South Florida... keep everything nailed down for us!

How's it going? We have another month to go and someone turned the tropics on again!

Stay safe though this one!

Thanks Lake!

Don't worry about the Florida ohana guys. We are actually evacuated already and safe. Tikilicious & Steve and I are at my boyfriends house in Brevard County. Will head to Atlanta for Tiki Torch Nights tomorrow.

Thanks for thinking of us!

What with Katrina now having moved into the Gulf of Mexico, the same "stay safe" is now extended to all you west coast Floridians and those living in the Panhandle.

Sailor Curt

Lenore,

I thought you guys go to the Mai Kai when hurricanes come a blowin!

Actually, the Hurricane spared Ft. Lauderdale and took a turn to the south and hit the same folks that got wacked by Hurricane Andrew (almost 13 years ago to the day).

Hold on tight New Orleans and the Gulf Coast ohana... :(

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-08-27 15:32 ]

Oh crap, not AGAIN.

Good luck, PJ, New Orleans and all...I'm so sorry.

my kitties are casting protection spells for you,

tikivixen

Has anyone heard from PJ?????? PJ let us know that you are okay.

Personnally we were able to bug out early.

If there are any other New Orleans, Metairians, Panhandlers, Mobilites etc. Please let us know you are okay or at least out of harms way.

She sent me a short little email last night saying she was loading up and heading out Baton Rouge way first thing this morning. Glad to know your outta there tiki410.

I'm watching the weather channel today and I gotta say that I am really worried about this storm for anyone in its path.
If you are in the way or know ANYONE who is please get out in time and convince those who haven't packed up to do so immediately!!!!!! It looks like a lot of people will drown if caught in the low areas and theres too few options to flee by highway.

I will do my part by keeping an eye on the skies here in MO and will catch any falling mugs so they don't smash.

If you are the praying type, Begin now. This could be like the Tsunami plus incredible winds and rain. Take care everyone!

Dawntiki, Thanks for the update . . . if you speak to her again give her my best.

Falling mugs. . . I was able to bring Bob, Shecky and a few others but I left a few brethren behind. I was only able to pack one small box and had to make some really, really hard choices. It made me think for a while as to why I was spending so much time collecting this stuff.

I remember watching an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and they had this one person that broke a nice shaker that was purchased for him and I remember him saying to himself something along the lines "This is the reason why you don't buy nice things" over and over again. I really felt sorry for the individual and what would make him feel that way.

We sit here and watch the weather channel and the wife is crying and I try to convince her that everything is alright. What really sucks is that there many of us still thinking Katrina's "going to make that right turn" and NO will be saved. The double suck is that if you believe that then you are saying that its okay for the people in Miss, Ala. and Fla to get crapped on and they have had more than their share for a while.

There are a lot of emotions going on right now . . . concern for jobs (not personnaly have laptop will travel), school for children, etc.

I can continue but I am tired of this sh.t. I think I saw a place that said upscale flea market. I will check it out tomorrow. If I am stuck here I might as well as go to Washington, LA (thats where I scored my first mug in the wild). I also noticed that there are 2 new Goodwills. I will make the run tomorrow. Time to start anew......................

Tikiwahine, Rob Roy, and AquaJ. . . I still got you on my list for Bob. "Keeping eyes peeled for the good score tomorrow and the next day and the next day and ....".

Here's a link to an interesting series of articles featuring a researcher who must be feeling like one depressed Cassandra right now:

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/wetlands/hurricane1.html

I think a lot of folks don't understand how bad this is--including many New Orleanians. I read a quote from one gal yesterday who said something like "If we can cope with Mardi Gras we can handle a hurricane." Riiight. I hope when she saw the Category 5 upgrade that she changed her mind and RAN.

I quote from a wiser New Orleans fellow's recent blog:

"In 2002, an American Red Cross estimate found 25,000 to 100,000 people would be killed if a major hurricane hit the New Orleans area."

Not only that, but studies have shown that even a hard brush from the edge of a Category Five could drown New Orleans under twenty to thirty feet of contaminated water and debris. Considerable loss of life would be a given.

Let's hope the Red Cross was WRONG, but I think we should probably be expecting the worst. This is heartbreaking.

I am so VERY glad to hear that so many tiki ohana have headed for higher ground!!! Let's hope everyone else is doing the same.

You guys are in my thoughts, I hope this one blows over in the good way, not the bad way; that the impact on lives is more on the inconvenience end of the scale than the devastation end.

From the National Hurricane Center:

Strike Probabilities--

CHANCES OF CENTER OF THE HURRICANE PASSING WITHIN 65 NAUTICAL MILES
OF LISTED LOCATIONS THROUGH 1PM CDT WED AUG 31 2005

PROBABILITIES IN PERCENT
A IS PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 1PM MON
FOLLOWING ARE ADDITIONAL PROBABILITIES
B FROM 1PM MON TO 1AM TUE
C FROM 1AM TUE TO 1PM TUE
D FROM 1PM TUE TO 1PM WED
E IS TOTAL PROBABILITY FROM NOW TO 1PM WED
X indicates less than zero percent

A B C D E
PENSACOLA FL 9 8 1 X 18
MOBILE AL 25 5 X X 30
GULFPORT MS 36 2 X X 38
BURAS LA 52 X X X 52
NEW ORLEANS LA 46 X X 1 47
NEW IBERIA LA 31 1 X X 32

This one has the potential to be something you remember for the rest of your life. One of those "Where were you when..." type events. I hope not. I love New Orleans and hate to think of what might happen to the people and to the historic landmarks of the city and the Quarter. All good luck to you in Louisiana and nearby.

On 2005-08-25 18:29, tiki_kiliki wrote:
Don't worry about the Florida ohana guys. We are actually evacuated already and safe.

No.... worry about the Florida Ohana. Only the three of you left. The rest of the Florida Ohana are still here.

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 17:01 ]

My Boss has been trapped in Florida since last week due to Katrina & her Waves, they had just getten back to the Keys from the Bahamas just before the storm hit the coast.

Looks like Nawlins missed the worst of it, there was plenty of structural damage (with so many old wood houses without the hurricane upgrades required in Fla. it was bound to happen), but only one levee was breached with 3 to 8 foot storm surge coming into the city. The levee breach was in the 9th Ward, so if anyone's brave enough could they go check on Fats Domino?

Anyone know how the Mai Kai faired?

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 16:59 ]

Hope everyone is safe and well.
With the Hurricanes of the last few years, are developers starting to build houses that can stand up to these conditions more?
I lived on the West Coast of Ireland for about 7 years and experienced some very strong winds (the highest was a 138mph gust!), so all the houses were built to take the weather, mostly single storey with small windows. They may not be that attractive but they don't seem to blow down and you can quite easily sit the big storms out.

Not again...

The great state of Texas has been amazingly generous towards the homeless hurricane victims of Louisiana and Mississippi...

And here's a big THANK YOU! from Mother Nature...

sigh

If I were one of the refugees in Houston right now I'd be starting to feel like the damn things were **chasing ** me.