Lazy and Rich, take care and stay safe! We'll be hoping for the best for both of you and for others in or near Ike's path.
Sarah, I have been thinking about you every time I hear about Hanna, and hoping that this storm leaves you alone!! I heard on the radio that you got a LOT of rain so I hope you are not in a flood prone neighborhood.
I could not find any more details about Hanna or post until now, because of internet access. Yesterday we drove for over 12 hours to get back home to New Orleans. When I finally arrived at my house, I found that I had power after all, which I did not expect!! Wahoo.
With luck like that, I hardly have reason to complain but will just mention in passing that I have no cable so no internet access or TV. It's just me and that radio, y'know.
Frank has cable, so I am briefly borrowing his to check the storms and post.
When I came back, I found that a huge branch spanning my entire back yard had been blown off my tree, knocking down and destroying my 6' wooden fence; my shutters were torn off; and a small diameter gas line going to the gas lantern at my front doorway had apparently been hit by flying debris, since it was off and we smelled gas around the corner near the valve (so Frank shut it off, and this appears to have fixed the problem). But, the rest of my community appears to be almost unchanged. Lights and signs for businesses were on and working, as were most stop lights and street lights, and downed power lines have been cleaned up. Our sewer system is now back to normal, so we can shower, flush, and wash clothes. We even had dinner out at a restaurant. What a different experience from Katrina, and what a relief.
Today, the NHC 5-day trajectory for Ike has us as the target once again.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/144613.shtml?5day?large#contents
Hopefully this will come to nothing as well. I think many people here are tired of evacuating, broke from the last evacuation, and disgusted with the idea of evacuating yet again, and that is a dangerous state of affairs for us.
As for me, I unloaded my car but left everything by the door in case we have to leave again for Ike.