First things first: Thank you and thanks to everyone else that has been helping.
I live in Slidell, La and work in south Miss. My house and office are in places that didn't get flood but had many trees down. I've been in *some* of the really bad areas in Miss(aunts and uncles and grandmother lost everything there). I've read several but not all of the comments about rubber boots, gloves, shovels, generators, etc. All are great comments. I've tried to think of what hasn't been mentioned and will attempt to give an overview of the actual conditions here and status of communications.
I checked your weather report for Lincoln. Sounds pretty nice up there. Your group should be prepared for the HEAT and HUMIDITY. Though today is very 'nice' outside since there is a 'cold' front moving through. Supposedly that front is going to protect us from the latest storm in the gulf. Next week will be a return to normal weather. I've been working with people from out of state lately and I worry about them handling the heat but mostly the humidity. You don't have to go very far to find someone giving out water down here. Remember it doesn't do you any good if you don't drink it. Dehydration and/or heat exhaustion will take the toughest man down quickly. "Camelbaks" or similar items are great. You want to make sure that you get one that allows for air to move through the space between your back and the pack. These are worth every penny. You can save a few bucks however if you check out the 'Outdoor' line of these type of water systems. I bought one from Target for around $20-25 last year and it has held up rather well for me. It has been with me hiking, kayaking, cycling, camping and now surveying hurricane damage.
The heat will return and the sunshine isn't going away unless it starts to rain. Bring SUNSCREEN... and use it, good lightweight hats for shade, maybe some aloe vera for those that do get burned.
BUGS... We've got plenty of mosquitos. Bring good bug spray. Right now there is a swarm of lovebugs. They can't hurt you, but are really annoying. They fly into every open door and window they can find. Spraying is pointless. The only advice I can give you is to have a good squeegee in the car and maybe a bra on the car if you are worried about your paint. Gas stations have squeegees, depending on where you'll be gas stations can get rather busy now. Getting gas in Slidell isn't that bad. But Miss is another story.
We've got lines that dwarf the lines at any rollercoaster park. They are everywhere for everything. The Red Cross lines cause a lot of traffic jams. Those "comfortable" shoes that someone else recommended will be handy at Walmart. I know for sure that one Walmart in Slidell is open. The other one probably is too. *Home Depot and Sam's are also open.* Everything is on limited hours. Curfews are still in affect.
Several radio stations are up. NPR is broadcasting. Some other stations are up. Nobody is playing music. The radio is rather depressing most of the time. Think about the news coverage for the weeks after 9/11 and apply that to the radio.
TV is down. I have CBS and FOX at home. Both are snowy and BW. Cable is down. Satellite sales are up!
***CELL PHONE*** coverage. It is spotty in some areas. Other areas it has been mostly restored though not able to accept a full load. It is weaker in Miss. Some areas if you stay in one spot to make a call you'll be ok. If you move around and the call tries to move to another tower it will likely be dropped. I don't know anything about media minutes working on the cell phones. Text messaging seems to work better than anything.
Antibacterial lotion and LYSOL especially if you really plan on doing real work. Some areas stink really bad. Enough to make you throw up. I avoid these areas and leave that to the professionals. BRING MASKS. Latex gloves are a good idea, depending
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First things first: Thank you and thanks to everyone else that has been helping.
I live in Slidell, La and work in south Miss. My house and office are in places that didn't get flood but had many trees down. I've been in *some* of the really bad areas in Miss(aunts and uncles and grandmother lost everything there). I've read several but not all of the comments about rubber boots, gloves, shovels, generators, etc. All are great comments. I've tried to think of what hasn't been mentioned and will attempt to give an overview of the actual conditions here and status of communications.
I checked your weather report for Lincoln. Sounds pretty nice up there. Your group should be prepared for the HEAT and HUMIDITY. Though today is very 'nice' outside since there is a 'cold' front moving through. Supposedly that front is going to protect us from the latest storm in the gulf. Next week will be a return to normal weather. I've been working with people from out of state lately and I worry about them handling the heat but mostly the humidity. You don't have to go very far to find someone giving out water down here. Remember it doesn't do you any good if you don't drink it. Dehydration and/or heat exhaustion will take the toughest man down quickly. "Camelbaks" or similar items are great. You want to make sure that you get one that allows for air to move through the space between your back and the pack. These are worth every penny. You can save a few bucks however if you check out the 'Outdoor' line of these type of water systems. I bought one from Target for around $20-25 last year and it has held up rather well for me. It has been with me hiking, kayaking, cycling, camping and now surveying hurricane damage.
The heat will return and the sunshine isn't going away unless it starts to rain. Bring SUNSCREEN... and use it, good lightweight hats for shade, maybe some aloe vera for those that do get burned.
BUGS... We've got plenty of mosquitos. Bring good bug spray. Right now there is a swarm of lovebugs. They can't hurt you, but are really annoying. They fly into every open door and window they can find. Spraying is pointless. The only advice I can give you is to have a good squeegee in the car and maybe a bra on the car if you are worried about your paint. Gas stations have squeegees, depending on where you'll be gas stations can get rather busy now. Getting gas in Slidell isn't that bad. But Miss is another story.
We've got lines that dwarf the lines at any rollercoaster park. They are everywhere for everything. The Red Cross lines cause a lot of traffic jams. Those "comfortable" shoes that someone else recommended will be handy at Walmart. I know for sure that one Walmart in Slidell is open. The other one probably is too. *Home Depot and Sam's are also open.* Everything is on limited hours. Curfews are still in affect.
Several radio stations are up. NPR is broadcasting. Some other stations are up. Nobody is playing music. The radio is rather depressing most of the time. Think about the news coverage for the weeks after 9/11 and apply that to the radio.
TV is down. I have CBS and FOX at home. Both are snowy and BW. Cable is down. Satellite sales are up!
***CELL PHONE*** coverage. It is spotty in some areas. Other areas it has been mostly restored though not able to accept a full load. It is weaker in Miss. Some areas if you stay in one spot to make a call you'll be ok. If you move around and the call tries to move to another tower it will likely be dropped. I don't know anything about media minutes working on the cell phones. Text messaging seems to work better than anything.
Antibacterial lotion and LYSOL especially if you really plan on doing real work. Some areas stink really bad. Enough to make you throw up. I avoid these areas and leave that to the professionals. BRING MASKS. Latex gloves are a good idea, depending