The images are indelibly etched into my mind's eye. I could live another hundred years and never forget what I witnessed in first New Orleans, then Mississippi and finally Cameron, Louisiana. The devastation hurricanes Katrina and Rita brought to these locations was beyond the scope of my ability to grasp. Nothing I could have done ahead of time could have prepared me for what I saw and the stories of those whom I met.
I had seen the destruction tornadoes can cause first hand many times. I have lived through a few tornadoes and know full well what nature is capable of doing in a matter of 60 seconds. Twisted metal, broken glass and splintered wood are the earmarks of a tornado passing through. One house can be a pile of rubble while the one next to it is intact. That is the way a tornado chooses its victims.
A tornado, even a major one, is at the most a mile wide. Most tornadoes are a few hundred feet wide and travel on the ground a few miles. Monster F-5 tornadoes such as the one which destroyed Greensburg, Kansas are exceptions and thankfully only occur rarely. The vast majority of tornadoes are capable of quickly destroying a house or barn and then return to the cloud from which they came.
The destruction a large tornado causes is nothing to dismiss. When one of these storms hits a populated area the effects are devastating as far as loss of life and property. But, the losses are localized and limited to a particular part of town or along a line stretching from one location to the next. Tornadoes are not capable of inflicting damage on a huge geographical area for they are too small.
That which will always set Katrina apart from most storms was the sheer size of the hurricane. At one time Katrina took up almost the entire Gulf of Mexico. Its hurricane force winds stretched hundreds of miles in all directions and brought death and destruction far from its eye. Most hurricanes, even monster category 4 or 5 ones are compact and bring catastrophic devastation to a particular location, but only minor damage to region.
Katrina not only caused the catastrophic damage locally, it managed to cause major damage to an area roughly the size of the state of Montana. When comparing hurricanes, we must always keep in mind the size of Katrina and not just wind speeds. Due to its size and strength, Katrina was able to force a wall of water called the storm surge against the Mississippi coast every bit as terrifying as the tsunami that hit southeast Asia.
Those images which I will never forget were of piles of rubble stretching for miles and gutted out buildings which once were apartment complexes, hospitals and shopping centers. As long as I live, I will never forget driving through southeast New Orleans (not the 9th ward area) which had been a nice middle class section of town. The buildings and houses were still there, but every single one of them had been gutted.
No words can describe the eeriness of an empty town. The most stirring memory I have is of a huge medical center totally gutted and void of any life whatsoever. The whole scene reminded me of how a city would look after a nuclear war. I cannot imagine what the area looked like immediately after the storm, for it was nearly nine months after Katrina hit that I was able to get down there and see its impact.
There are localized areas of heavy loss from Gustov, but to compare this storm to Katrina is silly. I am thankful the area was evacuated for that was the wise thing to do, but some of the statements made about this being "the storm of the century" and the prospects for "catastrophic damage" were a bit overblown. Unfortunately politics entered the equation as well as using fear tactics to motivate stubborn people to evacuate.
I am extremely thankful to our Heavenly Father for His protection and blessing on this situation. Gustov could have been a very bad storm if it had ramped up to a category 4 and moved 50 miles to the east. But, since it did neither, it will go down in history as just another Louisiana borderline category 3 hurricane that mainly afflicted a part of the state sparsely populated.
Hanna is a different story. By the hour the threat from this storm is growing. As it quickly strengthens and grows in the coming few days while moving north, it poses a grave threat to very populated and popular areas such as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and coastal North Carolina. It has been a few years since this part of the country has suffered a major hurricane, but they are in line for one this coming weekend.
Some independent forecasters think Hanna may end up as big and dangerous as Katrina was. Certainly anyone living near the coast of South and North Carolina needs to be very alert and watchful concerning Hanna. Ike, which will probably be a hurricane today could follow Hanna to the Carolinas or head west into the Gulf of Mexico to follow Gustov.
Josephine will become a tropical storm today and probably be a hurricane within a few days. It too is heading west toward the United States. Next in line will be Kyle who is a few days away from forming. No doubt, the next few weeks will test everyone's patience as one storm after another threatens the United States mainland.
Please pray for those who will be returning home after Gustov. Please pray they do not turn bitter and resentful for having to evacuate for nothing. People tend to forget there are times when it is right to play it safe, especially with hurricanes. Please pray for the millions of people living in coastal South and North Carolina who will be having to go through this week what those in Louisiana and Mississippi just went through.
No one likes having to evacuate, especially to shelters which tend to be hot, noisy and smelly. No one likes having to pack up whatever they can fit in their car and leave, not knowing if they will have a home when they return. No one likes the expense and aggravation involved with an evacuation. But, considering the alternative is possible injury or death, it is a necessary evil to living near the ocean.
I am sure there will be much more to write about as this week unfolds, but for now I want to thank you for allowing me to share this with you. There are millions of our brothers and sisters in need of GREAT amounts of prayer right now. Thank you for taking the time to lift them up in prayer.
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