Maybe we have a different point of view here in California - we're are constantly being told to expect to be on your own for at least 3 days.. most of us realists think it will be longer...

That being said - the hurricane blew thru on Monday - New Orleans was apparently spared - I was happy - I did pray (whether that has any bearing on anything only God knows!) - I remember being happy that they didn't get wiped off the map... Tuesday the levees failed.. Those that stayed behind started evacuating - by Thursday serious help was on the ground and working - and evacuating those to texas and points beyond..

In my book, that's a pretty darn good job....

Someone else sent me the text of New Orleans disaster plans... here are a couple small excerpts on evacuation.. :
Conduct of an actual evacuation will be the responsibility of the Mayor of New Orleans in coordination with the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the OEP Shelter Coordinator.

The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed.

So tell me... where was the Mayor in all this? From my point of view he's screaming and yelling and pointing the finger every which way but at himself... And I can't seem to understand why the president is being blamed for this one...

And yes, I've been going over our supplies and even talking with the neighbors... we've a couple swimming pools in the neighborhood and we're hoping we can use that water.. plus our own water stores.. and we have camping water filters.. Lots of pasta stored.. that doesn't seem to go bad - lots of propane too, though I do need some for the camping stoves.. have lots for the bbq... plus canned soups, chilies, vegetables, beef jerky... camping supplies.. and most important - food for the cats... yep - they are all in the disaster plans here...

I just hope we don't get a big quake on this coast in the near future.. things would really be bad then..

Canie