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The Ronee' Files: Hurricane Katrina and Other Matters...(By Ronee') by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Monday, August 29, 2005
Rated "G" by the Author.
Ronee' is concerned about the weather situation in the Gulf of Mexico: there is a massive hurricane (now a catagory 4) entering the mouth of the Louisiana coastline, and weather forecasters are saying that damage or the effects may eventually head on up to Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives.
Monday, August 29, 2005, 10:17 a.m., C.D.T.~
Dear Journal~
I am very worried now. I have been watching CNN, and there is a dangerous situation going on in the Gulf of Mexico: there is a very powerful hurricane (Hurricane Katrina) headed just east of New Orleans, Louisiana, and they think that the brunt of the storm will pass over Biloxi, Mississippi; and it will be a while before this storm falls below tropical strength. So they are talking high winds and the possibility of flooding, extremely heavy rains, some power outages, and even possible tornadoes as the system passes over. They think that damage may be felt as far north as Kentucky and Tennessee (we are currently under a tropical storm warning here in TENNESSEE of all places!!), and eventually the Ohio Valley before the remains of the (former) hurricane chugs on northward. The winds were, at last report, clocking in at 135 miles per hour, far below the former 155 miles an hour when Hurricane Katrina was still in the Gulf; but that is still a very dangerous situation to reckon with.
I know the weather is going to get bad: my body doesn't like me right now, and right now I am in such pain (I know I am flaring) it isn't a bit funny! My knuckles and fingers are swollen, and it is a struggle to try to write in here; but I had to write about Katrina. What they have shown is proving to be very scary, and I hope that the people in Louisiana and Mississippi make it through the storm. Hurricanes are nothing to mess with (I have been in remnants of several, and I have been in one; but it was nothing compared to Katrina; still it was very scary, especially when the power died and you could hear the winds howling outside, and hear the rains hammering the structure of the building [shelter] we were holed up at. I thought we were sure to be goners; but God had His Hand on us, and we got through the storm okay. Still, it was unnerving, to say the very least)!
Being from the South, one can expect things like hurricanes during the summer, and we can expect to get remnants of hurricanes if they are forecast to pass by this area; but I still don't relish the idea of being caught in such tremendous winds or the possibility of being swept away by ever-rising flood waters or get smacked by debris from a tornado...I don't want to die if there is pain involved, and I don't want to die in something like a hurricane! I remember the last hurricane we were in (we were in Louisiana at the time), and..it was NOT fun AT all!
I remember mama telling us about some of the hurricanes she had been in when she was a little girl, and some of the stories were quite frightening, especially when she described the howling of the winds and that you could hear the rains slamming against the shelter she was at at the time; and also when the power died and when the waters started coming in underneath the door of the shelter; and soon people were moving away, trying to get away from the rising waters. YIKES. She said that she was worried about her parents and her sisters, but somehow they made it through the hurricanes. So mama is very well versed in hurricanes, and she knows how to get ready if one were to come sneaking along. Every summer she has a "hurricane kit", and she has her neighbors board up the house if a hurricane threatens. I tell her that she is silly because we live here in Tennessee, but mama is no fool: she has been in enough hurricanes to know how to get ready for them, and she says it doesn't matter if we don't live by the coast: as long as hurricanes are in the Gulf, she is going to do all we can to ensure that we are safe during the duration of the storm--and afterwards!
Now, we have shelter to go to when storms come; but if the water starts to rise, we are going to the high school for shelter and stay there until the dangerous weather conditions have ended. We do live on a hill, but those hurricanes can drop a lot of rain in a hurry, and what makes them so bad is that they are so long lasting; it can take up to near a day for a storm to move through an area where the hurricane is, and the winds and the extremely heavy rains can go on for hours, thus making an already bad situation all the worse. It also can take days or even weeks for the power to be restored if it goes out, and it can take even longer for relief efforts or clean up from the storm.
Besides the tropical storm warning, Nashville is also under a flood watch (up to eight inches of rain could fall here), so flooding may be innement. GREAT. Just what I did NOT want to hear! I just hope we get through this without TOO many problems, and I hope that I or none of my family members get hurt or even die as a result of the storm! I will write in here again, it may be a while, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Katrina, but things are expected to get pretty hairy here, and I don't like what I have been hearing on the news! Just be praying for me and my family is all I ask; pray we get through Hurricane Katrina's wrath!
~(((HUGS))) and much love, your (very scared) friend in Tennessee, Ronee' Le-Anne (soon to be in Katrina's path). :(
A Very nice job done Karen, Living in Oklahoma we don't have hurricanes but we do live in Tornado alley so I know the fear. Keeping them all in my prayers as well as you.
The effects of a hurricane are no fun. I remember experiencing them in New Jersey about 50 miles from the shore. One day I remember walking to school. It was humid and pre-storm still. Black clouds hung low in the sky and underneath was a band of sulpher yellow. It was scary.
May God's Grace be with the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi and all areas affected by this awful force of nature. I, for one, am quite concerned about the low-lying areas of Southern Ohio and how the creeks and River will fare with 4-8 inches of rain. Several of my friends live in the lower-lying areas, near creeks and river banks and I'm concerned about their safety. No one is immune to this one. Even here along the Galveston coastline, the waves were huge (before the north wind came) and did some damage to a fishing pier.
Very powerful, factual and compassionate write, Karen. You definitely shared the feelings that so many are feeling right now.
My friends from Biloxi live about a mile off the beach and work in the casinos, right along the beach. Since I've heard nothing, I am guessing they evacuated, but what will they return to find?
Take care.
Hugs and Love from a very concerned Texas resident,
Jill
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Monday, August 29, 2005, 10:17 a.m., C.D.T.~
