Exactly one year ago Betts and I were getting some much needed sleep after our escape from the path of Katrina. We were ragged… our nerves frayed over what could happen to our city if Katrina didn’t pull a last minute turn as a Cat 5 hurricane. Opal the Siamese was curled up with us as if she sensed something bad coming.
About 3 a.m. I would wake up and head back to the motel’s ‘puter room to monitor things from there whilst Betts watched the broadcast news. I could see a lessening of the storm’s strength and a slight turning to the NorthEast. By 7 a.m. the situation looked good, and elated I returned to the room. We breathed sighs of relief and crawled back into bed to rest up for a return home a day or two later. New Orleans had dodged Katrina’s power.
Around 11 a.m. I awoke from a strange dream. Wandering through the motel I decided to get back online and check things out. There was news of widespread destruction across the area. I kept at it for a while longer, and then started hearing of flooding in various places. It would be a few hours before I learned what was causing the flooding, and when the London Canal’s levees broke, I knew that our home and neighborhood was in trouble, but there was no way to tell just how much trouble was at hand.
That would come on the next day.