Obviously, it has been a very trying few days for our country, perhaps the most turmoil we've seen since Sept. 11th. The amount of devastation in Gulfport, Biloxi and other town in Mississippi is nothing short of total obliteration. I fear that when the water recedes in New Orleans, people will discover the desctrution is just as bad there, only on a much larger scale.
First, I'd just like to talk about the storm. The storm, amazingly, weakened quite a bit as it came on shore, from 175 mph sustained winds to 140 mph sustained winds, which actually cana make a huge difference in wind damage, which can be seen. In fact, wind damage is fairly light considering the amount of storm surge that came ashore in Mississippi. I think a lesson we have learned, from this storm and Ivan, is that the actual SIZE of the storm and past strength are the most important factors when it comes to surge.
New Orleans escaped the wrath initially, but the water was simply too much for the levees and obviously they failed. It almost seems unreal that this storm, which looked very ragged making landfall, actually had incredible force and wiped out EVERYTHING on the MS gulf coast. Kudos to the National Hurricane Center for pretty much nailing the forcast in time for most people to get out.
Next, a larger and more important aspect of the story: people. I have to say I have never seen such a breakdown in order and civility than I have in New Orleans. It is quite disturbing to see a very scarce amount of humanitarian stories, outside of coast guard rescues, coming out of new orleans. Cops looting, cops being shot, carjackings, riots, hostage situations, the whole thing is choatic and disturbing.
The media coverage has also been disturning. At first, their coverage seemed lax and unaware of the true situation on the gulf coast. I was aware because I was skimming blogs and weather fourms with EMS personal or their friends posting on it, saying hundreds of bodies were found in Mississippi. Soon, especially on Tuesday, they began to get more somber about their coverage and by Tuesday night, many programs had a exploitive feeling to them. I still don't think they know yet the true cost of this storm...or as KCN at SSP put it" "there aren't enough hours in the day to cover the severity of this storm."
I really hope we get financial aid from other (wealthy) countries, as we have helped them out in the past. I also hope american citizens do their part by donated at least some money to the red cross or someone.
This is truly a devastating natural disaster. Hundreds, *maybe* more than a thousand people have died. A truly remarkable event in a country where this type of thing isn't supposed to happen. No one ever thought that more than 50, or at most 100 people would die in a hurricane in the US again, considering the amount of technology at our disposal. Even Andrew only killed 40 people. Now look where we are...amazing.> |
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