Gutting out Gustav
Bravo to the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune and all the other journalists who braved Hurricane Gustav to continue reporting the news. Although the Times-Picayune couldn't turn out a paper edition because of Gustav, it kept publishing hurricane stories, photos, videos, and blogs on its nola.com Web site. In "Gustav Spares New Orleans Area, but Reveals Vulnerability," Mike Nolan describes the storm at its most ferocious:
At the height of the storm, a station in Grand Isle reported a gust of 117 mph; a Weatherbug instrument recorded a gust of 107 mph at Ft. Beauregard Marina in Ycloskey in lower St. Bernard Parish. And a Jefferson Parish School Board instrument in Marrero recorded a gust of 68 mph.
Gustav's winds demolished a church in LaPlace, stripped siding off City Hall in Westwego and dropped tree branches all over the area. But the storm but did far less damage than it portended earlier in the week.
More significantly, the storm did not drive a surge of water into vulnerable West Bank neighborhoods, which were fully exposed to coastal flooding by Gustav's driving south winds. www.nola.com/hurricane/
The Times-Picayune's Chris Kirkham meanwhile was blogging all day and night from a shrimp boat riding out the storm south of New Orleans. Here he shares what it was like on the boat:
Winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour have rousted captain Ronald "Jug" Dufrene from his slumber in the depths of the "Mister Jug," still tied firmly to the shoreline in Jean Lafitte.
Driving rains are uprooting shingles, mini-tornadoes are forming on the bayou, and Dufrene finally admits, "It's getting nasty." www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/kirkhamshrimpboat/
Over at the Biloxi Sun Herald, Anita Lee and Melissa Scallan's "Hammered" is a terrific example of a roundup story that clearly presents the important facts despite difficult conditions. www.sunherald.com/pageone/story/784119.html
Any other storm coverage that you recommend? Let us know at newsgems@sbcglobal.net