Day 5: The Disaster Widens; St B Forgotten; Favoritism Shown to NO
Anyone who believed that the dearth of fatality reports coming out of New Orleans was a sign of hope that many would escape physical harm can retire their optimism.
One chilling example alone is enough to truly put the toll of Katrina into perspective. This evening I learned that a New Orleans area nursing facility was caught by surprise with the rush of water and that an estimated 30 elderly people perished. If there could be a silver lining to this grim story, 30 residents of the facility were rescued.
My heart and my prayers go out to all of those who have lost family and friends or are furiously trying to get information on them.
Flooding is still a problem in New Orleans and on the east bank of densely populated though largely evacuted Jefferson Parish.
St. Bernard Parish is still under water, though the government has taken refuge in an office building near the river. Efforts to retrieve people from flooded homes continues though I was disheartened to learn that a contingent of Wildlife and Fisheries boats that were to be apportioned to the parishes in need were hogged up in total by New Orleans.
Why should New Orleans take precedent over St. Bernard Parish? I hope and pray it has nothing to do with the politics of the governor and New Orleans administration.
St. Bernard does not have a single dry speck of dirt anymore and considering the parish;s size of 72,000 prior to Katrina's arrival, merits attention. As does the forgotten parish of Plaquemines that has disappeared from the map in terms of news and reality. A report got back to me that the sheriff felt abandoned by the almost exclusive focus on New Orleans.
There are lots of people suffering across the board and favrotisim should not come into play when allocating resources, which at a minimum should be done pro rata if not by judging total damage (under the latter category St. Bernard would command half of the boat fleet.)
As I write this, there are families, old and young that are living on their rooftop or attic without nourishment or potable water for their fourth or fifth day, waiting to be rescued. Forget reality-TV on CBS; these tormented souls are the true survivors/
The death and destruction that has visited Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is unprecedented. Katrina is not just the biggest disaster in state history, it may very well turn out to be the most terrible disaster in American history.
The body count could easily eclipse out total casualties in Iraq and the damage done to New Orleans's all important bridge system has left the city almost isolated.
August 29th, 2005 was our tsunami...it was our 9-11.
One chilling example alone is enough to truly put the toll of Katrina into perspective. This evening I learned that a New Orleans area nursing facility was caught by surprise with the rush of water and that an estimated 30 elderly people perished. If there could be a silver lining to this grim story, 30 residents of the facility were rescued.
My heart and my prayers go out to all of those who have lost family and friends or are furiously trying to get information on them.
Flooding is still a problem in New Orleans and on the east bank of densely populated though largely evacuted Jefferson Parish.
St. Bernard Parish is still under water, though the government has taken refuge in an office building near the river. Efforts to retrieve people from flooded homes continues though I was disheartened to learn that a contingent of Wildlife and Fisheries boats that were to be apportioned to the parishes in need were hogged up in total by New Orleans.
Why should New Orleans take precedent over St. Bernard Parish? I hope and pray it has nothing to do with the politics of the governor and New Orleans administration.
St. Bernard does not have a single dry speck of dirt anymore and considering the parish;s size of 72,000 prior to Katrina's arrival, merits attention. As does the forgotten parish of Plaquemines that has disappeared from the map in terms of news and reality. A report got back to me that the sheriff felt abandoned by the almost exclusive focus on New Orleans.
There are lots of people suffering across the board and favrotisim should not come into play when allocating resources, which at a minimum should be done pro rata if not by judging total damage (under the latter category St. Bernard would command half of the boat fleet.)
As I write this, there are families, old and young that are living on their rooftop or attic without nourishment or potable water for their fourth or fifth day, waiting to be rescued. Forget reality-TV on CBS; these tormented souls are the true survivors/
The death and destruction that has visited Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is unprecedented. Katrina is not just the biggest disaster in state history, it may very well turn out to be the most terrible disaster in American history.
The body count could easily eclipse out total casualties in Iraq and the damage done to New Orleans's all important bridge system has left the city almost isolated.
August 29th, 2005 was our tsunami...it was our 9-11.
posted by BourbonConservative at 10:35 AM
1 Comments:
You are right that all areas need attention.
To be honest, and I am applauding the President (despite my liberal leanings) for his commitment to rebuilding, I think it would be a very good gesture if he were to find a way to return the Louisiana National Guard from Iraq, even if it means calling up some other unit from somewhere else. One has to wonder whether they would have the morale to be any good in a fight right now anyway.
And it's really good to see you back on the blog, I was getting worried last night.
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