Katrina was all over the news for a few days at the beginning of the month. Remember? What has happened since? The Administration, Congress and the populace at large have slipped back into their peaceful slumbers. Meanwhile, the victims continue to live in concentration camps.
xxx
Katrina Musings: What About All of Our Other Vulnerable Coastal Cities? by Chris Mooney -- The Huffington Post
Today, the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, my hometown of New Orleans is getting some much needed attention. And rightly so: It's a scandal that in the years since the disaster, all too little has changed. Time magazine recently blazoned the word "pathetic" on its cover to describe the lagging efforts to re-defend the city. Residents are reoccupying and rebuilding willy-nilly, including in the most vulnerable, flood-prone areas. Meanwhile, the agency whose failures drowned the city to begin with, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lurches into a series of projects that still won't protect against the deadliest hurricanes the Gulf of Mexico can spawn--
^^^
If, as Mooney's article predicts in one of his worst-case scenarios, St. Pete, Florida suddenly becomes an island, my home will almost certainly be underwater.
When I lived in Kansas City, Missouri [about as far inland as you can get], the Army Corps of Engineers blew into town after a minor flash flood hit one of the wealthiest parts of town -- as well as many poorer areas. They widened Brush Creek [that skirted the rich section the flood had hit] and created a bottle-neck downstream [in the poorer section] while assuring us we would be protected, too.
Uh-huh-- you don't have to be an engineer to realize that pouring more water down the creek and leaving the downstream area untouched doesn't help the folks living downstream from the work-area.
I imagine it helps you ignore the physics if you've been ordered to protect the Plaza [the wealthy area] by the folks whose campaigns are in debt to those who own it.
All of this smacks of the current plan to protect NOLA from a level 3 hurricane -- after being hit by one that registered as a level 5 -- with more numerous and more severe storms predicted for the near future.
Good going, Corps of Engineers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It's a travesty of monumental proportions. Sad really.
Robert Rouse-you took the words right out of my mouth.
As long as you have enough money to hire Blackwater, you'll be ok if a disaster should hit. I've heard those guys wil even throw around a few sand bags if necessary.
And if someone so much as even looks at you're stuff, they'll shoot'em.
Everything is great if you are rich and live in a rich neighborhood. You'll get as much assistence as you need. Bush will rebuild your porch so you can sit there and drink iced tea together.
But if you're poor and a minority then you're not worth bothering with.
If it doesn't involve oil or profits nothing is going to get done in this country.
The people need to unite and make a change.
www.pafundi.com
===================================
Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties
as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 4227
right on, Robert.
and, it's really sad that we're so helpless to do anything about the poor souls who are caught in the quagmire.
hi, M E--
yup.
hi, Poli--
acourse, most of us can't hire blackwater.
and, I always KNEW there was a reason to be glad I'm not rich -- I wouldn't _want_ to sit on my porch and sip iced tea with Bush.
**whew!** saved by the skin of my teeth!
welcome, Ted--
ain't it the truth.
unfortunately that was true even before Bush came along.
he has just made things so much worse, it's mind boggling.
btw--
again, sorry it's taken so long to respond.
between wall papering, swimming, neighborhood watch etc. etc. I'm meeting myself coming and going.
seems I have way LESS time now than I did before I retired. **sigh**
Post a Comment