Pray for Louisiana

"If you are evacuating from Katrina and are seeking shelter, all the hotels in the Houston - Beaumont area are full. Keep moving to Dallas or elsewhere."

It was about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, August 28.
I stared at the blue light of the radio and waited for the announcer to repeat the bulletin with which he had interrupted my daily dose of talk radio.

I heard right.

Is this possible? Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States and the largest in Texas. And the announcer wasn't talking about just Houston, he included the Houston and Beaumont area. A little Googling revealed that the greater Houston area alone has 55,000 hotel/motel rooms. Beaumont's downtown is 87 miles from Houston's. Dozens of towns encirlce the entire area.

Is there anyone left in Louisiana?

Yes. And if predictions I've heard all day are correct, they may soon wish they weren't.

The AP reported that "experts," which I assume means meteorologists and various disaster researchers, believed that New Orleans alone could lose 65% to 80% of its homes to Katrina. That means a million people would be homeless when the sky clears. A graphic compared the size of devastating 2004 hurricane Charley to Katrina. Think of Charley as a dime and Katrina as a half dollar.

So pray for everyone Katrina touches.