Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
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.)
“In the last couple of days we didn’t have a speck of wind, but now it’s starting. It’s overcast, and the outer reaches of the storm are with us. Most people don’t realize it, but when they are dealing with a storm, they’re on edge. I want it to come and get it over with.”
“I’ve shuttered the four big windows on the front of the house, the small windows on the side and now I’m putting in some extra screws. Last time, when we came back after Katrina, my palm tree was leaning into the guest house. I’ve tied it to another tree, and this will hopefully keep it in place.
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.”
