Playing with Your Life

Sitting at work today, I found myself glued to the television coverage of Hurricane Ike's impending landfall in Texas. Aside from being concerned for our friends and family who still live in that area -- and along the Gulf Coast -- I found myself praying for the tens of thousands of folks who are scrambling to get out of the storms way, and particularly for the 22 sailors trapped on a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico who cannot get out of Ike's way and who are going to have to ride it out. You know things are rough when the Coast Guard can't even get to the ship to rescue them; they are very much in God's hands now, as is every person threatened by this monster.

I've also been bewildered by the folks who aren't heeding the call to leave; in fact, I saw a report about a crowd of folks who have gone to a bar on Galveston Island there they intend to have an extended hurricane party and ride out the storm. Why put yourself at unnecessary risk?? Why put your families (parents, siblings, etc. - I would certainly hope none of these lunatics have children) in a situation where they spend the next days wondering if you survived?

What is enough for these folks? Apparently, it wasn't enough that the governor and state emergency management officials told them to leave. It wasn't enough that FEMA and the hurricane center are saying this storm could rival Katrina and even the 1900 storm that killed 8,000 people in Texas. And it certainly wasn't a big enough hint when folks who are staying behind are advised to write their Social Security numbers on their arms.

I have absolutely no understanding of why they're doing this. They've got my prayers, though -- and my hope that they live through this so that they can wash those numbers off their arms themselves rather than having someone who finds them later do it for them...

If Congress is Out of Session, Then This Must Be a REAL Hurricane

I always like to try and reassure myself that when we moved back to the D.C. area from Alabama, we were finally able to escape the annual threat of tropical storms and hurricanes (overlooking, of course, the hurricane that struck Washington in 2003, the year we moved back). Hanna had second thoughts, and in the past few hours she finished pounding our area with rain and heavy wind. Now, it's just wind.

As the picture shows, the damage to the yard was minimal; just a few limbs down and a large bush in the backyard crushed. The most damage came from water coming up under the foundation of our house into our basement rec room along two walls. It's not much fun spending Saturday afternoon using a steam cleaner to pull water out of carpet.

Now, of course, we turn our attention to Ike -- already a Category 4, and tentatively projected to head once again near Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. We're already praying for our friends throughout that area and hoping that this one decides to start spinning aimlessly in the Atlantic...

Watching, Waiting and Praying

Nearly three years to the day since Hurricane Katrina blasted Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and the entire country once again finds itself glued to television screens to watch the track of another major storm. I also find myself praying for many friends that we have still have living throughout the Gulf Coast region, several of whom have emailed over the past few days to say that they're leaving and heading north. We pray that their absence from their homes is brief and that they can return very soon.

In the nearly ten years that I was a resident of Alabama, I lived through four hurricanes: Danny, Opal, Erin and Georges. There was a certain fear at the time about what they might mean for our lives and homes, but by comparison to Katrina and now Gustav they were just mere annoyances. I've heard from my parents for many years about the destruction caused by Camille (even in southern and southwestern Virginia), and I was only 9 when Frederic hit the Gulf Coast and caused such horrible damage.

There is no disputing that the aftermath of Katrina was a disaster on many levels, so for me it's reassuring and somewhat encouraging to see that local, state and federal officials have learned their lessons and are reacting much more quickly and proactively to Gustav. Having said that, and knowing how critical residents of the Gulf Coast were to the late reaction after the last big storm, I'm appalled as I flip through the various news channels to see that there are people who have ignored the repeated warnings to leave ("mandatory evacuation" means just that -- a mandatory evacuation) and are sticking around to ride things out. This time, there are no excuses if something happens to them -- the buses and trains were there and taking folks out of town, and they had nearly-constant messages to hit the road. With a wife and two small children, there is no way that I would take the sort of gamble that these folks are taking.

As someone who worked in politics for many years and who is a self-professed political junkie, this is the time of the year where I should be preparing to watch debates, final convention appearances and around-the-clock prognostications. None of that now, though. Can't focus too much on the new sense of energy that the choice of Sarah Palin has provided for the Republican ticket -- and I am pleased that the GOP is taking this serious enough to cancel all activities for the first day of the convention and consider putting together major fundraisers throughout the week for the Red Cross and other relief organizations.

May God continue to be with everyone in this nation at this time, but particularly with all of those who will be living through Gustav's (hopefully short and weak) appearance on our shores.