Katrina

After spending literally all day Sunday researching hurricanes in general and Katrina-like hurricanes in particular, I am VERY happy that the storm took a last minute bend to the east and missed New Orleans. From looking at my research, if Katrina had made a direct hit on the city, there wouldn't be much left, and few who stayed behind would be alive. Luckily, instead, it looks like Mississippi got hit the hardest, and while I'm sure there will be substantial loss of life from this storm, it will probably be in the hundreds, not the tens of thousands. For those of you who are religious, please stick a mention of my friend Warchicken in your thoughts, he goes to college to the north west of New Orleans, and while I doubt his area sustained much serious damage, storms are completely unpredictable, and I won't be satisfied until he reappears on Guild Wars. For those of you who live within 300 miles of the gulf or atlantic coasts, or anywhere else that you think it remotely possible you might get the leftovers of a hurricane, please take the time to read through the guide posted below. This guide encapsulates all of the lessons that Florida learned the hard way in 2004. Please believe me that there is stuff in there that people who have never been through a serious hurricane wouldn't even think of doing, because Central Florida didn't think of it either, and we've seen many tropical storms. I know that there will be a great deal of damage and deaths in the path of Katrina that could have been avoided if people in that area knew what was in this guide.