And why do so many in the MSM, who often have a better view of the overall situation, take a hysterical tone? Now is not the time for hysterics. Now is the time to be calm and reasurring. Even if fake. Those people along the Gulf Coast have been through quite a bit. And it will not end any time even relatively soon.
So many people who have gotten hysterical and shrill have failed to realize that this was a major hurricane. Helicopters couldn’t start flying till midday tuesday. And the relief and rescue aid had to come from far away. Plans that were initially made when it was thought Katrina would hit the eastern side of Florida’s panhandle had to be changed. Quickly. Airports are trashed. Roads are impassible. Flooding is, well, you know. You have the looting, distracting the response effort. And this occured over a very large area. Even if so many National Guardsmen weren’t in Iraq, how would you get them in to the effected areas? And how many of them would have been effected themselves.
Back in September, 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit NC. Everything seemed mostly ok, the wind damage really didn’t approach the magnitude of the storm, but lots of rain was dropped, and it all runs down hill. If you would like to read an interesting essay on the relief effort, go here. 37 NC counties were effected, over 18,000 square miles.
Hysterical talk will not help. For those in the media, why not try and find out what is going on, rather then going wonky? You aren’t helping.
Nothing could really start happening till Tuesday. And any efforts still had to contend with the backside of Katrina. There had to be an assesment of where the worst problem areas were. And they were everywhere. If anyone in the media can offer a better logistics plan, I would like to hear it. The relief is having to be done piecemeal. If they focus on New Orleans, what about, say, Biloxi?
