As Hurricane Laura Approaches

 This quick post is just a heads-up of sorts that I, along with numerous other bloggers, am likely to disappear for a bit when Hurricane Laura finally lands somewhere around the Texas-Louisiana border late tonight or early in the morning. Even as close to land as the storm is now (maybe 150 miles out and moving about 15 mph), no one is quite sure yet exactly where it will make shore. It is expected to first impact land with winds between 145 and 150 mph, so wherever it hits, it will be bad news.

The best guess seems to be that it will strike somewhere near the Texas-Louisiana line, placing the Houston area on the west side of the storm system. That's the "dry" side, so we would not be subjected to most of the heavy rainfall. But it doesn't take much wind to knock out the power in this area, and sometimes it takes days - not hours - to restore power after something this massive. About eleven years ago, for instance, a hurricane (I've lost track of all their names now) knocked out power in my neighborhood for 14 days.

Houston has a decent shot at getting off lightly this time around, but just 100 miles southeast of us over 100,000 people are still in the process of evacuating their homes. That area includes the little town I grew up in, and I have numerous friends and relatives there still.

So for now, millions of people up and down the Gulf Coast are in the process of holding their breaths until Laura finally decides who is to be punished this time around. Here we go again.