Well, well, well. Living in southern Louisiana or anywhere else on the Gulf Coast means that every once in awhile, there's a chance that a hurricane or tropical storm will blow your way. Just a few years ago, I lived through the biggest hurricane to hit my home in my lifetime. No, it wasn't Katrina (although she did indirectly affect me). It was Rita, the oft forgotten storm that did a ton of damage and left many, many people homeless. Heck, she pretty much wiped Cameron Parish off of the map for awhile there.
Now we have Gustav making his way into the Gulf of Mexico. As of this writing, he's located on the southeastern tip of Cuba and headed west/northwest. The "cone of uncertainty" puts him somewhere between New Orleans (big surprise) and the panhandle of Florida. Lake Charles, where I live, is on the edge of that cone. The strange thing is that if you listen to most of the Lake Charles media, Gustav is making a bee-line straight to us. A friend of mine says that over in Beaumont, the weatherfolk are saying the same thing about east Texas. Guess what else? WWL in NOLA is saying that ol' Gus is aiming for the Big Easy. To play it safe, the Weather Channel has Gus touching down somewhere between Texas and London, England (okay, I lied about the London part, put I said that to make a point).
What amazes me is that these stations are saying all of this for one of two reasons: A) To get people to prepare for a possible damaging storm or B) To get ratings through fear-mongering. My guess is that the majority of these guys are doing it for the second reason. Don't get me wrong. I believe that everybody on the Gulf Coast and on the east coast should prepare for a hurricane when June rolls around, but the Weather Channel and most of the weather guys on said coasts are making a huge deal out of something they have no control over.
Do I worry that Gustav is going to plow through my neighborhood? No. Why? Because if he's coming my way, only God can stop him. Right now it is too early to decide where he's actually going to hit, so I'm going to do what any normal person should do: Be ready to leave town for a couple of days if Gussy shows up on my porch.
By Friday, I think that we'll all have a better understanding of where this puppy is going. Until then, I see no reason to panic, scream, loot or board up houses. Thanks to the media, there are a lot of people scared about Gus. They are the same media that put the fear of God into people by reporting half-truths and out-and-out lies about Katrina and Rita in order to pull in viewers. I can read the computer models for myself and thanks to thirty-two years of experience with hurricanes, tropical storms and depressions, I think I can make just as good a guess of where Gus is heading right now as any certified weather pusher.
Please, anybody reading this, do not think that it's the end of the world just because some suit told you a storm is heading your way. We made it through Rita and, had there been better guidance from Mayor Nagin and Granny Babineaux, Katrina would have had fewer victims in Louisiana. All we can do is wait and see where this thing is going. Don't get scared and do something stupid.
If it helps, throw a hurricane party!
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