Hurricane Katrina causes personal chaos

I just got out of Downtown Miami about an hour ahead of Katrina's wrath. My father was at Cedars Medial Center awaiting cancer surgery scheduled for this afternoon. He had gone through all of the pre-surgical routine including having his I.V. installed and not eating for almost 48 hours. Thinking a weak Tropical Storm Katrina was about 12 hours (or so we thought) away everything was going as planned, then Katrina took a detour. I had sent Beth with my car to go check on Sebastian our lovable baby schnauzer, not knowing the storm had intensified rapidly to become a Hurricane and was closing bearing down on us. Obviously the chaos that ensued on Miami-Dade and Broward roads was an indication that I was not the only one caught flat-footed.Not only was my dad's surgery delayed at the very last minute as he was about to be wheeled into the operating room, but a long planned trip to California already delayed and contracted by a few days due to the surgery is now becoming a nightmare. I was due to fly out Friday morning at 6:45 but now that flight has obviously been cancelled, as has a slew of hotel reservations and other plans. Katrina has packed an unpredicted punch and perhaps this Strom will remind Miami-Dade and Broward Counties (virtually the only parts of Florida not seriously affected by last year's barrage of storms) to respect mother nature all over again.Hats off to Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs and Sheriff Ken Jenne for their cautious but justified decisions to activate the EOC early and prepare Broward residents as best they could. Unfortunately, not everyone headed their well timed advice