"You can see the wind in a hurricane...."

Well, my hair is done, but I'm not in bed yet.  I think all the sleep is catching up with me now.  And I have to get up in 4 and a half hours. 

I purposely avoided most news this weekend (when I was awake), because I didn't think I could handle any more Katrina news right now.  But I was just now glancing through the local paper and there is a story of a couple who, with their 2-year-old daughter, 9-week-old son and 6-year-old cocker spaniel, barely escaped out of Metarie, LA to the home of the wife's family here in Jeffersonville.  They had left early enough to get out of Metarie, but their car broke down in Mississippi, and had to turn back.  They ended up riding out the hurricane with the husband's family in Abita Springs, LA.  The woman, Angela, is the daughter of our City Council President.   After the storm had passed Angela and her husband, Jerrod, who had borrowed a truck from his father, headed toward Indiana on a half tank of gas.  In Mississippi the truck's low fuel light came on; the next town was 38 miles away.  They ended up in a line at a Wal-Mart gas station.  Every line was 15 to 20 cars deep.  They ran out of gas waiting.  While waiting in line, for the first time in days he was able to get a signal on his cell phone and call Angela's mom here in Jeffersonville.

Angela's brother, who is a police officer in our town, and their uncle left Indiana to try to meet up with them to make sure they made it here okay.  Just North of Birmingham they came face-to-face with her brother and uncle.  They had water, food, and 25 gallons of gas.  So Wednesday evening they arrived at their family's home here in town.  Angela's husband, who is from LA said that he completely misunderstood Katrina.  No one thought it was going to be as bad as it was.  He is worried about his family down there.  He and Angela will stay here and look for work, because they don't have anything to go to.

What really sticks in my had after reading this article is what Angela said about the hurricane, itself:  "The wind sounded like jet engines, and it went on for hours and hours and hours," she said.  "I didn't even know you can see wind.  You can see the wind in a hurricane."

It still blows my mind how devasting this is and how these people are suffering.  I see a long, long road ahead for them.