The battle for New Orleans continues, only now it’s shifted from stemming the flow of water through the broken levees to final searches for residents who are still in their flooded homes and not able to communicate with the outside world. There is no electricity, no potable water, no telephone communication, no operating sewers, no grocery stores, nothing. As one report I read noted, “It’s like the Jetsons were turned into the Flintstones.”
How does one survive without the twenty-first century necessities? I’m not saying all of them are necessary, but many of them are . . . especially in cases like Hurricane Katrina. There are still families searching for loved ones, still displaced people being shunted from here to there with little understanding of what’s happening, still water everywhere.
The final death total remains elusive; the final dollar value of property and earning power lost is equally elusive. And, so to is the final impact on our country.
Some say this tragedy equals 9/11, and I’m prone to agree. Even though the latter was a terrorist act instead of a natural disaster, similarities abound. Both acts were unexpected. Sure, we knew Katrina was headed toward New Orleans, but at the last minute it shifted course. What did the city in wasn’t the hurricane but the collapse of the levees. While their weak spots had been debated for years, the actual breaks came as the same sort of surprise that 9/11 wrought.
The clean-up efforts for both tragedies are tedious, disheartening, and expensive. They are also an example of American will to survive and rebuild. Even though New Orleans Mayor Nagin has demanded that all residents leave the city, there are some holdouts who refuse to leave their homes. In a way, they represent the American spirit; in another way they defy the law. We’ve always been like that.
As I write this Bill O’Reilly is waxing semi-eloquent on his nightly show. He’s asking hard questions of New Orlean’s Mayor Nagin and Louisiana’s Governor Blanco. He’s asking less harsh questions of President Bush and FEMA and Homeland Security, which is what I would expect, given his political bent. At the same time, there will be plenty of pointing fingers in the next few weeks while rescue efforts continue.
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