Diary of a Hurricane (GUSTAV)

I kept a slight diary of our little "journey" with Gustav.



August 31st

10:19 pm

It has been raining for a few hours and as of now the wind has died down. It is SO dark outside. Forecast calls for the path of Gustav to run right up Hwy 90, to the West of Jeanerette and New Iberia at a Cat. 2 about 8 pm or so. We don't know when the frantic weather and wind will reach us, so we've dressed Regan warm and will be turning the a/c way down tonight to hopefully get the house cold for the probably loss of power tomorrow. We are not sure if this will work or even help! But if it does it will be well worth the extra high bill next month!

Sept 1st

9:30 am We woke up about 8 am today. The house is so dark it was easy to think it was still night! I got up quickly because I wanted to try to take Samara out to go potty before the weather got too horribly bad. We did get her to tee-tee, with the help of Bub! lol



Since 8am it has been merely rainy with a little wind. It is not looking like anything different than a regular rainy day in Southern Louisiana this time of year. I am cooking lunch right now. I wanted to cook a hot meal while I can, that will hold us over for a while! On the menu Chicken Fried Rice and Green Beans.



Bub is on the computer playing games, Regan is in her room laying on the floor watching Cinderella II, getting in her TV fix while she can. And Cyndar, Capone & Samara are just hanging out!







10:30 am

Not much has changed around here (Thank God!). A while ago the TV said there were people in Jeanerette without power. I am not sure what part of town though.

From the sounds of it, Lafayette it getting hard rains already, while we are still have light misty rain. I have made lunch and we've all eaten. We are now just enjoying the electricity while it lasts and watching the movie Tattooist. The hurricane is now 72 miles NW of Jeanerette

11:30 am

The wind has really picked up in the last 30 minutes. I am not sure how much longer we'll have power from the way it looks. We went out front under the carport for a while to watch the wind. Then we went into the sun room to see the back yard. The water Oak at the back of the yard is broken and there are large limbs on the ground. There is also a scatter of branches and leaves all over the yard. As of now we have power, but the wind is appearing to be up in the 50 mph and will no doubt be 100+ in the next hour!






12:23 pm



Power out! This mean the house is pitch black! Regan was driving us crazy skating around the house in the dark! Those skates sound like a tornado in the house, especially when you can't really see! I sent her in her room with her lantern and coloring books.




We aren't turning on but a few candles. I am trying to keep the house as cold as possible for as long as possible since I know the discomfort is surely coming!!

In preparation for the Hurricane, among gathering the usual supplies (ice, water, batteries, candles, food, etc) we turned the a/c down to 67 (which was FREEZING!) and Here's a Tip:: we took these solar powered lawn lights we bought for the new house and put them all outside the day prior. We then turned the power off to save it and used the lights in the house. They didn't give off a huge amount of light, but enough and they of course don't let off any heat! Bub thought of it and I think it was a great idea! Each light has about 8 hours of light. We have 6 of them so we used only a few at a time and I was able to place them in the sun room to recharge. We put on in the bathroom for Regan in case she got up in the middle of the night to go potty. This way we didn't have to leave any candles burning and she could make her way around!!

4:30 pm

All is well! The water is pooling (or flooding if you will) out front. The house shook earlier, but we are doing fine!






The house has remained pretty cool so far! I am about to make hot dogs and mac n cheese for supper. We still have running water and gas for the stove.

I think we are going to watch a movie on the DVD player before heading to bed.

8:00 pm

All is calm outside. Still rain and wind, but I think the storm has pretty much gone!!

It seems that in addition to down branches from our Oak tree, the neighbor's 2 cedar trees have fallen over the fence into our yard! What a friggen mess!!



Sept 2nd

9:30 am

We are just getting up. The house wasn't too unbearable last night, but it warmed up quite a bit. I think it was about 78 in the house when we went to bed. We got up, got dressed and headed out. Passing through Jeanerette, there wasn't a lot disturbed. Once we reached the other end of Main, the gas stations showed the first signs of Gustav.








We passed by my Aunt Jackie's on Loreauville Rd to make sure all was well and other than small branches there was nothing to report. Then we headed through New Iberia to Papaw's house. All was well there. Seems her and some of the family stayed for the storm! We also passed by Miranda's and Dacia's where they seemed to be untouched!

On our way out of New Iberia we passed down St Peter which was the only street so far we encountered with standing water.

It appears all of Iberia Parish is without power. The Burke's Outlet parking lot had cars lines up for I think was water and ice.

1:30 pm

Bub cooked steaks and hamburgers on the grill and then the two took a nap. I was unable to sleep because it was so hot. So I ventured into Jeanerette thinking maybe I could find a place to buy bread! As I drive around I see NO ONE working on restoring the power. When we were in New Iberia there were people every few miles working on it. But not a sole in Jeanerette.

When I got home I called Cleco and waited for the operator. I told her that I figured there would be an equally spread out team getting everyone's power up. She said the computer said we should have power up by the 10th of September. Yes, you read that right. And it was only the SECOND day of the month! We are already miserable! There is no way we can do this for over a week! So, with our bags already packed because we were going to evacuate, I finished packing them, we took showers and got the hell out of there!!

.....yes, we evacuated AFTER the storm! LOL

We initially found a hotel in Houston and were heading there. Along the way we checked to see if there were hotels closer so the trip home would be shorter. Well, all the way down I 10 it was ghost towns! None of the gas stations were open or had gas. None of the restaurants were open! It wasn't until we got to a small town called Iowa were we able to get some food! And at 6:30 and with a hungry 4 year old, we were as desperate as can be to get food for her!

We ended up stopping in Lake Charles where stores and hotels were starting to barely open back up. I don't think any of them loss power here, but they shut everything down and evacuated.

So this is where we are! We got here last night and will probably stay at least one more night! I am getting reports from people in New Iberia and Lafayette as to the progress, which seems to be VERY slow! I think we are better off here than suffering at home!

Well, that was our journey! Below is just a bunch more pictures from the past two days!









Heading to Lake Charles






Video when the eye of Gustav was over us