Hi Rick: I live in Sacramento which has higher flood risk than New Orleans. After Katrina, I got serious about planning for emergencies, those that require evacuation or stay-in-place. The Salvation Army has an excellent guide: Home Safety Emergency Plan. The Fire Department Disaster person gave me my evacuation route. I wrote everything I learned, added the emergency plan list from the Sacramento Bee, and distributed it to each of the condos in my assc. After Katrina, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about preparing your vehicle with some emergency supplies plus money. I went around my house and took photos of everything (good for insurance, anyway), put the photos in my emergency book, and drew big red circles around everything that had to be moved upstairs or go with me, so I wouldn’t have to make those decisions when I was scared out of my gourd. And, finally, I made sure that the cat carriers were easily accessed (oh yeah — they were usually buried under junk in the patio shed).
