G-day -1

Posted on G-day +1.

On G-day -1 I thought I might be headed to the coast, or at least somewhere directly in the path of the storm. Instead I was headed to the Livingston Parish OEP. We went live with an evacuation order for the lower parts of the parish and the locations of shelters for those that needed them. Then we went to one of the towns included in the order for another live shot. From there we tried to get to the edge of Lake Maurepas, but couldn't get there without going all the way around to I-55. We were then directed to Prarieville to do another live shot with people filling sandbags. We found one man there who had been going nonstop for 4-5 hours. He got there to fill his own bags, then began helping whoever showed up who couldn't do it themselves.

After that we made a quick stop at a local Golden Arches to change into our rain gear and grab a quick bite of hot food. I've really got to thank the people working there. They were in the middle of closing, and they unlocked the doors for us and dropped a last little bit of food. If you're on the corner of Airline and Highland, tell 'em the big guy from Channel 2 sent you.

Our last live shot of the night was from Dutchtown High, where the Red Cross had a shelter open. It was quite a long drive, and we didn't use the satellite once. I went home and took a shower, grabbed a sleeping bag and a pillow, and headed for the station to sleep, which was about 2 a.m.