Hurricane Gustav is now (at time of this posting) packing 80MPH winds as it exploded overnight after it passed into open waters of the northwestern Carribbean Sea Friday night. Project path is between Texas coastline to central Louisiana. As with all hurricanes, you have to prepare even though you are not in the current projected path. This thing can change within a couple of hours. I've seen it happen too many times. Katrina is a case in point. We thought it would go west of New Orleans instead of headlong into the Crescent City. I will not feel easy about this thing regardless of what the current models are showing.

Here in Mobile, gas stations ran out of gas all across the city. It's the thing to do here; panic and react without any common sense at all. Walmart was insane, as were Home Depot and Lowes. People know to prepare for hurricanes BEFORE the season. Yet, many still wait until the last minute. I simply don't understand that line of reasoning. Anyway, the gas station system is not designed for people to get gas all at the same time. So, we may be without gas for Labor Day weekend. Of course, if Gustav changes direction, none of that will matter.

Things are a bit tense here in Mobile. The Emergency Management System is on full alert here as it well should be. I just hope people don't go beserk if Gustav changes direction toward the east. Now, we also have Hanna to worry about.