Hurricane's A-Comin'

We're just a few days away from another hurricane. While the eye of the hurricane is predicted to miss New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, that area will most likely bear a forceful storm, perhaps the brunt of the rains and winds this monster is bringing.
Even this far inland we as a community are preparing. The local stores have run out of supplies several times. Water, batteries, flashlights, rechargeable lanterns and radios, canned goods; all are being hoarded by our locals - including myself. We remember just a few years ago, when Katrina and Rita brought such destruction, not only devastating the coastal regions, but mauling Hattiesburg, Pearl, Brandon, Meridian and other cities and communities well inland of the Gulf.
And preparations are being made to help those who will flee from the coast, many of whom are already headed this way.
We had planned a day trip to Baton Rouge with friends for this weekend, but cancelled after we spoke with another friend who lives there.
"The town is crazy. Traffic is nuts. People are flooding in," he said, explaining that he was coming to Natchez not to avoid the storm, but to flee from Baton Rouge and the insanity that has already ensued days before the hurricane is expected to strike.
Weather stations don't agree on the date of landfall, but the majority agrees on where it will strike - Morgan City appears to be its bulls-eye. They also commonly predicted that it would be a Category 3 by the time it made landfall in the U.S., and I think that's an underestimation.
As I check the weather this morning I find that Gustav, centered just southeast of western Cuba, is already at 3 and expected to gain more strength before it actually passes over the island.
Then it will hit that warm, shallow, Gulf.
God, have mercy on us all.
If you read this post, please comment to let me know. Unless power runs out I'll keep tabs on what's going on in the Natchez-Vidalia area. If you don't see my posts here, it's because it's bad enough here that updates are impossible.
I fear that a strong enough storm could find its way to our area this time, before its power can be greatly abated. And I hope I'm wrong.
So how's that for a pessimistic post? Here's the good news. When I stocked up on water, canned goods, batteries, and dog food, I also made sure I had a good supply of Heineken. No one can say I didn't pay attention to the essentials.