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Hurricane Katrina marked a turning point in the lives of people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I am one of them. I thought I knew how to prepare for a hurricane and its aftermath, and as resident with forty years of experience with plenty of hurricanes under my belt, I was like many long-time residents, ready. But that was only self deception. Hurricane Katrina, and its aftermath, has been far more difficult to deal with than I could imagine, and I am one of the lucky ones. My home, which is south of the railroad tracks in Biloxi and less than a block from the beach, did not get hit by the storm surge that devastated so many similarly located homes. I call that a miracle when you have seen the damages all around my home. That is not to say my house was free from damages, but I have a home. When Katrina slammed into the Mississippi Coast I knew that my reporting would be colored from my experience. Katrina therefore is more than just story about a hurricane to me. I have been affected by results of the hurricane in ways I did not expect and it has shaped the reporting many of you have read on GulfCoastNews.com. This storm and its aftermath have been and continues to be an emotional affair. While my home survived the storm, my life as both a survivor and a journalist has been challenged with events within my own extended family, including my own health and state of mind. That also includes the struggles of so many people that I have talked to and watched as they have tried to move forward in what is truly a difficult series of events. The stoic faces on television reports of survivors rebuilding their lives often fail to show the hours those same faces have been filled with tears. Katrina’s aftermath remains the most difficult part of the hurricane. While the higher areas of the Coast are recovering, miles upon miles of what was once a beautiful place to live remains much as Katrina left it nearly seven months ago. Even with millions of tons of debris removed, there is no way to ignore the overwhelming loss you see almost everywhere. It is depressing and disheartening, and there is still more trash and debris left on the ground. Yet there is hope. What I have been most proud to see has been the help from around the nation and the strength of the people here as they have helped one another. Neighbors pooling resources and opening their homes helping families and friends get by. I’ve even been proud of the strength of the Coast’s political and economic leadership as they struggle to find solutions to problems never foreseen. Such things are a wonderful reminder of the good in people, both from those that help, and those that need it. But while there is still so much left to do, there are some things that have occurred to me in my conversations with people that should be said. First, government at every level has worked remarkably well given the confusion and task set before them. This is not to say that they have worked always with success. There are numerous glaring failures that are even now building into what could be another disaster. The lightweight temporary FEMA trailers, which were such a relief in the early days for people who lost their homes, now are in jeopardy from the next hurricane season. The huge amount of debris has made placing trailers and rebuilding almost impossible. So seven months after Katrina, almost none of the homes destroyed by the hurricane have been rebuilt. And many will likely never be. One reason is that the Coast is not a rich area. Many of the homes destroyed included thousands that were built when costs were much lower on lots that are too small to meet present city codes. There is also the continuing confusion of build heights that will be required. Then there is the shortsighted vision of the relief agencies both from FEMA and the Red Cross that had no system in place to truly help people immediately after the hurricane. The idea of using a system that required survivors to use a phone or the internet to register for assistance proved enormously ludicrous. Hurricanes routinely destroy communications and that was the case here. But such a system does pave a highway for fraud as people called from areas around the country using false addresses to fraudulently claim they were victims of Katrina, soaking up millions of dollars in needed aid. I know of one person who was denied his rightful claim from FEMA because someone used his phone number and name. His situation only was rectified after it became clear that the counterfeiter had used an address that didn’t even exist in Biloxi, but FEMA had accepted anyway. I am fairly sure that such frauds were rampant. What is clear that the systems of support that most people rely upon for living don’t exist after a major hurricane or disaster. There were no phones, no water, no sewer, no power, no fuel. And having a week or even two weeks of food and resources is not enough. Then when some services and stores reopened, cash is king. If there is one major failure of our modern computer-supported life proven by Katrina, it is that the use of plastic money (credit cards) and ATM’s will not work following a major disaster. Without telephones and internet networks, banking comes to a halt. And without cash, people cannot purchase food, or fuel, or even evacuate as conditions deteriorate. Hurricane forecasting is not a precise science. The large zones and huge populations where evacuations are declared, suck up the fuel, food, and more from a wide area. In the case here, gasoline stations were emptied in nearly a 150 mile radius of the Coast. Grocery stores were depleted and restocking was impossible. If it wasn’t for a few Wal-Marts that managed to reopen, the Coast would have starved. Regular grocery stores didn’t open for weeks. Even in the best of times, most cities have only a few days of stock in grocery stores. Many first responders and emergency service providers ran out of fuel in the first week after Katrina. We were lucky that the situation did not become completely out of control from looters and fires. I cannot imagine how such a disaster as Katrina could be handled in a more densely populated major U.S. metropolitan area without total chaos and enormous loss of life. The situation in New Orleans is just a shadow of what could happen in more densely populated areas. What is clear also is that government cannot cope with disasters of this scale and impact in a timely manner. And that is at every level. This doesn’t mean government is helpless, but speed is not a term normally applied to any government’s action and that is the way it is. This means that people have to be ready on their own. Having said that, I have some recommendations.
It will be years before the Mississippi Coast returns to a new normal. Life here is still a grueling day to day struggle for many residents and help is still needed. But it isn’t because Coast residents are helpless, it is because so much needs to be done.
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