Stalwart bloggers spread word as hurricane rages
HACKENSACK, N.J. – Evacuees, relatives and newshounds could follow the blow-by-blow of Hurricane Katrina on the Internet, where intrepid bloggers kept the world informed of conditions on the ground as best they could.
At the offices of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, about 80 staffers hunkered down in the newsroom. On the newspaper’s Web site, NOLA.com, Joe Donley started his blog Monday morning with “Ohmygawd it’s arriving …”
“The scene out the windows is frightening, and it’s just beginning. Gusts slamming the big windows, and people reflexively ducking, knowing they’ve got to break. Trees whipping as if they’re about to be uprooted.
“There is a tooth-grinding whistle from the wind … if it keeps up, I’m going to climb up there with my trusty roll of duct tape.”
At 8:24 a.m., Donley reported that the hurricane blew out some windows in the building, and down the street, a large section of the Superdome’s roof had shorn off. An hour later, he said, “New Orleans is sinking. … I don’t want to swim. … Reports of widespread flooding now, although not at the doomsday scenario levels.” And about midday, all communication stopped.
Only to return early in the afternoon, with an almost sunny communique:
“Don’t fear, New Orleans evacuees … all is not lost. Just finished lunch … huddled on the second-floor landing watching the trees whip outside the big atrium window. Red beans and rice. Comfort food in the middle of the hurricane. Flood waters continue to rise across town … reports pouring in on the (police) scanner, and large tree branches are snapped off, blocking the stretch of Howard Street in front of the newspaper. Red beans and rice … it’s Monday, and at least something’s right with the world.”
One hundred miles north, in Hattiesburg, Miss., T.C. Byrd of Hattiesblog tried to stay in touch with the rest of the world:
“Lots of crazy wind here in Hattiesburg. Small branches down. Very light rain. … It is worse here this morning than I expected. … We are about to have to head to the hallway, I think. … I’m out, guys. Something big just fell on the house. Next up, Jennifer will be taking over.”
Jennifer, reporting from Natchez, Miss., 140 miles to the west, indeed took over:
“In true TC fashion, she’s even managed to turn even my blogging experience into a cat blog. Turns out the Keltie kitten dashed out of the door and spent a few action-packed minutes under the car. TC reports that she’s lost power due to her favorite neighbor’s large oak tree giving up the ghost and landing on some power lines.”
On Saturday, New Orleans author Poppy Z. Brite decried evacuation, citing her 28 animals, saying she had no intention of “holing up somewhere safe and dry while the animals cower in terror and go hungry.” By Sunday, on livejournal.com, she announced her change of heart:
“We are at my mother’s house in central Mississippi. We bugged out at 1:00 this afternoon, battening down the hatches as best we could and bringing only our dog and our oldest cat, Colm, who requires daily medication. I’m absolutely sick about the ones we left behind, ashamed of having abandoned ship, and doubtful that I will ever see my home again. However, we caved in to pressure from our mothers, who can accomplish what 10,000 e-mails and radio warnings screaming ‘YOU’RE GONNA DIE!!!!!!!’ cannot.”