STL Dotage evacuates to....St. Louis, of course!

As Hurricane Gustav (presently a Category 3 storm) barrels towards the Gulf Coast, Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered a mandatory evacuation out of the city of New Orleans.

And so, yours truly is headed to St. Louis.

I am currently sitting in the Louis Armstrong International Airport, waiting for a flight that leaves at 5:15 pm (it's only noon right now). Foolishly, I believed that if I came to the airport early, there'd be somewhere to eat and hang out. Nope. Everything is closed.

And I just threw out a whole refrigerator full of food.

Sigh.

I'll try to pick up my slack when I get home tonight, but I will, of course, be keeping a watchful eye on my adoptive home, New Orleans.

On a side note, I am pleased with the city's efforts in helping those without cars get out of the city. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) enlisted its bus fleet to pick up carless residents at 17 sites across the city. As I walked across the French Quarter to an airport-bound bus at the Sheraton earlier this morning, the city was a veritable ghost town. Boards everywhere. People nowhere. That's a good thing, though. It means we might not lose another 1,700 lives as happened during Katrina. Cities need to pay special attention to their residents lacking automobility, and New Orleans appears to have done a good job of storm preparation this time around. Of course, to be fair, Katrina made a last minute turn towards the city.

Still, a job well done in this particular instance.