Hurricane...no wait...Tropical Storm Ida

This little beauty is a satellite imagine of Tropical Storm Ida, which is bearing down on the Gulf Coast as we speak. Guess what? I live on the Gulf Coast now and old Ida seems to be headed this way! Actually, that's a bit of a fib. I don't think New Orleans is even in its direct path. I think they're saying now the only fallout we'll see from the storm are some potentially high winds and of course, truckloads of rain. As in, several inches over the next day or two. (I fail to see how this will differ from the weather on a normal day here, but that's just me).

For someone who said a couple months ago that I'd be out of here at the slightest hint of a storm, I feel like I've failed miserably in my prep for this one. To be honest, I didn't even really know about it until I got to work this morning. They're not calling for evacuations so I guess the only things I might have done differently would be to buy a couple cases of bottled water and fill the cars up with gas. I'll admit; working at the hospital has given me a sense of security for any storms that may come. Maybe it's a false sense of security and I'm being foolish, but whatever. During Katrina most of my co-workers actually rode out the storm here in the hospital. They've told me stories about sleeping on cots in their offices and having emergency planning meetings in a board room that was upwards of 110 degrees. I know conditions got pretty unpleasant at some points (once the power went out and the generators flooded especially) but it was for the most part a safe place to be. So,worst case scenario if it ever comes down to it and for some crazy reason we can't leave, I'd probably just hole up here in the hospital with everyone else.

But seriously, I don't think it's really going to be that bad. There are very mixed reactions about the storm by people here. Those who were here for Katrina seem to be the most cautious. They're already talking about how they're going to go about draining the water from their yards and gauging how high they think the water will get. At the same time though, those people don't seem too overly worried, you know? They know it won't compare to Katrina and after living through that, well...there's not much that can scare them. Then of course there are those who are completely freaking out right now and others who think the whole thing is ridiculous and everyone is overreacting big time.

So, we'll see. They say that we can expect the rain to begin this afternoon/evening and I guess last until...God knows when. January maybe. I'll keep you posted and if not, just assume that New Orleans is under water and I'm floating around the hospital somewhere.