Are there actually people staying behind to report the news??? OMG!!!!
Of COURSE there were people who stayed behind! There's always those who stay behind! I am very worried today to hear about the folks in Houma and other areas who braved Gustav's fury before it toned down. Especially the ones who stayed on their shrimp boats....
I'm in Lafayette, and we stayed home. We were not under evacuation orders, and our mayor actually said he and his staff couldn't even imagine a scenario that would make them call for mandatory evacuation.....we catch the hurricanes, but we are far enough away from water to where tide surge isn't an issue. He did recommend that people in trailers, those in low-lying areas or those with trees in dangerous positions leave, and lots of them did.
We had a very interesting day yesterday. The winds were high---I can't wait to find out what it gusted to---and the rain was steady but very slow. Almost a peaceful amount of rain, if you can imagine that occuring inside of seemed like hurricane force winds! We had all been told to watch for rising water, but honestly, the rain was SO slow that the drainage system had no problems keeping up.
Now those winds......that was a sight to behold. And the sound of the wind was like a hundred jets flying overhead! Some of the plants from my garden were UPROOTED....I'm talking little things like coneflowers and blackeyed susan's.....I still can't figure out how it happened, even though I watched it with my own eyes. The plants were just torn from the ground...My neighbor had a good many of his roofing tiles fly off, but he's needed a new roof for years. (Poor guy was praying he'd have damage so insurance would buy his new roof.) Another neighbor lost two trees, one of which fell onto his home and one of which fell onto another neighbor's home, but thankfully the damage seems to be as minor as it can be with a tree on top of your home. Their trampoline wasn't anchored, and it went for a short flight into yet ANOTHER neighbor's yard.
My home stayed safe, but one of my very well cared for oak trees in my front yard bit the dust. This tree has been trimmed and cared for by professionals for years and there wasn't a speck of dead wood on it, but the trunk just suddenly burst apart. Thank God it just fell onto the lawn and didn't cause damage to anything. I cannot tell you how shocked I was to watch that tree go over.....I NEVER would have believed it. Never.
Our power was out for under three hours.
We were blessed, blessed, blessed. And our prayers are with those who suffered so much more damage than us. And so many did.