Harrowing images of a region under water, with stranded residents being plucked from rooftops they will never see again, barely begins to tell the tragic story that’s enveloped New Orleans and communities scattered along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Mississippi and Alabama.
Americans outside the devastation zone are only now beginning to comprehend the toll wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Our heavy hearts and prayers go out to those who have been affected.
We take some comfort in knowing that America’s strong and generous arms are reaching out to cradle the Gulf Coast, as it did to New York and Washington, D.C., in the days after Sept. 11. The images of looters raiding stores for DVDs, clothing and candy are upsetting to say the least, but they’re contrasted by the heroic efforts of rescuers who have risked life and limb to save those trapped in their stifling hot attics or those waving sheets from the windows of their apartments.
Some are saying that New Orleans will never be the same, and it will be months before the storm-wrecked areas can recover.
Until then, those of us a safe distance from the hurricane damage must do whatever we can to help. The Red Cross has set up emergency shelters throughout the Gulf region, and many are overwhelmed by the crush of people needing help. (To donate, call 1-800-HELP-NOW or visit www.redcross.org. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and promoter Chuck Morris even are organizing a hurricane benefit concert at Red Rocks with the Dave Matthews Band.
“We’re going to get through this together as one American family,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has agreed to shelter thousands of New Orleans refugees in the Houston Astrodome – through December, if necessary. Some of the 25,000 were expected to begin making the 350-mile trek by bus Wednesday.
The federal government, and not a moment too soon, is deploying a wide-scale response to the disaster, from tapping the nation’s emergency oil reserves to rushing food, water, medicine and generators to the impacted areas. “I’ve asked the president to give us all the resources possible – today,” said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Katrina an “incident of national significance” and launched for the first time a national emergency plan developed after the 2001 terrorist attacks. His agency will coordinate the recovery activities of various agencies from Transportation to Health and Human Services to the Pentagon.
Dealing with Katrina, particularly in New Orleans, has been complicated by the fact that much of the destruction happened after the hurricane passed through when levees protecting the cities were breached. But still, all of us are driven to learn lessons from Katrina, and we’re convinced that in preparing for future storms, more can be done to prompt the evacuation of those citizens who were overwhelmed by the task of leaving the city and failed to do so.
The technology is available to estimate when a tropical storm will strengthen to hurricane status, and when the hurricane will hit land. Officials knew well in advance that Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans, much of which is below sea level and particularly vulnerable. The governor and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered residents to evacuate. While there will always be those who choose to stay behind, despite an evacuation order of this magnitude, there also should be a mobilization plan to help those who can’t otherwise flee.
Surely Katrina is a wake-up call for all of us to suspend our skepticism when the government gives an order to leave.
The effects of Katrina will ripple across the country for weeks. Gas prices are flirting with $3 a gallon in Colorado, and some airlines began canceling flights this week because of a dearth of fuel supplies and the rising costs.
The Bush administration Wednesday temporarily relaxed some air pollution standards for gasoline in an effort to ease shortages of fuel. And generators will be shipped to pumping stations to restore the oil flow at refineries.
Over the next few weeks, experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have their work cut out for them as they try to prevent outbreaks of disease in the swirling floodwaters now contaminated with sewage, chemicals and, yes, dead bodies. The swath of destruction through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama is almost unfathomable. Some 90 percent of the homes in Slidell, La., were either destroyed or damage. Hundreds of homes in Biloxi, Miss., have been destroyed and casinos literally washed away.
The human toll will be unbearable. (New Orleans Mayor Nagin figures it could be more than 1,000 in his city alone.) But the Gulf Coast will make it through, with help from America’s broad shoulders.
To help, the Denver chapter of the American Red Cross is accepting volunteers for its local call center (go to www.denver-redcross.org), and the Salvation Army is accepting donations for its mobile feeding units dispatched throughout the South (1-800-SAL-ARMY or go to www.salvationarmyusa.org). Local churches also are expected to take up collections to accompany the prayers we all whisper as the Gulf Coast states fight through exhaustion to find the path to recovery.
