Gustav Blows

…quite literally.  I’m sure there is not much more I can say on the subject that the news hasn’t said.  Unfortunately, the national media has not said much for Baton Rouge.  You would think Baton Rouge is the ugly sister of a beautiful and developed New Orleans.  They look at New Orleans making out okay and didn’t even want to look in our direction.  Our town is a disaster area.  This is going to be the longest effort for power restoration that many people will ever remember.  

Gas, propane, power, and food are difficult to obtain.  Right after the storm, there was a lull of diagnosis.  People came out of their homes to look at the damage and assess what was still standing.  After this lull began the hunt for resources.  There were two types of people out the second day after the storm – people that had no resources, or greedy poeple that hoarde resources.  I dislike both.  One is ignorant, the other is greedy.  

About the third day, we ran out of propane.  Our ice was still cold, but the refrigerator was not cold anymore.  We still had lots of canned goods, but without some propane we had no way to cook them.  About this time I got word that my company had accomodations for us in Shreveport.  We left quickly. It made no sense to stick around in a town that you have to wait in 4 hour or longer lines for gas, can’t find propane, and there were limited places to find food.  

Baton Rouge is taking a long time to recover.  It is almost a week later, and there is at least another week to go before we see any return to a thought of normalcy.  The neighborhood that my parents live in is expected to take up to 3 weeks to get power back.  Imagine not having power for that amount of time and still being expected to work and carry on with your life.  I like camping, but not that much!

So, for anyone reading this, keep positive thoughts for us Baton Rouge folks.  We have a long road ahead of us.