Hurricane Katrina 20th Anniversary

[WxWatcher007]

Today is the 20th anniversary of Katrina’s landfall along the Gulf Coast. I was a young tropical weenie during the 2005 season and I could not believe the devastation in New Orleans and along the Alabama and Mississippi coast. The human tragedy is beyond words. 

Feel free to share your stories and reflections here. 

 

 

 

[GaWx]

 The 87 year old father of one of my best friends passed as a result. My friend and his wife had moved from NO to ATL 30 years earlier. His father and mother were living in a house in N.O. They unfortunately hadn’t evacuated. The water rose so fast! Inside the house, he went under and wasn’t seen by his mother coming back up. There was nothing she could do. They also had a several years old cat, who was nowhere to be seen.
 
 She was devastated, but she then needed to save her own life. His mother, then ~76 year old, amazingly survived by (as I recall my friend saying) standing on a wall on the property attached to the house and standing on it for hours (while I think holding on to the adjacent roof to keep her balance if I’m recalling this correctly) until rescuers in a boat could get to her. Can you imagine a 76 year old being strong enough to do that physically and emotionally after what she had just seen happen to her husband of 55 years?!

 His mother then moved to Atlanta to live with her son/daughter in law. My devastated friend weeks later had to go to N.O. to identify his father’s dead body. Can you imagine how terrible an experience that must have been?

 That’s not the end of the story. After my friend identified his father’s body and then checked out the totaled house, he starting hearing meows nearby. Lo and behold, it was his parents’ cat, which though malnourished, miraculously survived and was ok!! That cat later came back home to ATL, got back to full health, and lived another 10+ years! 
 
 His mother lived about another 18 years!

 Things like this remind me to always be grateful for quiet seasons or at least seasons with few or no landfalls.

[bigtenfan]

 

I read an article in the NYT recently that said that the recovery effort cost the government $140 Billion. The gist of the article was how little there is to show for it as so much of the money went to politically connected consultants and the government bureaucracy that wasted it either through incompetence or outright fraud and corruption.

[WxWatcher007]

3 hours ago, GaWx said:

 The 87 year old father of one of my best friends passed as a result. My friend and his wife had moved from NO to ATL 30 years earlier. His father and mother were living in a house in N.O. They unfortunately hadn’t evacuated. The water rose so fast! Inside the house, he went under and wasn’t seen by his mother coming back up. There was nothing she could do. They also had a several years old cat, who was nowhere to be seen.
 
 She was devastated, but she then needed to save her own life. His mother, then ~76 year old, amazingly survived by (as I recall my friend saying) standing on a wall on the property attached to the house and standing on it for hours (while I think holding on to the adjacent roof to keep her balance if I’m recalling this correctly) until rescuers in a boat could get to her. Can you imagine a 76 year old being strong enough to do that physically and emotionally after what she had just seen happen to her husband of 55 years?!

 His mother then moved to Atlanta to live with her son/daughter in law. My devastated friend weeks later had to go to N.O. to identify his father’s dead body. Can you imagine how terrible an experience that must have been?

 That’s not the end of the story. After my friend identified his father’s body and then checked out the totaled house, he starting hearing meows nearby. Lo and behold, it was his parents’ cat, which though malnourished, miraculously survived and was ok!! That cat later came back home to ATL, got back to full health, and lived another 10+ years! 
 
 His mother lived about another 18 years!

 Things like this remind me to always be grateful for quiet seasons or at least seasons with few or no landfalls.

Thank you for sharing.

3 hours ago, bigtenfan said:

 

I read an article in the NYT recently that said that the recovery effort cost the government $140 Billion. The gist of the article was how little there is to show for it as so much of the money went to politically connected consultants and the government bureaucracy that wasted it either through incompetence or outright fraud and corruption.

I think I just read the same thing. I know that eventually the new flood protection system was built which helped the city in future storms, but we saw its limits with big flash flooding during Francine last year. Not trying to make a political statement here, but what happened to that $140B is a real reminder that there has to be oversight and accountability from the start. 

[bigtenfan]

Watching a Netflix documentary on Katrina now.

It is very difficult to watch. The human suffering was much worse than it was depicted at the time.

[dseagull]

I began editing photos i took while on the ground for work, in the wake of Katrina.   While doing so, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be posting "forum-friendly" photos of a natural disaster, but rather a humanitarian disaster, that humans were 90% responsible for. 

I lost my desire to do a thorough post on the matter, but still wanted to share how despicable the preparation, response, and cleanup efforts were by most agencies and parties.  This includes local (mostly,) state, and federal (also despicable) efforts.   I still have nightmares from stepping into the aftermath, as I wasn't fully mature at that age (even though I was well into adulthood.)  

The best of humanity was not present for much of the time I had any involvement in the immediate time following the storm.  Having said that, it did eventually blossom, once the political finger-pointing and lawlessness subsided.   It was the beginning of heavy propaganda and social media.   We have only witnessed more depravity since then. 

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of Katrina, is that (in my opinion,) New Orleans and surrounding areas are no better prepared for a similar storm.  In many ways, I believe the residents are even less prepared.  Agencies certainly are. That makes me truly sad.   

To any others who witnessed the storm's aftermath, first hand... I know you are well aware of the human tragedy that took place...and the BS... and the birth of terrible weather-related media.  God, help us prepare and react more efficiently and effectively in the future.