week 35, post 2: Ernesto?

Next Tuesday marks one of two terrible anniversaries for this area. And there's now a tropical depression in the Gulf. They say it will soon become a named storm -- Ernesto? The chief of the OEP (Office of Emergency Preparedness)has called a meeting for Monday night, to reveal plans for evacuations and shelters.

Yes, we can feel it. I went to Lowe's tonight to get some stuff for my little portable home. I noticed the gallons of bleach prominently displayed. The thought ran through my head that this entire store could be scattered everywhere -- not here at all -- a week from now.

Sunday, I'd gone down all the way to the end of Placquemines Parish. New Orleans got off easy -- real easy. There was no debating what to repair in Placquemines Parish -- there was nothing there to repair. Virtually 100% of the housing there is now FEMA trailers. Easy to set them up; just park it on the slab where your house used to be, hook up the power and sewer and you're home. One giant RV park.

The Mississippi River runs a LONG WAY through the middle of Placquemines Parish from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. The Big Muddy wasn't very -- almost clean and clear. We're going to be depending on the Mississippi to bring the sediment to us with which we'll rebuild the coast. But better farmland and river management upstream has reduced the sediment load the river used to carry. Ironic, isn't it?We'll have to get better at managing all that it does give us. The Corps of Engineers used to dredge the river onto barges, then dump it off the continental shelf. The'll have to bring the barges to Terrebonne Parish, please. Precious stuff, mud. We can't live without it here.

I'll add a few pictures of Placquemines Parish later. Please pray for those of coastal LA and Missippi who've been forgotten. There's no intention to nourish any hostility toward NO. It's just that many others have suffered, too, with hardly any notice at all.

As Ernesto builds in the gulf, we can see it in the skies here. We can feel it. This is serious business.

Once again: there's no preventing hurricanes. But there IS a way to minimize the damage they do.

Peace, Warren.