Isaac: Thursday

The rain has stopped (for a while anyway) and we begin the return to a normal life – for us anyway.  We are blessed and fortunate to have had little damage from Hurricane Isaac.  Except for a brief outage, we’ve had power throughout the storm although my daughter’s house, along with many others, is still without power . 

Roads are mostly open but many businesses remain closed because of access, no power or no expectation of customers.  Schools are closed.

This shot of my granddaughter was taken with an iPhone.

Isaac: Wednesday

My tree is still standing.  The intensity of wind and rain is increasing and will increase further as the day goes on.  Based on the weather reports, Hurricane Isaac is moving very slowly so this will be a long day.

Standing under the porch to avoid the rain, as I snapped this shot of my tree I once again pondered “How best to get a picture of the rain?”.  In fact, what I actually did was to set the G1X on Av mode, ISO 400, f8, grab the shot and go back inside to wipe off the raindrops.  Per my usual practice, the G1X was set for RAW + JPEG.  As I began to edit the RAW file, I realized that the JPEG version actually was more illustrative of the scene.  In fact, using ACR, I could make a “better” image but choose to use the JPEG instead.

We still have power but my daughter’s house lost power this morning.  She will soon be at my house – that will significantly increase the energy level around here so get prepared to see storm related pictures of my granddaughter.

Evening

Tree is still standing in spite of wind and rain. I discovered two small leaks in my roof that will need some attention afterward. 

Shortly after my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter came to our house, we lost power.  Fortunately, power returned after about a half hour and has been on ever since.  I took heed and turned down the air conditioner and refrigerator in anticipation of another power failure.

My granddaughter probably has the most difficult job:  entertaining five adults.  She seems up to the challenge. 

My son-in-law has made this over-the-top video of storm related problems at their new house: 

I promised to give him a big boost by promoting it.  Once you realize that they are actually OK his video is hilarious.

Isaac: Tuesday

Tropical Storm Isaac was just upgraded to Hurricane Isaac but, fortunately, no effects noted in Baton Rouge – yet.  There is a nice breeze and sky is cloudy but no rainfall – yet.  Many businesses are closed today as people prepare for Isaac’s arrival.

As part of my own preparation, I braced a small oak tree that we planted eight years ago.  In the first four years, that tree was blown down four times.  I came to call it the “pitiful oak” and expected it to die every time we straightened it.  For some strange reason though, Hurricane Gustav apparently fixed my pitiful oak and now it is flourishing.  Even so, I tied it off in five places.  If it blows over in Isaac, I don’t think we could straighten it.

Otherwise, we’ve done the usual preparations:  gasoline for the cars and generator (lines already forming), batteries, water, extra food, etc.  Of course, part of my preparation is to recharge all camera and flash batteries.

Evening Update

Really nothing to report.  A light rain began in the late afternoon and the wind has picked up a bit.  Here’s hoping that this is a boring storm.

Isaac

Here I am in Baton Rouge, Louisiana preparing for another hurricane.  Baton Rouge is somewhat inland from the Gulf and that distance attenuates – but does not eliminate -- the ferocity of hurricanes.  When Hurricane Gustav struck in 2008, I did a bit of reporting and plan to do the same for Isaac.

The photo above is from 1969 and shows, first hand, the effects of Hurricane Camille on my family and neighbors.   The houses on our street were filled with water to a level of four to five feet.  As we returned to our flooded and muddied houses, the short term “fix” was to take everything out of the house and into the yard.  This scene was repeated over and over along our street and many others.  We took buckets of water from the ditch, added disinfectant, and washed out the house.  Everything with wet padding was thrown away.  Most books, electronics, etc. were thrown away.  Actually, much furniture (plywood and veneers) was eventually thrown away as well.  We couldn’t bear to throw away pictures and I’m glad because some of them were restored.  We were lucky because many people lost everything. 

When I tell my Camille story, someone always asks if we gutted the interiors, removed the insulation, rewired, restored the wallboards, etc. before moving back in.  Those simple frame houses did not have insulation.  We just washed them out.

The picture (after all, this is a photo blog) was taken with a Kodak Instamatic.  Not just your basic Instamatic but the latest thing – an X-35.  I preferred slide film because the total cost of slides was cheaper than prints.  Yet another reminder to use whatever photo equipment you have to record the moment.

Here’s hoping that my Hurricane Isaac reporting will be brief and boring.