Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
Weathering the storm: “This is part of life over here”
(Charles Abbyad, 58, is the maitre d’ at Arnaud’s, a classic creole restaurant in the center of New Orleans. With his wife, Jill, he keeps a guesthouse called The Chimes in the city’s historic Garden District. Abbyad chose to stay behind and ride out Hurricane Gustav with Reuters reporters Matt Bigg and Tim Gaynor.)
11:00 a.m. Monday
“Time was flying by yesterday but when the wind shifted to the south I felt a bit of relief. We were watching the water overlapping the western wall of the Industrial Canal. The walls on that side were the old ‘I’ walls, not the present ‘T’ walls. I was concerned. I had heard of two things: if the winds persisted for another two hours they had no idea how much water would come into the parish. And the two barges that were loose had not been tied down.”
“Around 11.00 or 12.00, the news came that the barges were tied up and the wind had shifted to the south. That was a tremendous relief. From that point on, my concern eased off tremendously.”
“The only thing I was thinking about at that point was preparing dinner: grilled Cornish game hens, steamed asparagus, sautéed potatoes, corn on the cob and Caesar salad. I was rusty on making the Hollandaise sauce but pulled out the recipe on the Internet and I managed to make the sauce without it breaking.”
Weathering the storm: If the canal breaks
(Charles Abbyad, 58, is the maitre d’ at Arnaud’s, a classic creole restaurant in the center of New Orleans. With his wife, Jill, he keeps a guesthouse called The Chimes in the city’s historic Garden District. While thousands of residents are packing their cars and fleeing Hurricane Gustav, Abbyad is staying behind with Reuters reporters Matt Bigg and Tim Gaynor to ride out the storm.)
4.30 a.m.
“When we went to bed last night I had a good feeling about the storm. Maybe it was a false good feeling but when Katrina was approaching we started feeling the effects way before the storm made landfall.”
Weathering the storm: “Am I ready?”
(Charles Abbyad, 58, is the maitre d’ at Arnaud’s, a classic creole restaurant in the center of New Orleans. With his wife, Jill, he keeps a guesthouse called The Chimes in the city’s historic Garden District. While thousands of residents are packing their cars and fleeing Hurricane Gustav, Abbyad is staying behind with Reuters reporters Matt Bigg and Tim Gaynor to ride out the storm.
It’s 4 p.m. Charles has been up a stepladder most of the day, putting up shutters and preparing for the gathering storm. This is probably his last post for today.)
Weathering the storm
Charles Abbyad, 58, is the maitre d’ at Arnaud’s, a classic creole restaurant in the center of New Orleans. With his wife, Jill, he keeps a guesthouse called The Chimes in the city’s historic Garden District. While thousands of residents are packing their cars and fleeing Hurricane Gustav, Abbyad is staying behind with Reuters reporters Matt Bigg and Tim Gaynor to ride out the storm.
“We learned from Katrina that if the city is going to be closed up for any period of time, the food would spoil in the refrigerators at the restaurant. Last time we would have opened much sooner if we had prepared better. This time, we threw some food away on Saturday, and gave the rest to the fire department. By the time we walked out of the restaurant yesterday, it was locked up, all the computers were put away and then I came over here to get everything ready.”
