There came a storm. Until it didn’t.
By around 10:30 pm, the night before the big event, everything changed. No storm surge. The river would only rise to 17 feet. Well below flood level. And, the rain will average around 6 inches over 24 hours in New Orleans.
Yes. It’s windy. We may still lose power. So, I’m writing this around midnight just in case.
A grateful city is happy. I’m happy.
But.
I’m so disappointed in national news coverage. The Washington Post flat out printed fake news. NOLA Twitter responded as only we could. The same thing happened with national television stations. Worse, the gold standard, The BBC went beyond fake news.
As many of you know, I started my career as a photojournalist. I made pictures. I edited. I managed photo staffs. I built a chain of weekly newspapers within a daily newspaper. I would have never published the nonsense I read today.
Like what?
The Post said something about how fearful we were. And, that we were fleeing. Nobody that I know was fearful. Some people with children left. Family first. But, they weren’t panicked. We’ve been through this before.
The city, state, even the federal government got involved. We had emails, tweets and texts. There were the obligatory press conferences and so on. That was all good.
But.
I remember that prior to the evacuation for Hurricane Katrina, a lot of my neighbors said they weren’t leaving because the city always reacted to potential hurricanes extremely and nothing ever came of it.
The rest is history.
When do people start disregarding hurricane lead ups again? What happens when the real deal occurs again and people don’t take it seriously?
Beyond my pay grade. I guess the Mercedes Dome will be a place of last refuge again.
One more thing.
I’m speaking only about New Orleans. I’m sure it will be rough when Barry makes landfall, wherever it makes landfall.
Have a good thought for all of us.
STORYTELLER 
Thanks for the good information.
Sent from my iPhone
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Janet, You’re welcome. Somebody had to do it since the news sources I trust most — The WAPost, The BBC and even the NYT – failed us.
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I was thinking of you and others concerned and am happy to read that you’re well and that so far it wasn’t as bad as expected. Yes, I think, we just don’t know what kind of news we can trust nowadays. Probably private connections are still the best. Best wishes to you, your city and all the people!!! Silvia
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So far, and it’s almost over, it’s even less than I wrote last night. If anything, the mild wind and on and off light rain have made our normally hot summer days very pleasant. The media that I trusted most, failed in their reporting. I don’t know who to trust. Thank you for your kind wishes.
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Everybody can make a mistake. I think one of the biggest challenges nowadays is not to loose the ability to trust… But it is so essential … To find something or someone you can rely on…. 🙏🗺️
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This was no mistake. This was about clicks and sales. Even when The Washington Post was told they were wrong and how and why they were wrong, they kept doing it.
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That sounds bad. And shows how important communication between the people really is – everywhere the same problem.
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The sensationalism of 2 ft of rain falling v.s. 6″ is a big difference. Stay safe and dry!
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Thank you. We’ll have around two to four inches of rain by the time Barry passes well upriver from us. That’s it. I’m sure the places where Barry made landfall will have problems, but after reading the national/international media I’m sure many people thought we were going to float away.
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Sounded like another Katrina coming!
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I really dislike the phrase “fake news,” but this was “fake news.”
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