I am one of the fortunate ones.
I have shelter. I have power and telephone service. I have three-quarters of a tank of gas in my car. I have food.
I have my health.
My loved ones are safe.
Draw a line along Interstate 20, and chances are that there aren't many people south of that line who can attest to those statements.
Everything south of Hattiesburg has been hit- and hit hard. Ninety percent of the structures between the beach and the railroad tracks on the coast have been destroyed. All of the casinos are gone- one of them sits on the highway. Oil rigs are either sinking or sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor.
The sick and sad irony of this is that New Orleans, for a few moments after the storm, thought it had been spared. At the last second, the storm turned north and slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Unfortunately, New Orleans had at least one levee break (some sources say two.) As far as I know, that levee has not been repaired. As a result, Lake Ponchartrain has emptied itself into the city. In some places, it is twenty feet deep. This is water that is toxic- full of raw sewage and the rotting flesh of those who didn't make it.
20,000 people huddled in the Superdome are being evacuated to Houston. Officials fear a health crisis on a massive scale.
New Orleans' mayor has said that its citizens will not be able to return for at least 14 weeks- over three months. When they return, they will likely find nothing but hulking carcasses of a city that once was.
Like I said, I am one of the fortunate ones.
I have my health.
My loved ones are safe.
Draw a line along Interstate 20, and chances are that there aren't many people south of that line who can attest to those statements.
Everything south of Hattiesburg has been hit- and hit hard. Ninety percent of the structures between the beach and the railroad tracks on the coast have been destroyed. All of the casinos are gone- one of them sits on the highway. Oil rigs are either sinking or sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor.
The sick and sad irony of this is that New Orleans, for a few moments after the storm, thought it had been spared. At the last second, the storm turned north and slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Unfortunately, New Orleans had at least one levee break (some sources say two.) As far as I know, that levee has not been repaired. As a result, Lake Ponchartrain has emptied itself into the city. In some places, it is twenty feet deep. This is water that is toxic- full of raw sewage and the rotting flesh of those who didn't make it.
20,000 people huddled in the Superdome are being evacuated to Houston. Officials fear a health crisis on a massive scale.
New Orleans' mayor has said that its citizens will not be able to return for at least 14 weeks- over three months. When they return, they will likely find nothing but hulking carcasses of a city that once was.
Like I said, I am one of the fortunate ones.
posted by Yorick at 4:52 PM
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