I’m sorry I didn’t post or moderate on Tuesday. Life intervened. To make it up to you, and to move this Mary Lou thing along, I’m giving you the next three cartoons in the reprise.

Gustav was scarey, one of those situations where you look back after the adrenaline subsides and realize how bad things might have been. Had the storm not moved across the Gulf as quickly as it did and had it intensified as forecast, it would have been horrific. It was on a trajectory to, indeed, be the killer storm New Orleans has dreaded. Katrina, you will recall, caused so much damage in New Orleans because of flooding after the hurricane.

It was bad enough in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Ironically, had that storm not scoured so much of the Mississippi coast clean three years ago, the damage from Gustav’s surge would have been much worse there. It would be remembered as one of the worst storms since Camille in 1969. As it is, however, most residents of the coast consider themselves lucky.

I’m speaking of the Mississippi coast because of my affiliations there. I’ve spoken with friends and read news reports to learn what I know. I know nothing of the situation around Houma, LA, where the storm actually hit. I expect the damage there is extensive.