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If you've been watching the news, you know where my thoughts are. New Orleans. Katrina's impending arrival. And all those people at the SuperDome. I'm sending out a call to prayers for New Orleans, that danger to families--two-legged and four legged--will be kept to the minimal. From my end, it doesn't look possible that there wouldn't be any deaths.
I have to marvel at those people shown on TV drinking and partying on the streets, believing that the levies will hold through this devastating storm. It's strange how a certain mindset can become a mantra among people who have been drinking too much. They TV people tried to get an answer from these people--why are they staying? And their answers are strangely the same--the weathermen had always been wrong and they will be wrong again, and besides, we have the levies.
Yikes.
If it's a mandatory evacuation, doesn't that mean you can forcibly make these people leave? But then, where would you put them, when the city is fifteen to twenty five feet below sea level? Even the undead won't have a place to stay in New Orleans tonight.
I keep thinking...our nation boasts the best fleet of air power and we can't fly a bunch of planes down there a day ago, before it became too dangerous, to evacuate these poor people? Am I being too simplistic in my belief that this can be done?
It is too late now, of course. We can only sit and wait. A part of me is also wondering whether the presence of TV crews cause the citizens of New Orleans to think they are safe. After all, if those darn TV guys are there, that means it's safe enough for them to stay, right? Why would they want to jeopardize their lives by staying in a city that is going to be underwater, no power for weeks, with threats of disease because of stagnant water and floating bodies in the days to come?
We take a deep breath and we pray. Please let the Super Dome withstand that storm. And please let the pets and animals somehow survive.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Quietly Watching
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2 comments:
Unfortunately, Gennita, a mandatory evacuation doesn't mean that you can force people to leave. However, it means that if people ignore the order, they shouldn't expect help from city services in the midst of the storm. Down here in the Keys, we know that if we stay when told to evacuate -- if we get in trouble the police or fire rescue are not going to come when we call. It isn't fair to them either to send them out in the middle of a horrendous hurricane.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Louisiana and Mississippi.
In the meantime, I wish you were closer. I need a roofer! Looked up the morning of Katrina to see a brown water stain on my bathroom ceiling. *hrrrrmph* Time to get someone to check the top side near the vent!
good to see you okay, Mary Stella! I hope you find a roofer soon ;-).
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