The first episode was completed in April 2005. It was scheduled to air later that fall. Out of respect they did not air the episode until just a year or so ago, and in memory of the disaster that happened five years ago, they re-aired it again yesterday. I missed the first airing, but DVR'd the late night episode.
Watching it again infuriates me.
When it was apparent that Katrina was massive and heading for New Orleans, Mayor Nagin issued a "voluntary" evacuation. The people in New Orleans had been warned so many times before, most ignored the voluntary evacuation. The day before Katrina hit, the mayor finally issued a mandatory evacuation. While there were still alot of people ignoring the warnings, those that did were now found themselves gridlocked on the highways exiting the city.
Idris Lewis lived in the ninth ward. He waited for his son, who was to help him evacuate. By then the authorities were not allowing anyone to enter the area. Idris waited alone, recalling that waking the next morning, he found his bed floating in water. Eventually he made his way to the rooftop where eventually a boat happened by that rescued him from being another statistic.Every aspect of the New Orleans' administration knew that Hurricane Katrina was inevitable.
The evacuation plan never seemed to consider the poor that lived in the ninth ward that could not possibly evacuate in such short notice.
Fran Campbell, Executive Director of the East Jefferson Parish was one administration official that took pre-emptive action. She, along with all the others knew that the levees could not hold during a major hurricane. The difference was that she refused to gamble with her 250,000 people's lives.
"Due to lack of funding we were forced to come up with our own solutions to some of our problems. We had been asking for years for funding from the federal government."
In March 2005, Louis Armstrong Airport runway was being replaced. Ms. Campbell begged for the old runway and her staff worked overtime transporting the broken runway to the East Jefferson levee. "Her" levee held, while so many others did not. I've heard that the Army Corp of Engineers studied and copied some her ideas to re-enginneer the levees.
Watching the episode again, I am again struck by how many experts knew that it was only a matter of time. They accurately predicted the "bowl" that New Orleans had become would eventually end up being a death sentence for those that could not escape.
To blame one person, one mayor, one governor, one agency or one President is outrageous. It was no one's fault and it was no one's failure. It was everyone's fault and everyone's failure. I am reminded of the 15 year old that "stole" a school bus sitting among dozens of unused buses and collected a bus full of people and saved them from becoming another statistic.
Hurricane Katrina was first a natural disaster that could never be stopped by any human and secondly a failure of humanity to stop gambling with human lives.
But sadly, as we hear Hurricane Earl heading for the East Coast, I believe that New Orleans is no more prepared today than it was in 2005. I wish that were not true, but I believe it is true.
God Bless New Orleans and it's people. In this horrible anniversary, America still mourns for your unimaginable loss.
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