How's the weather?

[kinch]

Watson, LA received just over 31" of rain in 2-1/2 days.
Baton Rouge received close to 26"
Lafayette got 28".

Flood waters are moving around and leveling out as the river crests move south.
Some areas are drying up while others that thought they were spared are starting to rise a bit.

once these rivers and bayous can catch up a bit and start dumping this into bigger rivers and lakes people can begin putting their lives back together.

fortunately, very very few reports of any type of looting/stealing.
but TONS of reports of people flocking to help. be it by boat on rescue missions, or volunteers at shelters, or people donating food and clothing.

Well, the national news is definitely reporting quite a bit now.

I saw a story about floating caskets?

Stay safe man.

I was thinking, if you want to be famous as an internet meme, you should don full hipster gear: scruffy, dark rimmed glasses, whatever you can think of, and walk through the flood floating a bunch of obscure microbrews in tow. If someone gets a pic of that, you are golden.

 

[Nutriaitch]

Well, the national news is definitely reporting quite a bit now.

I saw a story about floating caskets?

yep, saw a few pics on twitter from verified ned sources.
kinda disturbing, but not the first time that happens down this way.

safe man.

i'm good down here. Those water will never make it this far south.
everything eventually flows into either the Mississippi or Lake Pontchartrain.

it's just make work rather difficult because of logistics.
we have offices just outside New Orleans, about an hour south of New Orleans, and just East of Houston.
95% of our current projects are happening in Texas and at the moment it's a real challenge to get people out there without sending them halfway to Canada first.

we also have 3 employees directly affected by this. one guy in lafayette area had nearly 3 feet of water in his home.

was thinking, if you want to be famous as an internet meme, you should don full hipster gear: scruffy, dark rimmed glasses, whatever you can think of, and walk through the flood floating a bunch of obscure microbrews in tow. If someone gets a pic of that, you are golden.

i wouldn't even know where to begin shopping for that stuff.

 

[Nutriaitch]

South Carolina putting together a donation drive on their campus for Baton Rouge flood victims.
their way of repaying the goodwill LSU sent their way last season during their floods.

Huge thumbs up to the Gamecocks.

 

[Nutriaitch]

now that some water is receding (still rising in some areas), the magnitude of this event is coming to light.

over 40,000 homes have flood damage.

over 20,000 people were rescued by either the National Guard and first responders or the "Cajun Navy" (what volunteers in own boats are being called).

11 deaths so far, with firemen still going door to door. Communications are terrible right now. So it's nearly impossible to know who evacuated or was rescued or is missing.

traveling east/west across southern Louisiana is still a challenge. long stretches of I-10 is still underwater.


the expense of this is going to be staggering for the area.
a large percentage of these people do not have flood insurance. this is a hilly area with high enough elevation to not require flood insurance. These are houses and neighborhoods that have never seen flood waters before.

 

[kinch]

now that some water is receding (still rising in some areas), the magnitude of this event is coming to light.

over 40,000 homes have flood damage.

over 20,000 people were rescued by either the National Guard and first responders or the "Cajun Navy" (what volunteers in own boats are being called).

11 deaths so far, with firemen still going door to door. Communications are terrible right now. So it's nearly impossible to know who evacuated or was rescued or is missing.

traveling east/west across southern Louisiana is still a challenge. long stretches of I-10 is still underwater.


the expense of this is going to be staggering for the area.
a large percentage of these people do not have flood insurance. this is a hilly area with high enough elevation to not require flood insurance. These are houses and neighborhoods that have never seen flood waters before.

I get better news on this here than elsewhere online. Thanks dude.

How long can Louisianians live without a crawfish boil? Will this hurt the crawfish population? I am willing to ask the hard hitting questions.

 

[Nutriaitch]

I get better news on this here than elsewhere online. Thanks dude.

How long can Louisianians live without a crawfish boil? Will this hurt the crawfish population? I am willing to ask the hard hitting questions.

not crawfish season right now, so we get through it by boiling shrimp and crabs instead.

have to wait and see on the impacts to crawfish industry.
typically this time of year, the ponds are dry and crawfish are underground. they're probably out in full force right now, so not sure what that's going to mean once the season rolls around again.

 

[Nutriaitch]

mayor of Denham Springs said on radio that every school in the town took on water and will be 3-4 months before they can reopen.

 

[Thump]

Oh man.


That's awful.

 

[Nutriaitch]

fortunately, very very few reports of any type of looting/stealing.
but TONS of reports of people flocking to help. be it by boat on rescue missions, or volunteers at shelters, or people donating food and clothing.

I want to comment on this a little more, because it rarely if ever gets any attention.

when people outside of this are think of Louisiana flooding, they think mostly of the war zone Nola became after Katrina. That crap went down in the most crime ridden corners of one of the most crime ridden cities in America.

that's not who we are.

this is much more indicative of the people of Louisiana.

we deal with flooding. it's a part of life here. typically it's in the form of a surge instead of a monsoon.
and when it happens, the whole community rallies together.

I've seen it too many times in my life now. People of different ages, races, social classes, etc. all show up without being asked to do it. they show up even when the cameras aren't rolling. they don't ask for anything in return. they bring their own boats and equipment, burn their own gas, and bring any supplies they can muster with them. they risk their own well being to help people they have never seen before or will again.


For Hurricane Rita in '05, word started spreading that the levee behind my community was in a bind. People showed up in that weak spot. Some had to sneak around road blocks to get there (myself included).

about 2 dozens of us spent several hours doing everything we could to fight Mother Nature. We were sandbagging the top, drop broken concrete to attempt to create a buffer to break up the wave action, etc.

we lost our fight that day and the levee failed. we literally watched it give way and crumble right in front of us.

the crew that scattered from there didn't immediately beeline out of town.
most of them went up and down streets laying in the horn warning anyone that could hear them to get the hell out.

that's who Louisiana is. that's why even the people that leave here always seem to come back.

that's why even though this is not a wealthy state, or a well educated state, or even a state that has anything to draw outsiders to come here, I absolutely love this place and don't want to leave.

the people here are the difference.

Louisiana is a special place that I'm glad my kids get to call home.

 

[kinch]

And hey, this finally gets national attention. Thanks @Nutriaitch for guiding us through before it was big news. And this is, decidedly, big news.

I'm glad you are okay. Good luck helping those around you. You have had an impact on me, first with various bakes and stews, now with knowing more about your populace. Good fucking shit.

 

[LostLassie]

Nothing like Nutriaitch's situation, but holy crap! We finally got some rain, which may or may not have contributed, but...

Yeah, I sat outside looking at the full moon a couple nights ago. I did have a citronella candle burning. Not sure that's when it happened, but I have been devoured by freaking mosquitoes in a way I have never been before. The outside of my right hand, from the knuckle to the wrist, has five bites in a row. The top of my foot is so covered, it's too hard to count--10, 15? I don't know. Couple other stray bites on my arm and ankle.

Really wondering if a very greedy bug got in the house and snacked away while I was sleeping. I can't imagine I wouldn't have noticed being attacked this much while I was outside. I sit out on my patio at night every summer, and I basically never get bitten. Can't figure this one out. But, damn!

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

We've already gotten about 10+ inches of rain in the last week. They are saying now between 10 and 24 inches over night for some areas.

We survived 14" in 6 hours last October but this shit is getting ridiculous.

No where near LAs problems but if the rain totals are on the upper end it won't be pretty

 

[Nutriaitch]

and here we go

not well organized yet, and may not develop into anything to worry about.

but if I had to draw out the exact worst case scenario for myself, it would look an awful lot like the yellow track on this map.

 

[Buckeneye]

74 and sunny on a beautiful holiday weekend. September and October make living in Ohio all worth it.

 

[buckeyebri]

Storm a brewing...,.