In the eye of the storm: A Jewish blogger in the midst of Gustav

NEW ORLEANS – My worst fears have been realized. A storm with the potential to be worse than Hurricane Katrina seems destined to hit New Orleans.

I am frightened. I should be hoofing it right about now, but I know that my true responsibility is to let people know what is happening here. I have the resources to do so and will be dumb enough to be prepared to hunker down and deal with this natural disaster.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am sure that I will be dealing with a loss of power at the very least. However, if things work out, I will be at the epicenter of a very important story.

Aug. 29:

Three years ago, the city of New Orleans withstood its greatest challenge when Hurricane Katrina slammed into it with wind gusts of up to 140 miles per hour.

Aug. 30:

Mayor Ray Nagin just announced the second mandatory evacuation this evening just before 8 p.m. We are on the bad side of the expected track of the storm.

The exodus out of the city has been going on all day with most every channel out of the city slogged down to a snail’s pace at the edge of the city. All Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Club stores have closed down as of yesterday. Gas stations have shuttered their doors. Most essential services are but a memory.

Thursday evening’s event had an auditorium full of people at Touro Synagogue, but that was before the dire warnings from authorities began to be issued. Friday afternoon a Mincha (afternoon) prayer service was held at the Lakeview site of Congregation Beth Israel.

At the same time, across town at Temple Sinai, one of the oldest Reform temples in New Orleans, an interfaith prayer service hosted by Rabbi Ed Paul Cohn was held. At the event was Francis Hughes, Archbishop of the City of New Orleans, Episcopal Bishop Charles Jenkins, as well as other clergy representing Protestant, the Baha’i and Islamic faith groups.

It was an impressive night. The storm forming in the Caribbean was very much on people’s minds.

Aug. 31:

I am watching the last of my neighbors pack up his truck as he prepares to hit the road with his family headed for Texas. Our normally busy street is deserted. The stillness in the air is pierced by gusts of what is now a very pleasant breeze.

Gustav is intent on making me a very unpleasant camper and I have horrible feelings about having to leave my humble abode, the home I had been forced to desert unintentionally after the levee breaches three years ago. It has only been 16 months since I returned to New Orleans, living 20-plus months in Cleveland, Ohio. The prospect of having to stay away for another undetermined period is frightening and heartbreaking.

The only good news is that Gustav seems to be intensifying less than expected and that it still seems to be on a track headed away from New Orleans. It’s just not far enough. Were I in Mobile, Ala. – a two hour drive under normal conditions – I would still be in peril. The best thing to do is head north and hope that the levees hold.

Sept. 1:

Smason was forced to leave his home and ended up in Utica, Miss.

I left New Orleans at 7:05 p.m., just as the first droplets of rain began to fall and the most ominous clouds you can imagine began to peer over the horizon.

All day long the breeze was steady, but really only gusting every now and then. Just as my car was finally packed and I was ready to leave for Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi, the wind started to pick up significantly. The air became crisp and cold, and the skies darkened. Once I started winding my way onto the streets adjacent to my home, the heavens opened and the heavy rain was a more or less constant companion for me until on the interstate well into Mississippi. At times, the rain was driven horizontally towards my windshield by the sheer force of the winds. It was scary but manageable.

That was the bad news. The good news was that since I waited so long to leave, there was very little traffic on the highway. A five- or six-hour ordeal turned out to be a little more than three hours, more or less normal driving time between New Orleans and the camp, which also serves as the site of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience.

There are about 150 Jewish New Orleanians living at Jacobs Camp for the next few days (they hope no more than that). Although donations are being accepted, the camp’s present director, Jonathan Cohen, is not charging for any essential services for any visitors, other than meals. Nevertheless it is still a remarkable gift of charity.

Meanwhile, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans’ executive director, Michael Weil, has set up shop in Memphis a few blocks away from the Federation building there. Should levees be breached during or after Gustav and the evacuation becomes more prolonged, the New Orleans Federation is prepared to link with the Memphis Federation.

Incredibly, the camp has Internet services and digital TV. Several of the younger set have been occupying themselves by singing karaoke, something Cohen, who likes to go by the nickname “J.C.,” humorously calls Evacuraoke.

So we are in a waiting mode, as Gustav will take at least another eight to 10 hours to come ashore. Some of us are glued to the big-screen TV in an adjacent room. Others are on their computers messaging each other. The other necessities – cell phones and iPods – also are being widely used by the younger set. Some of us old-timers are consoling ourselves by singing songs with guitar accompaniment. Can you say “Kumbaya?”

Sept. 2:

Although it is surrounded by water, inside my house is high and dry. I am now in Memphis, after having left Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi earlier today. Many members of the Jewish community, including Federation Executive Director Michael Weil, came up to Memphis because it is the largest Orthodox Jewish community in the South.

New Orleans is still inaccessible by highway, unless you are an emergency services worker or can demonstrate a reason you need to be in the city. Louisiana State Police are turning anyone foolish enough to drive to the state line back.

In addition, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s deputies are blocking egress into their parish and any roadways leading into New Orleans until further notice. It is possible that city residents will be allowed to return on Thursday or Friday, but no announcements from the city or state have been made yet.

Alan Smason is a computer consultant and community newspaper editor. He writes the Kosher Computing weblog.