On the road to Natchez!
Saturday, 9/24/05, Montgomery, AL, partly sunny, Rita+1
It wasn't going to be Natchez.
0800 - the people who deploy the ERV's get in at 0800. At 0805 they told us to go to Centerville, Mississippi as soon as possible.
0810 - Wait - the weather has turned worse and there are tornado warnings.
0850 - go - weather anticipated to clear.
0915 - called back to HQ - everything changes - don't go to Centerville, go to Natches, MS (on the left bank of the Mississippi, and on the border with Louisiana).
1000 - we were to travel with another ERV - at 1000 the other ERV is redeployed.
1100 - new instructions - ERV 2136 from Topeka, Kansas driven jointly by a Brit from New Hampshire and an American from Webster City, Iowa is to lead a convoy of 11 vehicles (our ERV and 10 trucks to Natchez).
On this day, the morning after Rita, the Red Cross HQ in Montgomery, AL is a buzz of activity. The situation is changing constantly as news, needs and weather are evaluated. The mass of the Red Cross resource is deployed, then redeployed to meet these changing conditions.
1330 - the convoy leaves Montgomery and heads west on State Route 80.
200 miles out we are passing through weather bands of Rita. Squalls and torrential rain, then sun and dry roads.
We stop for gas and diesel fuel. HQ calls to say we are not to go on to Natchez tonight we must go no further than Jackson, MS and stay the night. The weather and conditions ahead are bad, torrential rain, floods, wind squalls and tornadoes.
Amazingly we find accommodation in Jackson.
It wasn't going to be Natchez.
0800 - the people who deploy the ERV's get in at 0800. At 0805 they told us to go to Centerville, Mississippi as soon as possible.
0810 - Wait - the weather has turned worse and there are tornado warnings.
0850 - go - weather anticipated to clear.
0915 - called back to HQ - everything changes - don't go to Centerville, go to Natches, MS (on the left bank of the Mississippi, and on the border with Louisiana).
1000 - we were to travel with another ERV - at 1000 the other ERV is redeployed.
1100 - new instructions - ERV 2136 from Topeka, Kansas driven jointly by a Brit from New Hampshire and an American from Webster City, Iowa is to lead a convoy of 11 vehicles (our ERV and 10 trucks to Natchez).
On this day, the morning after Rita, the Red Cross HQ in Montgomery, AL is a buzz of activity. The situation is changing constantly as news, needs and weather are evaluated. The mass of the Red Cross resource is deployed, then redeployed to meet these changing conditions.
1330 - the convoy leaves Montgomery and heads west on State Route 80.
200 miles out we are passing through weather bands of Rita. Squalls and torrential rain, then sun and dry roads.
We stop for gas and diesel fuel. HQ calls to say we are not to go on to Natchez tonight we must go no further than Jackson, MS and stay the night. The weather and conditions ahead are bad, torrential rain, floods, wind squalls and tornadoes.
Amazingly we find accommodation in Jackson.
posted by Peter at 6:56 AM
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