Hurricane Rita

Sept. 24, 2005

Here we go again. Just when we get dried out from Katrina, Rita rears her ugly head.

The wind and rain began on Thursday night. Friday, we awoke to heavy bands of rain and wind, high water and flooding….again. The levees in the 9th ward at the Industrial Canal had been topped and were flooding the area again. Water was rising in the lower areas of Metairie and in the lower parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemine. Unbelievable and yet you feel numb to it all. Numb and thankful that people did not have a chance to come back yet. Thankful that the areas that were flooding where already flooded once and could not be damaged any further.

We were still able to get downtown and take food to the Police who had to move their operations to the Royal Sonesta hotel and to some other satellite police stations and fire stations. Weather kept us from traveling far but at least we were able to get some food out. On our way home we were met with flooding on I-10 at Metairie Rd. As most residents around here know a good rain can flood this underpass let alone a hurricane. We started to turn around and saw a LA SPCA rescue squad in need of assistance. They were from Baton Rouge and did not know any back roads to get around the flood and back to I-10. They had 3 rescued dogs in their car. Three weeks later and they are still finding animals alive, truly amazing. After showing them the way out, we headed back to the hotel in Kenner to ride out Rita.

We lost power a few times but for the most part faired well through the storm. Saturday the winds and rain were still blowing and fearful of downed power lines we decided it would be safest for everyone if we did not deliver today. Horst cooked for those police and sheriff officers that could come to the Foundry and closed up around 8pm. Finally we had an early bedtime for us to get ready for full deliveries again tomorrow.

Let’s hope this is the last storm we have to weather this hurricane season.