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Now that the blamegasm over Katrina seems to be over, it's time to move on, blog-wise. To be sure, there will still be finger pointing and stupid quotes (or more correctly, quotes from stupid people), but the relief effort is in high gear now. I'd like to mention a last few items and then I'm probably done with it.
Susie's family is safe! Yay!!!
Bitterman lived on the gulf coast for a while, and found an arial photo of what's left of his old neighborhood. Here's something I hadn't heard before:
Initially when the storm surge came in, he had thought all was well, but the wind packed it up so tightly, it began entering the storm sewer pipe outlets at beach level and flowing uphill to his neighborhood some 35 or so feet above the beach.
Yikes! Fortunately, everyone is safe.
Victor has a list of undeliverable postal zip codes. Check with your local post office, because the list will be shrinking as the relief continues.
Finally, everyone should be shocked at how quickly law and order broke down in New Orleans (I haven't heard about problems anywhere else... but the media has been hyper-focused on NO, so who knows), and I'm reminded that the primary and ultimate responsibility for you and your family's safety is you. Please go back and read the "For Ourselves, By Ourselves" series over at Random Nuclear Strikes. It's not a one-size-fits-all, but he discusses points that you might never think of. He also links to an excellent article titled "Disaster Guns". Personally, I've brought up the subject of household arms again, and specifically told the girls that they will be learning to use a handgun as a minimum. Even Mookie, who was the most opposed when I last brought it up, realizes now that there's some wisdom in that.
Posted by Ted at September 5, 2005 08:58 AM | TrackBackA huge part of the problem in New Orleans is that the police force simply melted away. According to what I have read they have less than 1/3 of their normal capability. The Chief of the National Guard has termed them as "significantly degraded", which in military terms means they are no longer a factor to consider in the situation!
Read this post for more info on that.
The bottom line? Tell Mookie that in a disaster situation like NO, her only defense, for a while, is going to be her abilities and native wit.
Posted by: Eric at September 5, 2005 03:30 PMOne should never make a point of relying upon cops for anything and a Remington 870 makes a pretty good line of defense.
Posted by: Russ at September 5, 2005 11:21 PM