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Aug. 30, 2005 The first question to answer is whether it will be feasible to rebuild New Orleans at all. That is, can the city be rebuilt in such a fashion that it will be able to survive future hurricanes? Can better dikes be built? Can the old buildings be rebuilt in such a way as to be strong enough to survive and yet not ruin the old N’Awlins ambience? One might stop to ask whether, in hindsight, more could have been done long, long ago, over the last 20 years, to make the city more impervious to such damage. Maybe, but humans always have better hindsight than foresight. There is a fine piece from a WWL-TV in New Orleans. Excerpts and comments below: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/083005cccawwlevac.43bb0409.html “With conditions in the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans rapidly deteriorating, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday that everyone still in the city, now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers, needs to be evacuated.” (Indeed, everyone should have left before, but too many didn’t.) “The breach of two levees Tuesday meant the city was rapidly filling with water and the prospect of having power was a long time off…FEMA is considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, or so-called floating dormitories… FEMA Coordinating Director Lokey said he anticipated FEMA will set up a permanent office in the area. Recovery will take so long, he said, that some workers could spend their entire career working on Katrina.”…The devastation was enormous. One of the twin spans of Interstate 10 was broken into dozens of pieces between the pylons, stretched out across rising water like puzzle pieces. Only rooftops were visible in several neighborhoods and the occasional building was on fire…hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still need rescuing from rooftops and attics, he said. “ (And we have some heroic efforts going on. Perhaps some rescue workers will die. I hope that there are no Gold Star Mothers for Disaster Relief who will protest that their son died trying to save the foolish people who remained in New Orleans during the storm.) “Blanco described the dedication of rescue workers who at midnight were told to take a break. "They refused. They couldn't do it," Blanco said. “ (Heroes indeed!) “Things were so bad, Nagin said, that rescue boats are bypassing the dead. "We're not even dealing with dead bodies," Nagin said. "They're just pushing them on the side." …(Governor) Blanco asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer. "That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors," she said. "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild." (But will they? I recall the itsy bitsy spider who kept rebuilding in the downspout. But then again, the human spirit is often indomitable and will attempt the impossible over and over until it discovers how to make it possible. Perhaps New Orleans, like the Phoenix, will arise again from its drowned ashes.) ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: 63-yr-old physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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