Hurricane Ida

There's a petition to permanently remove August 29 from the Louisiana calendar. You see, 16 years ago on August 29 Hurricane Katrina forever changed SE Louisiana. And Ida was poised to do the same on Katrina's sweet 16. With 150 mph winds (wind speed SE Louisiana last saw in 1856), we feared the worst. Would the levee system hold? Would this be a repeat Katrina? Was I leaving my house and never returning to it? 

The storm strengthened too quickly for a mandatory evacuation and contraflow to be enacted. I watched grim stories unfold on social media of people being in the car for HOURS in gridlock, going nowhere, some turning back figuring riding out the storm at home beat being stuck on the interstate. Searching for gas was a gnarly Where's Waldo game no one wanted to play. Brutal. 

The storm rolled in Sunday and for the city of NOLA, things turned out more or less OK. Those who rode out the storm said they've never been more scared listening to the wind and hearing trees crash down around them. The levee system did indeed hold, however not sure anyone expected that the entire power system would be "compromised" (a term I never need to hear again, along with "catastrophic"). So NOLA went dark. It's unsure when the power will fully be restored. Power is starting to trickle back to essential areas and there's talk the city will be back online in anywhere from 10 days to 21 days. Our friends in SE Louisiana are in a much dire state. They took the brunt of the storm and the region is devastated. National news has been focused on NOLA, so it's hard to get a full picture of the damage, but it's bad. And that feels like an understatement.

Friends have started to return to NOLA to assess the damage. Two that I know of have been looted. DISGUSTING. My dad went by my house on Tuesday (48 hours post storm) to clean out my fridge and reported I have exterior damage but interior of home seems to be OK. I'd love to go check it out in person, but the drive from Houston to NOLA (and then back) seems to daunting for right now. 

Tree split and fell onto my roof/yard

So long, fence

View of the tree from the side of my house

View of the damage from the backdoor. Jumanji!

So what's next? Remains unclear. At some point, returning to NOLA. I'll go home when there's power, water, gas, and access to groceries. Then I'll figure out the clean up and repairs on the home. File the insurance claim. For now, I'm grateful for a job that allows me to work remotely and a boyfriend who has opened his house for me to be as long as I need. I ebb and flow between feeling displaced and overwhelmed/stressed/anxious/sad and feeling grateful the damage wasn't worse/I'm safe. Taking things day by day. And on some days, bit by bit.