Uncalm After the Storm
America has been overwhelmed by the heartbreaking images of death and destruction from New Orleans and Mississippi. There is shock and awe at seeing a wonderfully cosmopolitan city like New Orleans that once grew great on the commerce of the Mississippi River, and where jazz was born, sinking beneath the waters--and the unimaginable fact that in the America of the 21st century a major city could be so completely overwhelmed by nature. As Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said of the death toll from 9/11, it is "more than any of us can bear." Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city there. It brings to mind the comments of the 20th-century historian Will Durant: "Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice."
Then there was the sadness of people clinging desperately to rooftops, hoping for rescue by helicopters, and the heroism of those saving them; and the dismay of witnessing the social breakdown among those left behind, as bands of looters randomly destroyed what Katrina left unscathed, with even some police officers joining in the pillaging from defenseless stores turned into open-air bazaars. The rule of law, like the city's tragically breached levees, simply could not hold.
President Bush's press secretary said it was not the proper time for an inquest--"playing politics" was his phrase. Yes, the rescue must take priority, but some questions are inescapable; dodging questions, after all, is precisely what got us into this appalling mess. Can the waters be pushed back? Can a devastated city below sea level truly be restored to life? What can be done about the threat of rampant disease? Why were the poor and black the most neglected in the evacuation? It is not hindsight to say the flood system was inadequate. Countless journalists and officials, and publications from the major local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, to National Geographic have warned for years of a disaster waiting to happen in the event of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. How could Congress slash the budget for studying the problem and for repairing weak spots? The whys multiply like the bloated bodies of the dead.
Natural erosion had reduced the critical barrier islands in the Gulf, the result of the destruction of some 300,000 acres of wetlands. This amounted to 30 miles of marshlands, the natural barriers so effective at suppressing storm surges--the very thing that had saved New Orleans so many times in the past. The director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center estimates that every mile and a half of marshlands helps lower a storm surge by about a foot or so. That could have made all the difference this time and might well have saved the levees and contained Katrina's high Category 4 surge that came in at somewhere between 25 to 29 feet above sea level, compared with a fast-moving Category 3 blow that can push the turbid waters of Lake Pontchartrain to no more than 11 or 12 feet above sea level.
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