Gustav….frustration….

So I’m sitting here in Commerce, TX, as I have been since Saturday afternoon, in evacuation from our newly occupied residence in Galliano, LA. I’ve been diligently watching The Weather Channeland flipping back and forth between all the major news channels (CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, etc…) trying to figure out what has been going on in Lafourche Parish due to Gustav. I’ve scoured the internet searching for any updated information regarding wind damage/flooding that may have happened in our area. I thought the Lafourche Parish government website would shed some light on the happening, but of course not. Thank you parish president, Charlotte Randolph, and your staff for keeping it’s constituents abreast of any devastation in our region. (I hope the sarcasm was sensed). I’ve managed to hear from my mom, who heard from her friends thatstayed in Galliano on their houseboat, that there has been substantial structural damage in our area, including schools and our local grocery (which lost its roof). The earthen levee which stands roughly one mile from my childhood home, as well as my grandfather’s home, has apparently not been able to withstand the water and has broken.

Another HUGE part of my frustration deals with those aforementioned national news channels. This is a two-part frustration.

First – As soon as the hurricane was downgraded to a category 2, just before landfall, the sheer disappointment was obvious from these blood-sucking, anything-for-a-story “reporters” that would have been happier to report on a life-threatening, category 5, responsible for thousands of deaths, than a mild hurricane in which lives were spared. How ultimately selfish, perverted, and indicative of our culture of death, for these overpaid, self-serving, selective reporters to almost root for the storm to strengthen before landfall. I’m convinced that if they possessed the power, they would have strengthened the storm themselves just for a better story. How pathetic!

Second – New Orleans, as unfortunate as Katrina was to that city, was not then, and has not been for Gustav, the hardest hit area. The Mississippi Gulf Coast was Katrina’s hardest hit area, as far as total devastation is concerned. Wind and rain was not what caused damage in New Orleans…that would be storm surge. I cannot express my disgust with a CNN reporter who, today, September 1, 2008, was attempting to explain a map of the levees in New Orleans and how they would soon be breached due to storm surge. Anyone who knows 2+2 can figure out what storm surge is all about. If you are on the east side of the storm, surge comes from the south. The reason Metairie flooded for Katrina is due to the surge coming from the north (Lake Pontchartrain) because the storm was to the east, New Orleans to it’s west. I will make this plain and clear… GUSTAV DOES NOT = KATRINA. They are different types of storm which cannot be compared. Instead of focusing on the areas which face the most widespread devastation (i.e. Terrebonne Parish, Lafourche Parish, St. Mary Parish), New Orleans gets all of the attention. I honestly can not figure out why.

I won’t even get on the topic of all those “people” complaing about waiting in line to get on an assisted evacuation bus…

Advertisement