Just got back a few hours ago. Very very tired.
I met my stepfather in Temple about 11 o'clock Tuesday, and we drove south to I-10 in Houston and headed East. It took about 10 hours to get to Baton Rouge, but over six to go those last forty miles or so. I knew it was going to be a bad day when we had to stop when a trucker got killed as we came into Baton Rouge.
I don't know who he was, but he went off the road on the right and barely made it back on okay while we were behind him. We waited a minute or so, then passed him, I could see him nodding off again, and about thirty seconds or so later, we started to run into a bottleneck. All the highways have to get across the Mississipi bridge in one place, and it was backed up for about ten miles.
We slowed from 70 down to thirty pretty fast and the trucker didn't wake up in time. He saw it coming, and tried to go off into the median, but he clipped the front of another semi, and rolled it. Nothing left of the trailer. Bent I beams, small pieces of wood and fiberglass, some fish he'd been carrying. The engine was crushed, the hitch was all f***ed up, and it was upside down. We pried the door open after a few minutes but there was no way in hell, the top was crushed. Checked his vitals anyway...well his pulse, I couldn't see anything above the neck. Dead. I got blood on me. I didn't like the feel of his arm.
Insane lines after that, usually five or six miles an hour maybe, with lots of stops, and the occasional fast patch. If you've got crap in there still, forget it. We got into my sister's apartment in Kenner, and got plenty out, but she was lucky. All the shingles came off, and whoever had built the place had meant for an extra fireplace they didn't build, so the cap blew off of it, and water had just poured in.
Black and green mold everywhere. The smell was godawful. Sheetrock down. Standing water some places. And her's was one of the better places. Some parts stayed relatively dry, so we took out a trailers worth, some furniture, and remarkably most of their clothes.
Damage was random, some places were hardly affected, others right next door were completely destroyed. Lots of roofs gone, mold EVERYWHERE. Powerlines, trees down. They were clearing them with street wide bulldozers. Lots of Guard, lots of cops, lots of people saying different places to go for aid. People were still living in lots of places. Psychos.
A few businesses were actually up and running. Walmart/Sams even had electricity and was selling gas. Saw several refineries running, right in the worst of it. Especially the refineries. And like I said, this was where it wasn't too bad. Heard several horror stories coming out from downtown, still looting, still flooded, still crazy.
Didn't have much trouble though, got her car from her business' parking garage, got loaded, stayed overnight. Pulled watch with a gun, but the only people we saw that night was a pair of cops/Guards who rolled up wanting to know why we were there. They were putting one of each in every squad car. Damned bright lights after no electric.
If you go, forget sleeping anywhere but your car. You're also getting less likely by the minute to have anything worth saving, and it's already pretty unlikely. Baton Rouge is packed and insane. There's only one way in and out. Huge chunks are still closed. There is however gas almost all the way up to it. Fill up in Baton Rouge anyways. It's a long line and there's big stretches of it where they're out. Take lots of water. It will take all day to make it in, if they're still letting people in at all. I say skip it.
Drove out yesterday and got as far as Houston, stayed the night with family. My sister's bunch went all the way back to Pensecola. Got back this afternoon. Didn't do much but drive the last two days, but still insanely tired. Maybe take another hot bath (and after that crud I want at least one more), a movie and bed.