Hurricane Katrina and the Howling Banshees

When Katrina danced across the southern tip of Florida and punched Miami hard, she caused flooding and death.  Normally, hurricanes moving across land loose strength, but this not-nice Lady had a plan. Gathering up the unusually warm waters of the Gulf, she went from a Cat 3 to a Cat 5 and in just nine hours reached her peak strength.  On the morning of August 28^th, Katrina headed for her second attack, the "Big Easy."     

At the last moment, she swerved away from New Orleans proper (if ever it was!), and came ashore approximately 45 miles southeast of the charmed city with sustained winds of 125 mph.  As a Cat 3, her hurricane-force winds extended outward from the center for 120 miles.  

Katrina unleashed her forces at night, the worst time of all, I believe, for hurricanes and people to meet.  .  Like a thousand howling banshees, the wind wailed; the mammoth storm surge reached over twenty feet. Because it wasn’t a direct-hit, the fabled French-founded city felt it “had dodged the bullet,” and breathed a sign of relief.  Sadly, the worst was yet to come.

Katrina, still a Cat 3, still with winds at 120 mph, made a third land-fall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border. She didn’t loose strength until she was 150 miles inland, taking her last gasp near Clarksville, Tennessee.  

At the time, all one could do is sit in front of the TV and weep. Even stroking the little black cat we called Tara, for once, was small comfort. Tara, however, became the model for Gullah, a picture story book I was yet to write about Katrina. I wonder. Can writing about natural disasters make good books?