this is surreal

We woke up this morning to news that Hurricane Katrina is now a category-5 storm with 175 mph winds. Mayor Ray Nagin has called for a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans for the first time in the history of the city. In his press conference he said, "our levee system most likely won't hold." Basically that means about 15-25 feet of water in the city. Now, I know that they are trying their best to scare people into evacuating...but this could be it.

It's so crazy, we had no time to even think about it. Normally we have days and days to think about a storm, how to respond, what to pack, etc. It is now hitting me that my house could really be gone. We didn't have time to think through what momentos to take. It sounds like many New Orleanians were in the same boat as us. I had lots of friends who still hadn't evacuated as of last night. Everything moved so fast...they didn't know what to do. I'm so thankful that we could pick up and leave, knowing that Jeremy and Christa would take us.

I have no clue if my Dad is still in town. The phone lines are overloaded and it is nearly impossible to contact him.

I keep thinking of the Old Testament prophets, knowing that God will judge the people of Israel and pleading for God to show mercy. God, spare our city.