Hurricane updates

Well, I took some pictures of the lovely weather we have now, I'll try to add photos from the entire duration of the hurricane, pending power and internet connection. So here's what it looks like now in Opelousas, LA.
Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 12:00 CST
Images 1, 2, 3

The last two are actually not duplicates, I took two in rapid succession to illustrate a lack of wind right now; I'll probably refer to these later.
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Clouds are beginning to roll in at 3:00 CST...same place

More and more clouds, a light breeze, but overall, it's fairly warm and pleasant outside at the moment...
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Well, the hurricane sped up a bit, now moving at 18 mph (29 km/h) so that means it may pass over slightly faster. This is a good thing. Most people always thing wind causes the most damage, but in reality, the ultimate causation is the rain. In Louisiana, we have very, very rich, soft, soil that can hold quite a bit of moisture, but once it reaches the saturation point, it doesn't take much wind to uproot a tree or shift a building's foundation. If you look at the pictures from downed trees after Katrina, you'll notice most of them still have the root structure intact. This indicates the ground was saturated and soft. Most of the trees that are actually standing in Louisiana have been through a hurricane or two, so wind really won't uproot them, they tend to have a solid root structure. Saturated soil is what makes it possible for trees to be completely uprooted. Anyway, these two images give you an idea of where I am.

It's going to be an interesting night...
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Not much going on, we relocated to a safer location: brick vs. wood. More photos pending unpacking my camera again.
Looks like I'll have internet unless the power goes out, YAY!
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6:30-took some pictures, here's some of the clouds coming

1720-rain coming, I can see a band off in the distance, not going to be one of the bad bands just yet...

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7:35, just started raining, the sun's still out, I'll post the picture later.

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Hyla squirella! There are hundreds of these things under the front porch where I am currently located sucking up bandwidth from the neighbor (he's a friend of mine). I absolutely love it. The sounds are so amazing.
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8:46 PM, still Sunday
First major band expected to hit here around 10:00 PM
Next post will be froggy pictures!
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