Some perspective on Katrina...

I am a weather-news junky. Don't give a hoot about all the political stuff... but give me a good storm and I'm glued to the tv and surfing the net for feeds. I also spent some time (20 some years ago) as a Red Cross disaster volunteer.

So here is some of my perspective on the aftermath from Hurricane Katrina.

1. Many parts of the region have building standing apparently undamaged, but massive vegetation damage according to one report on CNN. Broken trees are slow to clean up, and the ONLY people with large enough chain saws are normally Forest fire fighters and some National Guard units. Expect requests from all around the country for Guardsmen to head to the gulf area to assist with cleanup.

THIS IS GOING TO TAKE MONTHS. AND MANPOWER. AND WHERE WILL THEY PUT ALL THIS DEBRIS?

2. A friend wrote: I am thinking of what its going to take just to get the water plants re-started as well as the wastewater plants. On the Water side, every
water line and every fire line is going to have to be flushed and
chlorinated and samples will have to be taken from every line flushed
and taken to the lab for analysis. There there are all of the electric
motors that are going to have to be dried before they can be started.
Then there is all of the silt and sand that will be plugging the storm
drains not to mention all of the manholes which have been blown off.
The Mississippi will be highly turbid so there will have to be
extensive filtering at the Water treatment plants...the magnitude is
almost beyond comphrehension.

THIS IS GOING TO TAKE MONTHS. AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

I can't imagine where all these people are going to live during this time. And the peak of hurricane season is still 3 weeks away... with hurricanes possible for what?? another 6 to 8 weeks??

With the impact nationwide on supplies and oil prices.. this is going to be a major hit on our economy.

Now the RED CROSS holds with a philosophy that
a) people who have lost everything deserve more than other people's hand-offs, so they give victims money to buy new things (like underwear, shoes and clothing).

b) local communities devastated by disaster can recover more quickly if money is poured back into the local community.

That's why ARC asks for cash donations instead of used clothing and such.

If you are sleeping in your home tonight, with more than the clothes on your back... please DONATE HERE.