Our lights came back on at 3:15pm today...just as Dad had started to resume his intense generator repair project. Honestly, I feel a little guilty that we have all the creature comforts of electricity, food, and the internet, when so many of my friends are hot, bored, filing insurance claims, and in one case...homeless.Last night, people from the lower parishes of Louisiana spent the night with infants, elderly, infirmed, insane and all manner of other people in shelters, hotels, motels, tents, and homes across the nation. Some are hundreds of miles away, having been flow out of New Orleans by cargo plane or transported by train. Many were bused to northern parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Others drove themselves to destinations unknown.
While so many fled from areas below I-10, those above I-10 had no idea that today would look like this. The city of Baton Rouge is stunned and was caught very off guard by the direct path of destruction that Gustav left as his legacy. Every home is without power. No gas is available. No stores are open. Debris is everywhere. Over 400 trees fell on or through roofs. Three or four hundred traffic lights are down. Our city was preparing shelters for people from other places. We had no idea that a day later we would need to shelters to house our own.
My best friend Holly called me this morning and asked if I could find her a hotel room in Monroe. They have four children under age 7 (three of their own and a nephew who has been with them for a year while his mom is in Iraq) and the kids were restless and hot and the house was very dark. They, along with many others, hadn't properly prepared for long term inconveniences. In Baton Rouge, our hurricane prep has always been pretty light. We have always had the luxury of being able to go to a store after a hurricane - even if we lose power, at least Wal-Mart would always be open. If we needed gas, we knew we could just pull up to a gas station and fill up. Katrina taught us to keep cash on hand, because you can't count on the banks to be able to open or ATMs to work. Typically after a storm, even if you didn't really prepare beforehand, you still have access to basic services afterward, but this time is so different. No one expected to not have access to food or to gas. No one expected 100% of the city's residents would lose power. No one expected that they may have to wait as long as two weeks before power is restored. Not in Baton Rouge. That just doesn't happen.
After I quizzed Holly on her plan to travel north for a hotel room (which by the way, there are none), we soon realized that maybe that wasn't such a good idea and she should find another alternative. She text'd me later this afternoon to say that they had decided to go to Atlanta.
Tonight I sit and listen to the sound of the rain from an air conditioned house, typing on my dad's laptop. I am a passionately thankful person and I could fill a book with things that I am grateful for at this moment. Family. Friends. Shelter. Safety. Provision. Comfort. Amenities. Transportation. Sanity. Health. Stability. Peace. So many things that so many people are not enjoying at this hour. So many things that we take for granted daily. So many things that we think we deserve...times like this should humble us all.
We complain about the price of gas and milk, but as Americans, we fail to realize that even in our worst discomfort, we are still so blessed. People in other countries don't know what it means to have central air. They can't pop into the neighborhood grocery store and pick up fresh meat and fruit. They don't have cars to complain about not being able to fill up. They have babies with HIV/AIDS. They have genocide. They have slavery. They have dictatorships. They have famine. They have isolation. They have tents and huts. They eat what they can, when they can. They are being slaughtered and mutilated because of the way they look.
...and we can't fathom not having electricity for 14 days.
Maybe Gustav was the dose of humility that we so desperately need.
A group of pine trees fell on this storage shed. The trees fell on the power lines, snapped the pole and caused the lines to fall across the homeowner's truck.
A tree branch fell at my rental property and broke down the fence on the adjacent building. It also broke a window pane in one of the units and did a little surface roof damage.
This tree looks like it was struck by lighting, but the limb was completely torn off by the force of the wind.
Similar scenes were found around town. 
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