This response is directed primarily to the callous, arrogant ignorance demonstrated by the writer(s) of the "North Dakota News"...and to anyone who harrumphed in agreement with their ill-informed drivel...
While I am sympathetic to the motorists who were stranded in the recent blizzard "of Biblical proportions" (I'm still looking for any mention of a blizzard in the Bible), I am offended by the crass and mindless comparison with the unparalleled disaster that was Hurricane Katrina.
Let me begin by stating that we understand that most folks respond to what they see on TV, without investing further thought as to whether these images are true or accurate. I ask these people, consider when was the last time you got the "straight" story from the national news media? I freely acknowledge that all the bad behavior they covered is true: the looting, the gouging, the welfare-dependency, the venial, selfish laziness celebrated by the national media, and by the ND News, is all out there--and we are disgusted by it. However, in the worst case, these sorry excuses for human beings are very much in the minority. But you wouldn't know that by listening to "news" from North Dakota. I don't suppose you have any basket cases there, do you...
As for the straight story: My wife and I saw Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath up close and personal. We don't need to forward second-hand reports. We speak with authority. We lost our house and everything in it. We lost our whole neighborhood. Every neighborhood within 26 miles in either direction of us was erased...as in destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. Two whole towns were wiped out (Waveland and Pearlington). What is "wiped out?" More than 98% of the structures in the city limits and the near outlying areas were no longer standing.
According to Red Cross statistics--in Mississippi alone--there were over 68,000 homes destroyed and more than 65,000 so heavily damaged that they were uninhabitable, making a total of nearly 134,000 homes lost. We lost over 60,000 homes just in Hancock and Harrison counties.
Oh, as for our economy...you know, where the money for food comes from...over 100,000 jobs evaporated in eight hours: Two-thirds of the US shrimping fleet, eleven major casinos, the Northrop-Grumman shipyard (one of two major shipyards in the US), two Navy bases, an Air Force base, the Port of Gulfport (if your banana says Dole or Chiquita, it came through here), a major NASA research and test facility, a major NOAA weather and data processing center, and a DuPont plant. That's just the big stuff.
The "little" businesses got slammed, too. Two universities, a VA hospital, and one of the nation's two Armed Forces retirement homes were washed through. "Washed through" means while there might be something standing, you can see through the first two floors. I can't easily count the number of restaurants and smaller businesses that "used to be there."
Perspective:
>>Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic
>>event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" ---
>>with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH
>>that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds
>>of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of
>>communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.
Down here in Mississippi, we had 35 feet of salt water (that's 420 inches--water, not snow), driven by sustained winds of over 165 mph (the gusts were over 200 mph), and "lethal" waves towering 15-20 feet. Radar recorded several hundred tornadoes. Thousands of trees were ripped up by their roots and knocked down like matchsticks. Tens of thousands of trees were "snapped in half." The entire power grid in the southern half of Mississippi had to be replaced, including a large number of substations. 65% of the power grid in the entire state of Mississippi was damaged. In Mississippi alone, well over a million people (compared to only 642,000 people in the whole state of ND) were without power during weeks of 90-95 degree heat. 100% of Mississippi Power Co. customers lost power; 16 months later, 60% prior service has been restored. The other 40% of homes formerly served are gone.
Hundreds of thousands of cars were flooded and/or smashed. Roads weren't closed here, they were destroyed down to their beds. Major sections--miles--of US Highway 90 were buckled and overturned. The US 90 bridges over the Bay of St. Louis and the Bay of Biloxi were smashed like errant Lego blocks. The Interstate 10 bridges over Lake Ponchartrain and the Pascagoula River were also down.
When the almost-4 feet of snow melted, did these "hundreds of motorists" find all of their belongings strewn across the ravaged landscape? What little we found of our life's accumulation of treasured, irreplaceable mementos and heirlooms, we had to dig out of a 25-foot tall wall of debris. Well, I should say we searched the debris pile until armed National Guardsmen asked us to leave so they could remove corpses from the rubble...two of the "hundreds" of people who were killed--not snowed in--in Katrina. (Current body count hovers around 2,000)
More perspective:
>>Nope, they just melted the snow for water.
>>Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
>>The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
>>Local restaurants made food, and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families.
>>Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
>>They fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil or Coleman lanterns.
In the houses that survived, there wasn't any running water for weeks. In neighborhoods still standing, there were boil-water notices for five months after the storm. Some neighborhoods still have boil-water notices, because the water and sewer system was destroyed, and all the water treatment plants were heavily damaged (I forgot to mention this earlier, it seemed so small).
Caravans of private citizens in fishing boats rescued people trapped in attics, and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants would have made food, but there weren't many left. There was no power for weeks. People shared MREs and any other food they could find. We cooked over Coleman stoves and used hurricane lanterns for light. We call that fuel "kerosene" down here, by the way, not coal oil. Coleman lanterns were popular, too. The new gas bottles are great. Of course the trick was getting replacements. Most people had stockpiled emergency supplies in advance, but no one expected them to have to last so long. There was no gasoline to drive the 100 miles or so to the nearest stores for re-supply.
There was plenty of wood, though. FEMA estimates they removed 68 million cubic yards of trees and other organic debris...and they're not done yet.
Families not only took in stranded people, they're still living that way 16 months later. We stayed with friends for a month after the storm, then we housed another family for two months after that.
Oh yes, let's have a word about government assistance:
>>They did not wait for some affirmative action government to get them out
>>of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades
>>votes for 'sittin at home' checks.
In Mississippi, neighborhood men with their own chainsaws cleared the roads and located survivors. Men and women in neighborhoods organized watch groups against looting. Neighborhood churches set up food tents and relief stations to triage the injured...those injured in the storm and those injured in the cleanup. I didn't notice any "sittin' at home" going on, and I didn't see anyone immobilized. I did see thousands of shocked and grief-stricken people receiving, gratefully, many forms of relief--not from the government, but from private volunteer agencies like the Salvation Army, Operation Blessing, and Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse. Yes, they were all Faith-based. The "government" did what government does best: send National Guard and Law Enforcement personnel from all over the USA, except, apparently, North Dakota.
Unfortunately, the "government" did what government does worst, as well: Trying to apply a one-size-fits-all aid package to a demographic that is as diverse as any in America. Of course there were going to be abuses and waste.
The question I have is, would either the response or the outcome be any better in North Dakota? Or anywhere else?
One other thing: In contrast to politicians in neighboring states, the governor of Mississippi was not incapacitated when disaster struck. He had the Mississippi emergency management effort in action--and effective--even as the storm chewed its destructive path through the middle of our state. Mississippi's Coastal Mayors rolled up their sleeves and dug people out even as they coordinated rescue, relief, and recovery efforts. If you want to see state and local government that works, just come on down.
I can't help responding to this one:
>>"I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North
>>Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."
I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North, 90% of the world's PEOPLE evaporate. After checking the map, it looks like 90% of North Dakota gets left behnd, too. Maybe there's a correlation...
Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster to hit the United States in its entire history. If you consider only the southern six counties of Mississippi, in isolation, Hurricane Katrina is STILL the worst natural disaster in US history. Never mind New Orleans. Comparing all that to a snow storm would be laughable, except that it exposes the ugly bigotry and arrogance of certain people, smug and far-removed from the suffering.
I have learned that disaster is the most revealing event in the human experience. It magnifies a person's character, for good or for bad. I have witnessed greatness in common people. I have seen corruption and weakness in the highly-placed. And vice versa.
The writer of this "Cat 5 blizzard" e-mail, and all who have agreed with it, have shown their true colors: petty, small, and self-congratulatory. These are the colors of cowards and bullies, not the self-reliant plainsmen they pretend to be.
Josef Stalin once said, "The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of millions is a statistic." The sheer magnitude of Katrina blurs perception. It isn't a million lives upended--it is one life upended, a million times over.
Have a Merry Christmas in your ivory tower.
"I used to complain that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class." Mark Twain