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Friday at Wal-Mart

I can't begin to describe the odd aura floating around New Orleans, my home for the last 7 days.

This morning, as I walked to class at Tulane Law School, I felt like I was in one of those nuclear disaster/zombie movies, where the Earth around me has been destroyed and I"m the only one still alive (and not zombie.)

The streets were quiet. There were no cars parked around. The campus closed at noon, so there was little activity. It was -- literally -- the calm before the storm, I guess. Apparently, many of the residents around me simply decided to go ahead and hit the road early Thursday night to beat the traffic and Gustav, I presume.

But then I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon, which is always a bustle of activity( obviously, it's Wal-Mart). But this was a bustle with a purpose: prepare for the storm. Cases of water were stacked everywhere. The manager came across the intercom to announce that there was a fresh supply of flashlights, gas cans, generators and other storm-preparedness gear up at the front.

Customers exchanged knowing glances with each other. Others talked about "the last time we went through this," a nod to Katrina, of course.

The check out lanes weren't particularly long, but customers were stacked 20-deep in front of both the ATM and the pharmacy. They'd learned their lesson, one woman told me. During Katrina, most of the banks were closed and the ATMs ran out of money. Even when a few businesses and stores were able to reopen, they could only accept cash because their computerized cash registers were down. And the same for prescriptions. People couldn't get their much-needed drugs because their accounts were locked up in computer land.

I struck up a conversation with my cashier, asking her how her day had been. She said that, surprisingly, Friday had been a lot calmer than Thursday. She said most of her family had already left town. "This time, we wanted to PICK where we ended up," she said pointedly, in reference to the fact that so many evacuees landed in random states across the south, stranded for months until they were allowed back into New Orleans.

After I left Wal-Mart, I drove by a nearby gas station/oil change place. Cars were piled up 7-8 deep. People getting ready to leave and flee Gustav.

The storm, by latest accounts, isn't supposed to hit town until Monday or maybe even Tuesday. But the people here who've decided to stay, at least for now, are prepared.

And hopeful.

Posted by Lara Richards at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)