My romance with the National Weather Service flood warnings is over – for now. In the middle of my evacuation infatuation plans the love affair with the service and the idea of skipping town for a few days this week was put on hold.

But (damn!) the fear of FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers running things scares the hell out of me.

Who cares? Day and night, in the past week, I was beginning to get a little frustrated anyway with the flood warning forecast reports, predicting that the Mississippi River would crest at the flood stage of 17 feet at the Carrollton gauge in New Orleans (the record high flood stage is 21.27 Ft. set on April 25, 1922).

Then to take it to an extreme, the weather service’s warning also explicitly and brilliantly said in case of high water (which at two feet can float a small truck) – “TURN AROUND AND DON’T DROWN” (duh!).

This was a rollercoaster prediction, with either the morning or evening forecasts alternately predicting that flood stage would come, causing “minor” street flooding in New Orleans, at first late Monday night, then Tuesday morning, then Monday night, then Tuesday morning, then…well – you get the picture.

And even after the Bonne Carre Spillway was opened, diverting river water into Lake Pontchartrain, I still didn’t rest easier, watching the National Weather Service reports from the water gauge still going up, from 16.7 to 16.8 the next day to 16.9 Friday evening (after all, the water is being diverted right?). And what happens to the lake when it reaches a flood level?

If these kind of predictions would seem to cause a little anxiety, in my case they did, but only by their very origin and nature. On the other hand – who expects the National Weather Service to be precise?

If it looks like this romance has a chance of starting up again, I’ll have to think it over. It may not be love after all.