So Far, Second Week Not So Good
Katrina made me unproductive today. Since late last night, when I first heard there was a break in the levee and the reporter got a second source to confirm it, I’ve been wandering over to the television to see new video on the aftermath.
I knew the worst would happen, even before the hurricane hit. The signs were all there, and I wondered why they didn’t make evacuation mandatory. H.E. said they should have had all the school busses out, ready to take everyone who didn’t have a vehicle in which to leave town.
What bothers me is the number of able-bodied people who did have vehicles but decided to stay, giving all the search and rescue people even more work to do. They had every available helicopter out and about, even one that H.E. said probably should have been in a museum for all its primitive equipment—one where the rescuer sat on what H.E. calls a penetrator. Having been rescued once by firefighters, I have a deep appreciation for the work that these rescuers do, and I don’t like people making stupid decisions that needlessly put the lives of these rescuers at risk. There is no point in staying to protect a house or building from looting if the house or building will be completely destroyed anyway, no point in staying if there won’t be food or potable water to live comfortably, and no point in staying if the flood waters will only make people sick, whether or not they drink it.
Even without the hurricane, the danger existed. The levees aren’t stone, and they were the only thing protecting New Orleans from being submerged. Even though they were saved from a direct hit by the hurricane, I had a feeling it would come to this.
But what really pisses me off is hearing that Bush wants to visit. Right now, the only benefit in him visiting is for some photo op because as president he would have to take a large group of support people and security with him. There is absolutely nowhere for him and his support to land, and any helicopter he rides to view the devastation only takes away from the search and rescue efforts. It’s like the man has no clue that he would be far more hindrance than help if he insisted that he get to visit.
I feel terrible for everyone there. I’ve lived through typhoons in the Philippines, where the flood waters forced my family to live in the second story of our house—I still remember staring with fascination at the roots of a very large tree, which had fallen in the storm and had broken the stone wall surrounding our yard, and I remember one of my uncles sitting on the staircase with a fishing pole in the living room (my aunts kept warning him not to eat anything he fished out of flood waters, but he did anyway because he’s a total idiot). I even remember going to school in a boat after that … because the flood waters didn’t recede right away. I’ve also been out in the streets during a storm in Pusan, South Korea, and I remember seeing a huge neon sign, the size of a car or truck, fall from the side of a building with a crash, barely missing fleeing Koreans. For some stupid reason, I wasn’t scared at the time; I was under the impression that it was a regular storm and didn’t find out until later that it was a typhoon.
It’ll be at least a decade before things get back to normal in the areas affected by Katrina. I’d already committed to making regular quarterly payments to Red Cross to help with the tsunami victims because I know that the process of rebuilding is a long one and most of the charity giving world has a very short term memory, but now I think regular monthly payments would probably be a better deal. With the loss of the day job, I won’t be able to give as much, but it makes me feel good to know that it might help save some other little girl, staring with fascination at the roots of a very large tree which has fallen on her home somewhere in the wake of Katrina.
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5 thoughts on “So Far, Second Week Not So Good”
Evacuation was “mandatory,” but legally they can’t physically make anyone go. As for the buses, you have to understand the roads that are main interstates in Mississippi and Louisiana. There are many people, for once, and they’re all trying to get out at the same time; it equals completely backed up roads in very little time.
I have family friends who were just barely touched by the hurricane, but there in Mississippi nonetheless. They live atop a hill and by an interstate. A lot of people had to abandon cars because they ran out of gas quickly at the puttering along speed that people could only go at. Having vehicles to leave doesn’t necessarily equal the ability to leave; roads were crowded for almost 24 hours before the hurricane even hit.
Also, while I agree with you about the stupidity of the people who didn’t leave, you also have to take into account that this is the coast, and this is the French quarter. They’re used to flooding and even hurricanes. I saw one woman in the news saying they didn’t leave because she had lived in the same home for 30+ years, but it had never been more than slightly flooded. When you live in that, it’s very easy to think, “Well, this probably will only be a little worse.” To be fair, I don’t think analysts even expected 80% of New Orleans to be underwater.
Don’t get angry over Bush. It’s not worth it! It’s typical politics, even though it’s wrong. 🙄
The sad thing is, I don’t know that the large portions of the coast can even bounce back. Hurricanes along the coast are a pretty common thing. Some years are hit harder than others. But it’s pretty common to see at least one a year or every couple of years; by the time they rebuild certain things, they’re going to get hit again.
I have to say I’m most concerned about the possibility of disease. The climate there is a breeding ground for a number of problems. There were warnings put out to the people walking through the water yesterday that no only was it unsafe to do that due to debris, but there were also fire ants to consider and poisonous snakes.
It’s a really bad situation, to say the least. :/
Hi, Lelia! 🙂 Thanks for the long comment, and I’m sorry I didn’t respond sooner, but my computer was in the middle of a long render that took all night and all day, and before that I was working on preparing for the render.
Anyway…
You wrote:
Evacuation was “mandatory,” but legally they can’t physically make anyone go. As for the buses, you have to understand the roads that are main interstates in Mississippi and Louisiana. There are many people, for once, and they’re all trying to get out at the same time; it equals completely backed up roads in very little time.
By “mandatory,” I meant much more than what they said at the press conference. They said words like “should” and “advise” and all of those words that made the actual evacuation voluntary. They didn’t stress enough that people MUST leave, and it would have been better had they provided much more help and much more information. And actually, yeah, they CAN physically make people go — H.E. even said at the time that they should have declared martial law.
Considering how bad this was going to be (and it was apparent even long before it hit), they actually should have told people to go to their churches and schools, and then they should have arranged to pick groups of people up from those places in buses. They also should have moved all the fire trucks and other such emergency vehicles. The people in charge knew it was going to be big, on the same level as Camille if not more. They also knew that the maximum that the levees could withstand was cat 3; they’ve known that since the ’50s. Heck, there was an article in the Times-Picayune around 2002 that talked about the vulnerability of the levees and the need for an evacuation plan. NO is below sea level, and the levees are weak. But did the city government decide to hold an annual drill? No.
Today — September 1st — is Disaster Prevention Day in Japan. It’s the anniversary of a really, REALLY huge earthquake that happened way back in 1923, and since then, they have had drills every year. Every year. And everyone participates.
Did NO hold yearly drills after Camille? No.
The traffic is nothing. They had days to evacuate. DAYS. Had they a proper plan, the mayor or the governor could have said, okay, this section of the city will leave between 8 and 10, this section between 10 and noon, that section … et cetera. As for fuel, they could have arranged for extra fuel to be brought in during the evacuation. They brought it in in bubbles AFTERWARD — they could have easily brought it in BEFOREHAND as well. But no. They didn’t.
Also, at the same time Katrina was wreaking havoc, there was a pretty big typhoon, around cat 3, passing through Taiwan and China. They evacuated a whole lot more people than we have in our disaster areas, and you know what their casualty rate is? It’s in the single digits, last I heard.
So yeah. I’m a bit annoyed with how NO and the rest of our country handled this. We’re supposed to be squared away, and yet we botched this up pretty bad.
I have family friends who were just barely touched by the hurricane, but there in Mississippi nonetheless. They live atop a hill and by an interstate. A lot of people had to abandon cars because they ran out of gas quickly at the puttering along speed that people could only go at. Having vehicles to leave doesn’t necessarily equal the ability to leave; roads were crowded for almost 24 hours before the hurricane even hit.
I addressed some of this above, but let me just add that I saw the traffic, too, on TV — two lanes out of four on the outbound side looked jammed. For the purposes of this evacuation, the government could have opened up the other side of the freeway — the inbound side — and used it for outbound traffic.
Mostly, however, my ire was with people who didn’t even attempt to leave. I saw one able-bodied man point to his truck underwater.
Also, while I agree with you about the stupidity of the people who didn’t leave, you also have to take into account that this is the coast, and this is the French quarter. They’re used to flooding and even hurricanes. I saw one woman in the news saying they didn’t leave because she had lived in the same home for 30+ years, but it had never been more than slightly flooded. When you live in that, it’s very easy to think, “Well, this probably will only be a little worse.” To be fair, I don’t think analysts even expected 80% of New Orleans to be underwater.
Um. Yes, I think they did; it was in the Times-Picayune article back in 2002. H.E. certainly expected it, and he’s no analyst or meteorologist. In fact, when he saw that the hurricane was headed for the tip of Florida, he predicted that this would be a big storm, up there with Camille. Heck, it even followed almost the same exact path as Camille, which had been 30+ years ago. Remember, NO is below sea level. All it takes is one little break in the levee.
Don’t get angry over Bush. It’s not worth it! It’s typical politics, even though it’s wrong. 🙄
Uh. I can’t help being angry at Bush. The levees were actually scheduled to be reinforced early in his first term, and he cut the funding for it so that it didn’t happen. HE CUT THE FUNDING FOR IT. And now, here he is, doing the grip and grin, cutting his vacation by two measly days to act like he cares. Typical politics? It’s because of him the levees weren’t reinforced.
The sad thing is, I don’t know that the large portions of the coast can even bounce back. Hurricanes along the coast are a pretty common thing. Some years are hit harder than others. But it’s pretty common to see at least one a year or every couple of years; by the time they rebuild certain things, they’re going to get hit again.
No doubt about it. Consider that Ground Zero is still essentially a big hole, four years after 9/11. It will take NO at least 10 years to rebuild and at least 20 to come back to its former glory, and that’s IF they don’t have any more hurricanes.
I have to say I’m most concerned about the possibility of disease. The climate there is a breeding ground for a number of problems. There were warnings put out to the people walking through the water yesterday that no only was it unsafe to do that due to debris, but there were also fire ants to consider and poisonous snakes.
Disease was just ONE of the many thousand things H.E. mentioned even before the storm hit. He also predicted civil unrest — looting, mugging, raping, shooting. Actually, he predicted the shooting at the helicopters for Saturday, and he’s a bit bummed out that it came two days early. Yep. They’ve already started shooting at their rescuers.
This is the sort of thing that happens — a lord of the flies kind of anarchy — when you have something like this. H.E. finds it amusing that FEMA keeps feeding the press bullshit. He thinks they’ll be as effective in NO as we are in Iraq. Get power up in two days? Yeah, like we got power up in two days in Iraq. Sure. Okay. Whatever they say.
It’s a really bad situation, to say the least. :/
Oh, yeah. The worst. And it’ll only get worse in the next few days before it starts to get better.
I’m afraid I’m going to make you a bit angrier, April. My son is a paramedic and he’s also an Air Rescue Medic in the Oregon National Guard. When the hurricane hit, he and six other paramedics along with their pilots, crew chiefs and 8 helicopters were sitting in Fort Sill Oklahoma (three hours away from New Orleans) waiting to fly to Afghanistan. They asked for a delay so they could support rescue operations in New Orleans, but they were denied. Instead, the Pentagon sit them on over to Afghanistan where they have been sitting on their butts for the last few days. They’re all furious. I spoke to my son this morning and he is so upset about this. They have lots of experience rescuing hikers and moutaineers in the Cascade Mountains – New Orleans would have been a piece of cake for them. And they’re one of the only National Guard Units fully manned with paramedics.
Seems like the feds have their priorities all screwed up!
Um… did you know your home page was hacked? http://www.aprilgem.com reads “hackbsd Crew 0wnz y0u! @ jank0”
Thanks for the heads up, NM. I guess I might as well plan for a redesign now; I don’t have a backup of the hacked page on this computer and can’t replace it with the original.
Mark, somehow I am not surprised. Turns out Mike Brown of FEMA isn’t even qualified for the job, so anything that happens now, if it’s wrong or badly done, I will totally not be surprised. *Sigh* What a year this is turning out to be.
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