Waiting for Katrina

It's cloudy, gray and still here on the lake at mid-day on Sunday, August 28, with hardly a ripple on the water and little movement in the trees--the quiet before the storm since Katrina, a Category 6 hurricane with 175 mph winds is heading toward us.  Not that we expect much in the way of excitement here, being at least 190 miles from the coast.  Still, we may get remnants of the wind and rain, and tornadoes are a strong possibility.  Since a power outage can occur from downed trees--and most of the trucks from our local power company will no doubt be in South Louisiana--I made a run to Wal-Mart this morning to stock up on water, milk, bread, lamp oil and so on.  Several family groups I saw there had New Orleans/South Louisiana accents and were piling their grocery carts with the kinds of things that would let them ride out the storm in a motel or relative's home--obvious refugees from the storm.  Last time around, when evacuation of New Orleans was also mandatory, not a vacant motel room was to be had anywhere from 50 miles out of the city to the northern Arkansas line.  So now we wait to see exactly where landfall will be made, supposing the storm takes its expected northern jog, to see if my younger daughter from southern Mississippi will head for the lake here with her family and in-laws, to see what tomorrow may bring.  And all the while, I can't get the historic buildings of New Orleans out of my mind.  They have survived so much.  What a terrible thing it will be if Katrina takes them apart or high water ruins their venerable and soft brick walls.  Some things are replaceable and some are just--not.  But this, too, is something which we'll have to wait and see.