I pray the lessons of Katrina have been learned as New Orleans shuts down and empties out. I pray the forces of community, charity and empathy prevail over the forces of selfishness and criminal intent in the days and weeks ahead. Folks who have endured so much deserve to have a little humanity this time around.
Your turn: If you know someone in the hurricane zone, please take this opportunity to reach out and share a kind thought. Even small gestures matter at times like this.
One more thing: Thought I'd include some helpful - and frankly very geeky-cool - storm tracking links. Sometimes, data brings a little bit of comfort.
- StormPulse - Wickedly slick online tracking application
- StormAdvisory - Google Maps-based mashup
- IBISeye - Another great mashup
- National Hurricane Center - Gateway to the source of all storm-related data
- Weather Underground - Similar gateway-type resource
- Intellicast - Latest imagery
- Hurricane City - Interactive tracker
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3 comments:
Even though I know no one in the path - I still feel for the people who will suffer and lose parts of their homes and lives from these storms.
I lived through a lot of them in my 50 years living in Florida!
A close internet friend of mine lives just outside of New Orleans in a town very badly hit by Katrina. She and her daughters evacuated again today, with their hearts in their throats and pictures of all their worldly possessions in their memory sticks, just in case...
My heart goes out to everyone in the storm's path.
I lived in Haiti for three and a half years from 1969 to 1972 when I taught missionary kids. I never went through a major hurricane while there, but I heard many stories of big storms that had been through.
Tropical Storm Fay dumped a lot of water on Haiti. Banana farms were flattened--a source of food gone. A bus, trying to cross a swollen river, overturned, causing around 50 deaths.
Gustav has done its destruction too. We, here in our church, pray for protection from the storm, or that it won't come our way, but then if it doesn't hit us, it goes somewhere, doesn't it, so that seems a bit selfish.
It is Sunday afternoon, and we are having a little rain and a very small amount of wind, and the storm isn't even headed this way.
Now about Hannah...
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