Katrina & Sandy Why?

[tcufrog]

Katrina was the costliest natural disaster in the US. There were also some very dramatic stories such stories of the National Guard being mobilized because of crime, memorable quotes ("Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,") and horrifying stories of governmental ineptitude. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be remembered if it meant some of those things that happened in New Orleans happening where I lived.

I have no idea how much coverage Katrina got everywhere else. There was tons of coverage where I lived because thousands of survivors were relocated to my area.

 

[lucyanna girl]

Sadly, nearly 8 years after Katrina, victims are still waiting to settle claims.

And then there's what some have called the "forgotten hurricane", Rita. It hit 3 weeks after Rita, and was the fourth worst hurricane in U.S. history. All the resources and attention were focused on Katrina. Some of those folks are STILL waiting for FEMA to process their claims to find out IF FEMA will be offering aid, and some are still living in FEMA trailers.

So, Sandy isn't forgotten, sadly, all the hurricane victims ahead of them in line have to be helped first.

So true. My son and daughter-in-law lost everything to Rita. They went back to find an empty lot - only things left were a couple of pieces of flatware in the mud. Both were teachers and stayed at Johnson's Bayou school to help rebuild for another year while living in a very small FEMA trailer because that was all there was to live in. After getting pregnant and having a baby boy who had pnumonia three times before his first birthday (I still wonder how much the FEMA trailer had to do with that) they found jobs elsewhere - they had to put his health above all else. He hasn't been sick beyond the usual since.

To get back to your question OP, we still get reports on the news about Sandy. Not as many or as often but I still read and hear them. Many more I'm sure than you ever did about Rita.

Good luck to you and all those who suffered.

Penny

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Same reason nobody talks about Joplin or Tuscaloosa anymore - just not on the same scale of death and destruction as Katrina.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

Not to mention a failure of person responsibility on every level.

Not sure what you're trying to say here.

During Katrina we saw a failure of government on the federal, state and local levels, a failure that crossed party lines, to do its most basic function -- safeguard the people in the affected area to the best of its ability and rescue its citizens after the disaster. We can do better.


We have done better.

The best picture comung out of Sandy was Gov. Christie and President Obama putting aside their political differences to do what was needed in the first few days after the storm. Certainly not perfect, and there were numerous problems around here after Sandy, but not a monumental failure like Katrina.

Sent from my SCH-I800 using DISBoards

 

[Tozzie]

I am not trying to offend anyone by this post but being a New Yorker these are my thoughts.

I think the problem is where Sandy hit and hit so hard. There are people that think that New York can rebound from anything without help, there are others who think that New York gets too much attention as it is and don't think it should get more. Lets face it, the people displaced from $3000 dollar a month apartments in Manhattan are not news worthy nor do they garner sympathy. It is all about what is going to sell news and ratings are what stations use to set advertising rates so again it is about the almighty dollar and Sandy victims don't get ratings.

I was reading a story about the power outages about 2 weeks after the storm and the comments from people around the country were astonishing to say the least, comments were comparing it to hurricane andrew and the lack of electricity for 3 or 4 weeks or Katrina and the same. What these people who commented couldn't or refused to comprehend was that no one in Florida or Louisiana had to deal with snow and below freezing tempratures 1 week after the storms hit. They thought it was about lights and TV but in reality it was about electricity to have heat.

I was amazed at the opposition the members of congress had to approving federal aid. I feel tremendous sympathy for the victims of this weeks Tornado's but both senators from Oklahoma voted against federal aid packages for the people of NY and NJ after Sandy yet want aid for their state now that it has hit them.

I don't garner any ill will for the ignorant among us, there are times that I will be speaking to someone and I honestly get the feeling they think 9/11 was a horror movie they watched on TV.

There are different standards for different people and different groups of people, it isn't the fault of the public at large, it is a carefully orchestrated game with rules set by a few. It is what it is and it won't change so you have to learn to live with it.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Sandy IS still getting mentioned in the new media, it's just not all they're discussing any more.

I hate to play "my tragedy is bigger than yours" but Katrina caused at least double, if not closer to triple the devastation of Sandy and was followed up by a more powerful storm, Rita, about 150 miles to the west that caused, I would guess, about the level of Sandy damage. (Thank you TV Guy for pointing that out! My family all live dead center of the area that Rita hit.)

I've lived in the hurricane zone most of my life. You have to realize, you won't be the top tragedy on the news after a while, even though your life is topsy turvy and will remain topsy turvy for many years to come.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I am not trying to offend anyone by this post but being a New Yorker these are my thoughts.

I think the problem is where Sandy hit and hit so hard. There are people that think that New York can rebound from anything without help, there are others who think that New York gets too much attention as it is and don't think it should get more. Lets face it, the people displaced from $3000 dollar a month apartments in Manhattan are not news worthy nor do they garner sympathy. It is all about what is going to sell news and ratings are what stations use to set advertising rates so again it is about the almighty dollar and Sandy victims don't get ratings.

I was reading a story about the power outages about 2 weeks after the storm and the comments from people around the country were astonishing to say the least, comments were comparing it to hurricane andrew and the lack of electricity for 3 or 4 weeks or Katrina and the same. What these people who commented couldn't or refused to comprehend was that no one in Florida or Louisiana had to deal with snow and below freezing tempratures 1 week after the storms hit. They thought it was about lights and TV but in reality it was about electricity to have heat.

I was amazed at the opposition the members of congress had to approving federal aid. I feel tremendous sympathy for the victims of this weeks Tornado's but both senators from Oklahoma voted against federal aid packages for the people of NY and NJ after Sandy yet want aid for their state now that it has hit them.

I don't garner any ill will for the ignorant among us, there are times that I will be speaking to someone and I honestly get the feeling they think 9/11 was a horror movie they watched on TV.

There are different standards for different people and different groups of people, it isn't the fault of the public at large, it is a carefully orchestrated game with rules set by a few. It is what it is and it won't change so you have to learn to live with it.

I think you raised some excellent points.

I couldn't believe how the tragedy of Sandy was mismanaged. I remember the controversy of Bloomburg not wanting to cancel the race. Using generators and giving out water to people running a race when victims of Sandy could have used those resources. It was sad. It was heartening that hotels were giving away their rooms to victims instead of the runners. Some might not have agreed with that move, but I thought it was needed.

I read about Bloomburg thinking about the revenue the race would've generated, but IMO it wasn't the time. People were hurting in the present.

Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking.

I hope everyone that has had a disaster hit is on the road to better beginnings. But it takes time and resources. Sadly, we are very low on resources. It makes me mad that our resources are going overseas when we need them, but that's another matter.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Not sure what you're trying to say here.

I think we all know what's being said there. In most of these disasters, there are stories of self-reliance that come shining through. Katrina showed a disturbing lack of that - whether it was that the storm was just too overwhelming or the people ill prepared or some combination of both, it was starkly different from most storms.

To be certain, the refusal of local authorities to allow federal help, and then the federal help coming too slowly once it was authorized were shameful. But, the vicrims' total lack of preparedness and lack of self preservation - for whatever reasons - were eye opening to say the least.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I was reading a story about the power outages about 2 weeks after the storm and the comments from people around the country were astonishing to say the least, comments were comparing it to hurricane andrew and the lack of electricity for 3 or 4 weeks or Katrina and the same. What these people who commented couldn't or refused to comprehend was that no one in Florida or Louisiana had to deal with snow and below freezing tempratures 1 week after the storms hit. They thought it was about lights and TV but in reality it was about electricity to have heat.

Unrelenting heat and humidity can kill and did so after Katrina and Rita. I know of someone who died due to the added stress of the heat and humidity on her body for so long, so I'm sure there are others who were in that situation.

I was without heat in my house in MA for several days in mid-winter when the boiler was having issues. I've been without power after hurricanes for days on end. I'm not sure which is more miserable. However, they're both about equally dangerous, especially to the more vulnerable members of a population.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I think we all know what's being said there. In most of these disasters, there are stories of self-reliance that come shining through. Katrina showed a disturbing lack of that - whether it was that the storm was just too overwhelming or the people ill prepared or some combination of both, it was starkly different from most storms.

To be certain, the refusal of local authorities to allow federal help, and then the federal help coming too slowly once it was authorized were shameful. But, the vicrims' total lack of preparedness and lack of self preservation - for whatever reasons - were eye opening to say the least.

It was stunning the lack of preparedness. There were warnings. I can still see all those buses underwater that could have been used to transport people. At the very least they should have been moved to higher ground to be saved.

Breathtakingly stunning. Also the lawlessness that abounded. Everything degenerated very quickly.

 

[Feralpeg]

I don't believe Sandy has been forgotten. Unfortunately, there are so many terrible disasters happening, only so much attention can be focused on any one. My heart goes out to the people whose lives were turned upside down by Sandy and so many other natural disasters.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I think we all know what's being said there. In most of these disasters, there are stories of self-reliance that come shining through. Katrina showed a disturbing lack of that - whether it was that the storm was just too overwhelming or the people ill prepared or some combination of both, it was starkly different from most storms.

To be certain, the refusal of local authorities to allow federal help, and then the federal help coming too slowly once it was authorized were shameful. But, the vicrims' total lack of preparedness and lack of self preservation - for whatever reasons - were eye opening to say the least.

I'll pass that on to some friends who had 12 family members living with them after the storm for a year. I'll let the entire towns that were devastated and, since they weren't NOLA, had to find their own missing, clear their own roads, and figure out how to get their own relief supplies that they weren't self-reliant. I'll be sure to inform the Mennonite teenagers from my hometown who showed up a week after Rita and cleaned my elderly parents yard so that they could get their cars in of their failings.

I'll make sure that the doctors who stayed with their patients and did unrelenting work at big charity in the most horrific situations know that they were lacking. I'll let a young man I know, who clawed his way through a roof with his bare hands, hauled his elderly, disabled grandmother up onto that roof and then dove into swirling flood waters to find a boat and get her safely into that boat and to safety that he was unprepared and lacking in self-preservation.

I'll make sure that someone my parents know, who came to their town in the pre-Katrina evacuations, and when she realized her house just wasn't there anymore, immediately (that day) went and put in job applications at every single store in town and started looking for a place to live long term that she isn't self-reliant.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I think we all know what's being said there. In most of these disasters, there are stories of self-reliance that come shining through. Katrina showed a disturbing lack of that - whether it was that the storm was just too overwhelming or the people ill prepared or some combination of both, it was starkly different from most storms.

To be certain, the refusal of local authorities to allow federal help, and then the federal help coming too slowly once it was authorized were shameful. But, the vicrims' total lack of preparedness and lack of self preservation - for whatever reasons - were eye opening to say the least.

But that's not what drives the media.

Sent from my SCH-I800 using DISBoards

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I'll pass that on to some friends who had 12 family members living with them after the storm for a year. I'll let the entire towns that were devastated and, since they weren't NOLA, had to find their own missing, clear their own roads, and figure out how to get their own relief supplies that they weren't self-reliant. I'll be sure to inform the Mennonite teenagers from my hometown who showed up a week after Rita and cleaned my elderly parents yard so that they could get their cars in of their failings.

I'll make sure that the doctors who stayed with their patients and did unrelenting work at big charity in the most horrific situations know that they were lacking. I'll let a young man I know, who clawed his way through a roof with his bare hands, hauled his elderly, disabled grandmother up onto that roof and then dove into swirling flood waters to find a boat and get her safely into that boat and to safety that he was unprepared and lacking in self-preservation.

I'll make sure that someone my parents know, who came to their town in the pre-Katrina evacuations, and when she realized her house just wasn't there anymore, immediately (that day) went and put in job applications at every single store in town and started looking for a place to live long term that she isn't self-reliant.

Nicely put.

Around here in the aftermath of Sandy we saw the best of volunteer groups heading to the affected areas. But we also saw swift action by state and federal government.


To be sure we had our failures around here as well. LIPA was a total disgrace, people were without electricity for weeks after the storm.

A friend of mine -- the first floor of her home flooded during Sandy. She's living in the home, using only tge second floor -- all the debris has been removed but she hasn't started to rebuild yet. Issues are money (still waiting on her insurance company) and availability of labor and materials.

Sent from my SCH-I800 using DISBoards

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'll pass that on to some friends who had 12 family members living with them after the storm for a year. I'll let the entire towns that were devastated and, since they weren't NOLA, had to find their own missing, clear their own roads, and figure out how to get their own relief supplies that they weren't self-reliant. I'll be sure to inform the Mennonite teenagers from my hometown who showed up a week after Rita and cleaned my elderly parents yard so that they could get their cars in of their failings.

I'll make sure that the doctors who stayed with their patients and did unrelenting work at big charity in the most horrific situations know that they were lacking. I'll let a young man I know, who clawed his way through a roof with his bare hands, hauled his elderly, disabled grandmother up onto that roof and then dove into swirling flood waters to find a boat and get her safely into that boat and to safety that he was unprepared and lacking in self-preservation.

I'll make sure that someone my parents know, who came to their town in the pre-Katrina evacuations, and when she realized her house just wasn't there anymore, immediately (that day) went and put in job applications at every single store in town and started looking for a place to live long term that she isn't self-reliant.

It's interesting in that you mention many areas outside NOLA where the "norm" actually did take place. And obviously much of it did within NOLA as well. HS classmate got wiped out in Bay St Louis, drove back to Missouri, filled his truck with medical supplies, then went right back.

My post wasnt intended as an insult to those who did what they could. But we all saw WAY too much of the opposite as well, and that's just what we saw on the news. And as someone who's down there, you should know that as well as anyone.

 

[disd55]

Not saying that Louisiana and Mississippi aren't densely populated, but they aren't as nearly densely populated as the Northeast Coast. The NYC Metro has a 22 million person population, and the world's largest rapid transit system. The New Orleans Metropolitan area has a population of less than 1.5 million. No electricity wreaked havoc on not just normal people in cold homes, but the Subway System. Without transit, especially to Southern Manhattan where Wall Street is, people couldn't get to work. This in turn effected the WHOLE country, even the world, as one of the world's biggest stock markets was closes for 2 days.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

I also wanted to mention Hurricane Ike which also didn't garner a lot of long term media coverage. It took years for people to get their houses rebuilt/repaired and we were also without electricity for weeks. There was also the BP Oil Disaster that devastated the Gulf community. They are just now starting to recover from it and we wont know the long term affects to our health and the environment for years to come.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

It was stunning the lack of preparedness. There were warnings. I can still see all those buses underwater that could have been used to transport people. At the very least they should have been moved to higher ground to be saved.

Breathtakingly stunning. Also the lawlessness that abounded. Everything degenerated very quickly.

No, it was stunning how the media spun things.

I've forgotten the exact estimates, but the simulations run prior to Katrina all suggested that, in the filled bathtub situation NOLA faced in Katrina, a certain percentage of the population would be stuck in the city. The actual number that was in the city during/after Katrina was much lower, suggesting that a lot of people who reasonably could've been expected to have been stuck in Katrina managed to use their wits to get out of the city and to safety.

The problem, at that time, was in actually getting OUT of the city. There are only X number of roads leading out of any major city, and, unfortunately, good contra-flow plans had not been developed. It's not about the vehicles, it was about using those vehicles on overwhelmed roads.

Witness the mass chaos that happened in Houston in the time leading up to Rita. People were stuck in their cars for days because of transportation issues.

That is not excusing some really poor choices that were made pre-Katrina by FEMA and other governmental bodies in regards to evacuation and where supplies are stored. But really, I was impressed with just how many people without cars got out of the city!

(And there have lessons learned: I drove by one of the main storage/shelter facilities FEMA has built post-Katrina just yesterday. It's far enough away from the coast to only face tropical storm force winds, on good high ground, right next to an arena/coliseum type facility and a college, but out in the country. It's about 3 hours drive from the heart of NO or to Lake Chuck, maybe 1.5 hours to Layfayette and has close access to two different N/S arteries.)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Not saying that Louisiana and Mississippi aren't densely populated, but they aren't as nearly densely populated as the Northeast Coast. The NYC Metro has a 22 million person population, and the world's largest rapid transit system. The New Orleans Metropolitan area has a population of less than 1.5 million. No electricity wreaked havoc on not just normal people in cold homes, but the Subway System. Without transit, especially to Southern Manhattan where Wall Street is, people couldn't get to work. This in turn effected the WHOLE country, even the world, as one of the world's biggest stock markets was closes for 2 days.

In turn, I could cite specifics about how much goes in and out of the port of NOLA. . .

Face it, they were both bad.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I also wanted to mention Hurricane Ike which also didn't garner a lot of long term media coverage. It took years for people to get their houses rebuilt/repaired and we were also without electricity for weeks. There was also the BP Oil Disaster that devastated the Gulf community. They are just now starting to recover from it and we wont know the long term affects to our health and the environment for years to come.

While folks hit by Rita feel forgotten, the people who suffered from Ike were even more forgotten.