I appreciate your thoughts! However we are well out of the storm's path up here in Northwest Louisiana. We'll be lucky to get a little rain from it.
The Shreveport area has filled up with folks running from the storm. Shelters are open, and the five casinos are doing landmark business!
I really think anyone living north of Lafayette will be o.k.
Not so the folks in and around New Orleans. This could well be the worst natural disaster to ever hit the U.S. On a related note, you can expect gasoline and oil prices to soar even higher. Most of our nation's fuel either originates in the Gulf or comes through there. The only port that can handle supertankers from overseas is closed as are all the rigs and distributions facilities in the area. We will most likely face a real shortage instead of an aledged shortage!
Also even those folks taking refuge in the fairly secure Superdome may be in for trouble, as the Dome is more or less an elevated island in the middle of a bowl. It may be days or weeks before they get out of there.
People in the hospitals will almost certainly be moved to the highest floors. They have generators, but will most likely run out of fuel for them after a few days at most.
At the best it will be awful, with many dead. There are bound to be so many complications after the storm--disease, animals (alligators), decaying remains, etc.
New Orleans needs our prayers, and Mississippi and maybe even Mobile are in for severe trouble as well.
DonM