Hurricane Katrina Overload

Thankfully things are finally getting organized down in New Orleans. The people there have been starving and thirsting for too long.

People think things have been going on for too long. They go out of their way to forget a few things:

1. New Orleans is literally an island by itself in the Continental United States. Three access roads to the east (one of any usefulness; all knocked out), one road over Lake Ponchatrain (sp?) in the north (itself out) Two roads that become one to the west (I-10, with I-55 meeting up with it), and one road to the southwest (US-90, the only road crossing the Achafalaya between I-10 and the Gulf).
   
2. There are military bases to the east -- all of them knocked out, sometimes totally. Lest anyone forget, the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coast got totally blitzed by Katrina; possibly beyond recovery themselves. So forget that area in trying to do stuff in New Orleans.
   
3. You don't just say "Ship tons of food, lakefuls of water and a thousand Gryehounds" without organizing stuff so that it gets there. That takes time.
   
4. What happens when people shoot at you? They're starving, but they think their guns will keep them in power long enough to find the Hard Rock Candy Mountain they're sure is hidden somewhere in what should be the Mississippi River floodplain.

And as for the "poor/race" angle, remember: The Rich know enough to get out of disaster places, and have the means to do so. Many of those stuck there would have gotten out if they could have, others were stubborn or were preparing to hold out or loot the place. Don't blame everyone you see stuck at the Superdome, just those who didn't have to be there but were.

Anyway, it's good to see the people in New Orleans finally being evacuated and order restored. Whether New Orleans (or the rest of the Gulf Coast between there and Florida) will recover is another question; one I wouldn't bet "yes" on,to be honest.