out.

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