Entries in Life

After Hurricane Andrew left thousands homeless in August 1992, the first President Bush's administration was bitterly criticized for moving too slowly to deliver food, water, and troops. Although his campaign vastly outspent that of Bill Clinton, his support ebbed and Bush was forced to defend what once had been considered home turf, winning by only a small margin.

— Boston.com

Last year, when hotly-contested electoral votes were in play, Bush responded quickly and decisively to Hurricane Charley.

How many people in the U.S. died because of Hurricane Charley? No more than 30.

Still, I keep coming back to Hurricane Andrew. It was the most devastating storm in recent memory. In a piece for the Washington Post, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that several things meant that Hurricane Andrew wasn’t as bad as it could have been:

• [Andrew] could have hit major metropolitan areas directly, with far more people vulnerable to disaster — the elderly, the indigent, the homeless — live.
  
  Katrina hit a major metropolitian area. Many of those who didn’t leave were elderly, indigent or homeless.


• In the Miami area, those seeking refuge from Andrew had only a short trip to get to higher ground. By contrast, so much of the state's southwestern corner around Ft. Myers and Naples is in low-lying territory likely to be inundated by a major hurricane, that state planners estimate that evacuation would have to start at least 60 hours in advance of a storm to get all the residents of the region to safety.
  
  Do you realize how little response you would get if you tried to evacuate people everytime there was the threat of a major storm hitting in 60 hours? They can’t even predict where a storm is going to hit with any accuracy that far out.


• Andrew could have been a big storm like Carla in 1961, which stretched 50 miles from its eye to the maximum winds on its fringe. Instead it was about 11 miles.
  
  Katrina was larger


• … when [Andrew] hit Louisiana, it could have been as mean or meaner as it was when it touched down on Florida. But by then, for all the damage it did, Andrew had lost its nerve. Its winds blew as much offshore as onshore, and its pressure suddenly changed, reducing the potential size of the storm surge.
  
  Katrina was the third strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the United States.

My thanks to dcm for reminding me that there are a lot of heros in this story. I may be frustrated and angry with the people who want to rip New Orleans out and ship its citizens to North Dakota, but I shouldn’t let that overshadow the good things that people are doing.

Houston is a kind of competitor to New Orleans. They took almost all the oil companies away from New Orleans and, with them, many well-paying jobs. Perhaps we have some strong affinity with the city. Its the sister-city you love to hate. Houston deserves major cred for hosting so many of New Orleans refugees.

In fact, many of the surrounding cities and states deserve a lot of credit. Communities have pitched in and offered places to stay, food to eat, and education for the children and college students. Major kudos to all of them.

Finally, Lt. Gen. Honore deserves plenty of props. He has jumped in and made things happen, even if he couldn’t get there the next day.

Thanks to all these heros!

New Orleanians know how to do two things really well: Eat and Entertain.

A few years ago, Benny Grunch made a CD filled with New Orleans-themed Christmas music. One of the tracks is especially apropos: In “Ain't Dere No More”, Benny laments the loss of treasured New Orleans landmarks. Today, by accident, I stumbled upon some videos that WWL-TV made of these songs.

They have a wonderful, home-video-with-decent-editing feel to them. And its authentic New Orleans: everyone is fat. Check them out.

It’s time to blame the victim.

I got an anonymous comment on this entry where I called Mayor Nagin “my new hero”. What I love about the comment is that it clearly shows that the reaction against people who stayed isn’t a class issue, its a race issue.

Do you know what us poor white trash do when we hear that a tornado might be coming? WE LEAVE.

That, and people just don’t understand the magnitude of the area hit and the population there: okay, some of those left of the 2sigma stay in the path of the tornado, but I can guarantee that number isn't 100,000+ people.

Maybe not, Mr. Anonymous, but then, I New Orleans is much bigger than Oklahoma City. In fact, New Orleans itself is far more densely poplulated than Oklahoma City: 2,751 people/sq mi vs 731 people/sq mi — and that doesn’t include the cities and towns surrounding New Orleans. Since New Orleans is so much more dense, the population of the city isn’t going to be able to make a mass exodus as quickly as the “poor white trash” of Oklahoma City — even with equivilent resources.

This is where the frustration comes from. Jefferson, Orleans, and all down-river parishes have been cut off from all outside aid, apparently. And stories are beginning to surface that FEMA is or was actively blocking private aid to these area. Here are some examples.

• Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard on Meet the Press:

  We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA — we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, “Come get the fuel right away.” When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. “FEMA says don't give you the fuel.”

  Since race and politics has turned into such a huge issue here, it is important to note that Jefferson Parish is largely white. In fairness, I should also note that, currently, the top hit on Google for Aaron Broussard is a story about a subpoena he received in a corruption case last month.



• FEMA was turning away citizens with boats from rescue efforts


• Additional law enforcement snarled in FEMA red tape.


• Nagin holds Governor responsible for delay


• Journalists rebel


• jwz has a “horror show roundup”.


• Miguel de Icaza has more