Hurricane Ike Evacuation

We woke up Thursday morning, September 11 (the date is kind of ironic) and started our normal morning routine. Jason was dressed, breakfast and lunch packed, and was about to kiss me good bye...as I roll out of bed. It was about 6:30 a.m. Jason had been listening to the news, which is not normally part of his morning routine, and we heard that there would be a news conference with city officials any minute, so Jason decided to stay and listen to it. They put our zip code on the screen as in a mandatory evacuation area beginning at 12 noon.

I couldn't believe it! I had thought about the storm, and worried about it a little, but I didn't want to evacuate. I figured I could survive the heavy storm conditions, and maybe have to be without electricity for one day or something, but I DID NOT WANT TO EVACUATE!

One of the big reasons, was that we have four cats and a chinchilla as our pets. The last time we evacuated was when Rita was heading towards Houston--we didn't have pets then, but we did experience the worst day of our lives as we spent 20 hours in two cars creeping up to Dallas/Keene where I used to live. So, I was very worried that we would again be in the car for 20+ hours, but this time with four cats and a chinchilla.

But like it or not, we had to go. So, I immediately put some clothes on and headed out to get gas in the car and pick up two more pet carriers, some pet food, and a few other supplies we would need for the evacuation. Once I returned, it was a flurry of packing luggage, preparing supplies for the cats and our chinchilla, and loading everything into the car. Our last task was to "catch the cats"... not too terribly hard, THANKFULLY! And so we were off. Heading out to Jason's family in northern Louisiana.

Once we started driving, the cats began a mournful chorus of meows. They continued for about one hour. Finally three of them took a nap, while Fluffy was briefly let out of her carrying case to see if she needed to go to the bathroom, or something. She did not like the confined space, but we couldn't have her out for the remaining seven hours on the drive, so we put her back into the carrier. She promptly went to sleep. They rode quite well for the rest of the trip, only complaining a few times.

The cats stayed in Jason's family's shed, which was a wonderland for exploration. Unfortunately, our chinchilla did not survive the trip--we believe the stress of the eight-hour trip, the changes of temperature, and the loud noises of the car were too much for him to handle. We were very shocked and so sad to find that he had died when we took his ventilated carrier box out of the car.

The trauma of carrying pets during an evacuation added to our already high stress level. We watched the weather channel and news channels almost constantly while we were at the Sasser's house. Once Hurricane Ike arrived and began its path of destruction, we prayed and watched...wondering about the condition of our home.