Things are not so easy tonight in The Big Easy. New Orleans is facing a hurricane that is already being billed as a "catastrophic event". Hurricane Katrina is set to wreak devastation on the Gulf Coast of the United States as a category 5 storm - the worst possible scenario.
If you've been watching the news for the past 2 days, you've learned, as I have, that New Orleans is several feet below sea level, in a "bowl" wedged in between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchetrain, with levees holding back the water on both sides. It is predicted the storm surge will cause the waters to breech the levees, flooding possibly the entire city under 10-20 FEET of water or more. The major of the city is predicting a total failure of the power grid, and no sewage services or clean water from city systems for a period of weeks, if not months, after the storm. It is not "hype" to say that this storm could wipe out New Orleans as we know it. Even if the storm weakens to a category 4, there is no way the city is not going to flood.
I've never been to New Orleans although it's probably a city I'd enjoy visiting, despite the fact that I no longer drink like a college student on spring break and you will never see me on a video of "Girls Gone Wild" flashing anyone for beads at Mardi Gras. But it's an old and elegant city, with a unique personality and history all its own. I hope there will be something left of all of that when the storm passes and the waters are pumped out (they will not "recede" the way they do in other geographic areas).
Remember the scenes of the Tsunami-hit areas in Asia... remember how entire communities were left with nothing but rubble, debris, and floating bodies. In 1900, over 8,000 people were killed in Galveston, Texas after the storm surge from a massive hurricane flooded the city - even though this was before the current early warning systems, because New Orleans is such a flood-prone area, the damage could be equally bad this time.
There are people that have not evacuated New Orleans, either by their own choice (they are stubbornly thinking they can "protect" their property, or they stupidly they think they know better than all the hurricane experts and it "won't be that bad" so they're having hurricane parties) or because they were simply unable to get out -- no cars, unable to get public transportation, tourists whose flights were cancelled, and older/infirm people and the homeless. There are public servants who stay behind - police, hospital, fire/EMS crews, the National Guard, and others - and risk their own lives to try and save others.
And it's not just New Orleans in harm's way, either. The track of this mammoth storm will take it up through Louisiana and Mississippi, affecting Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and heading north through the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. The heavy rains will create flooding throughout this zone. We'll even be feeling the effects here in New Jersey by the end of the week - and I still remember working in a Red Cross shelter after Hurricane Floyd dumped its rains on our state a few years back.
And while the toll on human life is, of course, the primary concern, there are other issues here, both enconomic and environmental. New Orleans is a major center for oil in the U.S., and the oil pumping and distribution capacity is effectively shut down, possibly for weeks - this will certainly affect our already soaring fuel costs. And the potential for truly catastrophic environmental damage -- from sewage, oil leaks or spills, garbage, and human or animal remains... again, I am mentally flashing on scenes from the tsunami zone in Asia and what a horrific mess that was, and still is in many areas. I hope the damage in this case won't be anything like that, but from what the city officials have been saying, they are truly preparing for this possibility.
In our country, we always believe we can conquer anything. But sometimes, there is really nothing you can do to prevent disaster, and this is one of those times. We cannot stop Nature from its course. Whoever you are, whatever you're doing, pray for New Orleans, and all those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Here's how you can help:
- American Red Cross
- Pray, and pray some more
