After praying for everyone- lets review.....

So lets review. If you know that a tornado or a flood will hit your house
in a day or two, would you really take your family and shove them and four boxes of cheerios in your hall closet and stay there? HELL NO!!!

So what have we learned and what are the appropriate responses to the tragedies of Rita and Katrina?


One- We should be now have realized that even the government can't help protect you from mother nature when she gets really pissed.

Two- We should all start putting money aside for a personal evacuation fund. If you start now, maybe by next hurricane season or by the next national emergency, you will have the money to buy three tanks of gas to get you out of town. Or if you don't have a car at least you will look like a really attractive candidate for your neighbors to take along with them in their car.


Three- The knowledge that the government is a huge beauracracy that moves very very
slowly. So you look at the weather reports on TV. THey are so detailed nowdays that you don't need a weather degree to figure them out.
Then make your own dam executive decision when to evacuate. Knowing the roads will back up,knowing gas will run out, you decide and don't wait for some guy in a safe bunker to tell you when to leave.
REPEAT AFTER ME. LEAVE EARLY AND DRIVE AT LEAST THREE STATES AWAY. DO NOT DRIVE 4 EXITS AND STOP.
Better to be in a hotel watching the storm hit on TV then living through it in terror.

And now, when there is no wind or rain- get a map and a compass. You remember maps, back in the old days before interstates, people used them to figure out where to go where they were driving someplace new. Also a compass. This will tell you what direction you are going and help you so you don;t get lost. My grandparents, the ones who were always prepared for a hurricane but never weathered a big one, they
had a compass on the dash of their 1969 Chevy Impala. And they never got lost.

When you leave, don't take the interstate or at least be prepared to exit the interstate and take back roads. As long as you make continual progress away from the general direction of the storm you will be ok. And don't worry about a place to stay. When you drive far enough there will be plenty of places to stay.

The aftermath of these storms is a travesty.
But the most important lesson we can learn is that we all need to take personal responsibility for ourselves and our families and for being prepared and for our own personal safety.

And God help the people who have to rely on the government to assist them.