FROM THE EARLY HOURS of the evacuation, it was clear that the harsh lessons of Hurricane Katrina have been learned by the people and city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and the federal government.
This time, as Hurricane Gustav approached, there were no delays and no one was left out. People were shuttled by a huge fleet of buses to prepared shelters far from the path of the storm. Emergency workers were mobilized long before the storm arrived and knew clearly what needed to be done and how to do it.
It was an admirable effort by a city still recovering from the monster storm that wrecked New Orleans three years ago almost to the day.
By this morning, with the storm passed, New Orleans was still essentially secure behind its levees and flood walls. That was a blessing. The rebuilding and repair of those barriers, which were so disastrously breached by Katrina, is only 25 percent complete.
The barriers may be tested again this year. A string of storms and tropical low-pressure areas is strung across the Atlantic like the cars in a long freight train. Gustav’s successor, Hurricane Hanna, is already moving toward land, fortunately the storm is tracking to the north and probably will not enter the Gulf of Mexico.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs until Nov. 30. More storms are still possible for the Gulf Coast.
Gustav was a strong hurricane. The economic damage to the city and the coastal region is likely to be high. There is little that can be done to avoid that when a hurricane hits.
But this time, proper preparation has ensured that the terrible human cost of Katrina would not be repeated.
And that is also a blessing,
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by jayhawker (anonymous) on September 2, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks, Pat, for recognizing a good effort by all three levels of government. One of the major differences this time was that the citizens themselves cooperated and looked out for their own families, which did not happen as well last time. I think that everyone learned a good lesson from Katrina. To learn from one's mistake is all that anyone can ask.
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)