Diane Trout - Katrina

Nature is so much stronger than we are.

But we are so much stronger than that.

Sticking with the FEMA or Red Cross disaster preparedness info. is reasonable. They're good guides and you already have a sense of what your needs are. Having stuff together is definitely helpful.

Out of curiosity, how much is gas by you? It's about $3.19 in this area of NY.

So I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, a city of about 300,000 people. We went through 2 mandatory evacuations from hurricanes. What is transpiring in New Orleans has made me realize that for all of South Carolina's faults, disaster preparedness is *NOT* one of them. Only now can I appreciate how much on the ball that state is every year. To them the recovery process starts before the hurricane hits. The national guards start getting deployed about 2 days before landfall. They bring in water purification units, and relief supplies. 1 day before landfall they make the decision on evacuation. The inbound lanes on the interstates are turned so people can travel out easier. Schools are turned into shelters. Sheriffs and police go door to door in the high risk areas to take people to shelters or have them sign a document that they are staying against advice.

In 1989 we had to evacuate, and Hurricane Hugo caused $10 billion in damage, and about 50 people died (falling trees, downed power lines, or just wrong place wrong time). In 1999 we had to evacuate, but thankfully the hurricane went north by 100 miles. State gov't didn't mess around in either case. In the 1999 case it ended up costing the state a lot of money, even though the hurricane didn't hit. But the plan gets set in motion if anything comes nearby. In the end it's only money.

The fault lies squarely on the shoulder of Louisiana state government.

-n

recently. I just bought a 5 gallon gas can. It's still empty, so it could still be used for water if necessary.

I just got a bike bag which has foldable panniers. It's a Topeak so it comes off the rack easily but won't fall off. I would have a pannier back all set up and ready to go. And another bag that you could attach with a bungie cord. Not that I do, though.


I'm more worried than ever. There is a yahoo groups called running on empty 2 that has lots of hints. Then there is
www.urbansurvival.com which has interesting stuff. I also subscribed to their companion site peoplenomics for $30 / year. I think it's worth it.

Anyway, about the oca and yacon. Next time you are in the bay area, come out and see them. If driving up and down California is still a doable thing.

Visualize impeachment.

Gas in Canada is between $1.25 a litre and $1.50. For you Yanks, that's about $5 to $6 a gallon. The one good thing that could come from this is at some point down the road I may not see all those super-sized SUVs on the road, carrying single drivers to and from their urban destinations.