Maritime Reporter, November 2005

<BODY> <div> abundance of bottled water. Lines formed at the gas pumps, and even we got cut-off by a blonde and her finger. But it was easy to understand. If you ran out of gas, had a breakdown or got hurt, there were bigger fish in your rescuers' frying pans. It was a tough time and place for ethics. The whole region, according to the newsradio, was hoping that Rita would go elsewhere. They were were wishing the tempest on their neighbors, and it made them felt awful. Rita arrived at Boutte Friday night. Except for one very loud, angry thunderclap, we slept through it. The lights and the phone were off at 0630, but were back on with- in the hour. We thought we'd take 90 East to the Rte. 23 exit, the Belle Chasse Highway, for a look at those two pogy boats on the road down by Empire. The drive up Rte. 90 revealed a few houses standing in water, but billboards had taken the worst hit in the night. Compared to the icons of Katrina, com- pared to all fears, the region got-off light with Rita. There were still squalls that morning, rain bands as they're called, that arrived periodically to shake the car and render the windshield wipers useless. We missed the requisite turnoff to 90 Business, and wound-up crossing the Huey Long Bridge into New Orleans. "Unfortunately," states an encyclopedia article we'd read, "most people currently living in hurricane-prone areas do not understand the threat of storm surge ... In South Florida, many people, houses and animals were virtually swept away by storm surge in the great hurricanes of the early part of [the twentieth] century. Yet the collective memory no longer holds these recollections ... " In New Orleans, that day, the collec- tive memory was reminded. And yet the winds, gusty as they were, did not seem like they would churn-up a surge. They and the squalls were annoying as we drove around town, but otherwise innocuous. Our mind changed when sheets of corrugated steel sailed close past the windshield, evidently part of a wall until recently. We retreated to Boutte till the next day. The winds had subsided and the weather was clear, so we were able to see from a half-mile away that there was a roadblock down Rte. 23. That's okay, we're press. We get to go everywhere. We pulled-up to the sheriff's car, and jumped out with a gregarious "hi!" "You are blocking my roadblock," said the sheriff. Didn't know you could block a road- block. Wouldn't that make us a deputy? "Please move your car to the northbound lane," said the sheriff, staring ahead through his windshield. We complied. "I'm press," we announced upon return to the patrol car's side, "doing a story on ..." "Can't get through," said the sheriff, still staring ahead, "road's closed." "Oh. What's the trouble?" "Flooding." "Oh. Still? I thought you'd be all dried up by now." Why was he still staring ahead? "So, when do you think it might open? 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Circle 237 on Reader Service Card Gulf of Mexico Resources Guidebook MARITIME REPORTER AND ENGINEERINGNEWS 48 Gulf Coast Resources Guide Maritime Reporter & Engineering News MR NOVEMBER 2005 #6 (41-48).qxd 10/28/2005 10:18 AM Page 48 </div> <span id="lblContents"></span> <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.digitalwavepublishing.com/" title="Digital Magazine">Digital Wave Publishing</a> </BODY>