Love, Louisiana

I'm fine...Had the roof repaired before Ike came thru....Most of the damage is from the surge...Louis has 2 ft of water in his house....He's sick about that because he just finshed renovating it from Katrina and Rita...His company offered to relocate him in Rio ...Brazil and he's moving...Harlan's company is flooded...across the Intracoastal Canal is flooded... We're still in shock....Reeling from a direct hit from Gustav...and wham...here comes the water wall...They kept predicting 5 to 7 ft...but it has to be a 9 to 10 ft surge we took here...It topped all of our levy systems and reeked havoc on the parish...It's hardest on our friends down the bayous...the verdict is not in on the Intracoastal yet...as I go to bed tonite water pushes in from the west now and that's what floods the Intracoastal...We're praying for a northerly winds and a front to push this water out...We're resilliant...but this is very trying and very hard on us...AS well you know...
Alice is not home yet...medical services are slow to return. People have to take care of their property...then return to work...Everyone had tree and roof damage...Money is thin...oh well I guess people will understand...slowly we'll recover...We're alive!
We need a 30 foot levee system NOW!

As I read this, I remember words from my childhood, which were repeated when I was in Louisiana two summers ago - if the Intracoastal Canal flood, then it's all over. Because the Intracoastal Canal was built to NEVER flood.

Oh, NewsMedia? Maybe the fact that a floodproof canal is now at the verge of flooding might be kind of important....