Posted By:
Leslie WestbrookI live in Lafayette, LA, and I'm a photographer for the Daily Advertiser newspaper here. I rode out the storm at the Vermilion Parish courthouse in Abbeville and was honestly a little relieved at the relative "calmness" of Gustav compared to what was being hyped and predicted. Darren, it sounds like you were a little closer to landfall (what city?). Glad you made it through ok.
Since the storm, I've been working almost non-stop traveling from New Iberia to Opelousas to Mamou covering storm damage and relief in the area. Although the storm passed without wreaking too much havoc other than making a big mess, a spate of tornadoes spun from the tail end of Gustav really shook things up around here yesterday. Three people were killed in the Mamou area, and being there to see it really made me stop and consider priorities.
I still love this hobby, but sometimes life gives you a little wake-up call that reminds you how privileged we are to get to have the joy of something like baseball card collecting.
Now, to everyone on the east coast and Florida in the coming days...be safe!