Hurricane Ranting

[llcoolvad]

Three days of watching reports from New Orleans and Gulfport, and I'm starting to feel completely overwhelmed with the tragedy. I keep hearing about how this is our tsunami, but we're not a third world country! This didn't come upon us suddenly -- there was plenty of warning! Why did so many have to die?!

I heard a report on NPR about how New Orleans has always had a fatalistic side to it, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they'd end up underwater. And I had certainly heard that often enough before this whole storm. So if that was the case, why didn't they have a better evacuation plan in place? One that would have enough places for people to go, and would have ways for the housebound or infirm to actually GET to these places?

I tried to find a few local government websites on Gulfport and they're just...gone. Much like some sites were gone after 9/11. The local New Orleans paper is not producing actual printed copies, just online editions. They're moving all the Superdome people to the Astrodome (which makes for an interesting story to tell, but not something I'd want to be able to claim!) in Houston. It's all so sad.

Can someone please tell me why people leave their animals behind when they evacuate?!

And hey, thank god the president cut short his vacation by two whole days to take care of this. Those people should feel better already.

Comments

[sarcasticah.livejournal.com]

Emergency shelters won't take pets... so, if people were unable or unwilling to go to a hotel where they could take their pets, they left them behind. I wouldn't leave mine, of course -- but then, I wouldn't have stayed anywhere near New Orleans. I'd have packed up the cat and the guinea pigs and some other stuff (the hard drives, some books, some pictures and clothes) and hauled ass right out of town.