Gustav’s wind gusts outside of the apartment.
Monday
12:49 P.M.
Power goes out. Comes back on shortly.
12:51 P.M.
Power goes out again =(
After awhile, I lose track of time. My phone couldn’t get a signal so I turned it off to save battery. I spend most of the day sleeping and eating ham sandwiches. Couldn’t really cook anything since, the power was out. Didn’t really help that the stove was an electric one. Outside, it’s really windy and the rain seems to be going in a horizontal direction. The wind gives off a high pitched howl as it blows through the area. Some of the wind gusts shook the entire building. The ceiling started to leak at one of the corners of the apartment. Things calm down a bit by nightfall. I spent most of the night playing on my Nintendo DS. I actually put in some time in Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Awesome game with some awesome puzzles. I also played Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin for a bit trying to get S ranks in some of the maps. Then I remembered I haven’t finished Phoenix Wright: Justice for All. So I played that for most of the night then ended it with more Professor Layton. Yes, the DS lasted for hours and it was still chugging along.
Tuesday
The order of events are probably not right, but I’ll try to remember as best as I can.
Some people came to the apartment during the morning to check on the leaking ceiling. It rained most of the day. It’s hot in the apartment and there’s absolutely nothing else to do other than play on my DS. Battery was still good but I can only play for an hour or two at a time. At one point, a piece of the ceiling in my little sister’s room (which is upstairs) collapsed, resulting in more water coming into the apartment.
A piece of the ceiling comes off.
Below, water is now leaking through the ceiling light. Rain turned into light drizzle. I go out to check out the scenery. Pieces of roofing and branches were littered everywhere. In the front of the complex, there’s a bustop… or there used to be.
The bus stop in front of the complex.
I go to check out my car in the visitor’s parking lot. Looks good. I got in my car to check out the radio. To the left, there’s a road but it seems to be blocked off. I get out of my car to check it out. There was a downed tree and a downed pole blocking one lane.
Blocked lane.
I go back to the apartment and the water leaking into my sister’s room seems to be getting worse. We have to somehow divert the water out the window. So we used some shower drapes (is that what its called?) and tacked it on the wall and made a make-shift gutter and diverted the water outside.
Our man-made gutter.
Shortly after, another piece of the ceiling falls down. Things are starting to get very miserable. People are experiencing the same thing in their apartments. We decided to pack up and get out of there. It was hot, the apartment was falling apart, and we didn’t really have much food. Around 6:00 P.M., we drive out to a cousin’s place about 30-40 minutes out. Power was out also but it was dry at least and they had food for us. After we eat, we go to another place where there’s power. We would spend the night there.
Getting ready to get the hell out of there.
Wednesday
Sometime yesterday, I was in my car listening to the radio and they said that they will start letting people in on Wednesday at 6:00 A.M. So we leave at 6:00 A.M. My car only had a half of a tank but hey, its a Honda Civic, it’ll make it =) Traffic wasn’t too bad and damage seems to be at a minimal as I drove by. The area I lived in had virtually no damage if any. It appears to only have some minimal wind damage. Debris was everywhere but nothing too major. My dad was OK and so was the house. Unfortunately, there’s no power here. My dad told me to go out to the Alario Center to pick up some stuff for my grandma. The national guards were there handing out MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) and water. There was a long line but the process was pretty quick. It’s been awhile since I ate some MRE’s but I remember that the spaghetti one was magically delicious. So I looked in the box and there it was—the spaghetti pack.
Awwww yeah. Spaghetti.
The outside packaging is different but other than that, its totally the same. OK, except this time, they give you a packet of water to use with the heating bag thing, there’s no napkins, and for some odd reason, there’s no miniature tabasco sauce! Of course, we had our own so I just used that.
May not look like much but trust me, its good.
Later on the day, we went to my uncle’s house to eat dinner. He had a generator so we were able to eat in the light. I took this chance to charge all of my stuff including my DS. By 8:00 P.M., the town was almost in complete darkness. I get home and set up some candles. Again, I end the night playing on my DS.
From Thursday to Saturday
Situation hasn’t changed. The neighborhood doesn’t have any power but the surrounding ones do. I’m fairly an optimistic person and have very high patience but these past few days are really taxing to my mind. It’s frustrating hoping the power will be up and running only to wake up to totally the opposite.
Sunday
My dad woke me up in the morning to tell me to go to church and after that, to go back to Baton Rouge to help my little sisters move their stuff out of their apartment. The church had a generator so we were able to have mass. After that, my bro and I took my dad’s truck to Baton Rouge. When we arrived, the scene looks pretty much the same as we left it. Power were still out and there’s still downed trees everywhere. After a bunch of driving back and forth, we go back home. Power was still out in town.
Around 7:15 P.M., the power comes back on! It’s good to be back ladies and gentlemen…
Oh yeah, the Saints won!