Hurricane Katrina Post-Haste

Lord, this has been the natural disaster of modern lifetime and my wife and I are in the middle of it all.

It would be nice if the damages and repairs were consistent, but they aren't. My wife and I had water in our house, nearly three feet, but no wind damage. Our immediate neighbors had the same, but some also had wind damage to roofs and structures. Distant neighbors south lost their entire homes or the ones they had were gutted and barely recognizable. Distant neighbors north received no damage and I'm sure counting their blessings each and every day.

Being at our house during the world's most destructive hurricane may not have been wise, but it was smart when Katrina blew her last breath of wind and the Gulf of Mexico our way. And, thank God for our wonderful daughter, Meagan, in spite of no telephone or other contact, made a way to our home with a wealth of survival supplies and the commandeering attitude reminiscent of West Point grads - get it done! We pulled sheetrock, wet and 'stank' carpet, furniture, appliances, etc. for days, it seemed. By the 5th day, when Meagan, had to report back to duty, we were more or less 'on our own', but in a good way. Thank you, sweet daughter of mine!

My wife and I are fortunate in the fact that we own our home. Well, maybe. So many others are left with slabs, but normal, and some with giant mortgages that have, for the most part, resumed now that the storm is more or less just a passing fancy. Others have their homes, but absolutely no resources in which to repair their homes. Like they say, "Out of sight, out of mind." That saying has never been more true than now.

My wife and I got *no* money from homeowners insurance as this was a 'flood', even if it truly wind-driven water. The Gulf of Mexico just doesn't flood. Yeah, right, Dickie. Of course, we'd been told by insurance agents for year we were foolish to purchase flood insurance as we 'didn't live in a flood zone'. Hindsight is surely 20-20. FEMA granted us remedies totaling $9558.00 for damages exceeding $30,000. The most FEMA is to pay anyone is just over $15,000. My wife and I will not see that amount as FEMA is done with us. SBA wanted to saddle us with a $73,000 loan at well over $800 per month for 12 years and a lien on our what would be formerly-owned home. After an attempt / written appeal to borrow only $10,000 at a reduced montly rate, we've yet to hear from them again. Alas.

What was one solution? FEMA trailers. The great majority of our neighbors and other hurricane-affected victims have FEMA trailers with an average of about 400 square feet for at least 18 months. My wife and I opted *not* to get a FEMA trailer due to the fact that we felt those more deserving (tent folks, infirm, etc.) should get them. Thus, we have lived in our house before, during, and, now, after the storm. What happens to those who don't have the resources to rebuild or repair their homes in those 18 months? Get'r done or out the street one goes? Who the hell knows ...

To each his own damage it is and to each his own remedies. The one-size fits all remedies offered by the feds (FEMA and SBA) just don't and will continue not to work with the damage suffered by all, in his / her own way.

This whole post-hurricane so-called relief has been the biggest mess anyone has ever attempted to correct or at least normalize ever. It's hard to rhyme and reason with something as powerful as nature. No natural disaster in the history of the free world, especially in a (overly and assumingly?) developed country, has ever knocked the wind out of the sails of so many, those local up to the federal level. Aside from the man-made disaster that was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, never have so many had to do with so little resources as good as they could have been. And, the United States provided for its former enemies after wreaking havoc upon their cities and countries in a way that made me, at one time, proud to be an American.

For instance, take the Marshall Plan, the result of (well-deserved at the time) American-inflicted devastation on Europe and Asia ...

"In a now-celebrated speech delivered at the Harvard University commencement on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George Catlett Marshall (1880-1959) proposed a solution to the wide-spread hunger, unemployment, and housing shortages that faced Europeans in the aftermath of World War II. Marshall's address was the culmination of increasing U.S. concern over the disintegrating European situation. The physical destruction of the war and the general economic dislocation threatened a breakdown of moral, social, and commercial life. Raw materials and food were in short supply, and war-damaged industries needed machinery and capital before production could be resumed.

Marshall suggested that the European nations themselves set up a program for reconstruction, with United States assistance. This speech marked the official beginning of the Economic Recovery Program (ERP), better known as "The Marshall Plan." Under the plan, the United States provided aid to prevent starvation in the major war areas, repair the devastation of those areas as quickly as possible, and begin economic reconstruction. The plan had two major aims: to prevent the spread of communism in Western Europe and to stabilize the international order in a way favorable to the development of political democracy and free-market economies." [ http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/marshall/mars0.html ]

Is what FEMA and SBA has done any sort of a 'Marshall Plan'? Is there, or was there ever, a plan to help one of the former major cities (New Orleans) of the world and its neighbors (rest of LA, MS, and AL) recover? There's certainly been nothing sort of a 'Marshall Plan' around here. It's mostly a drastic combination of Keystone Cops and The Three Stooges in a bad drama or dream, take your pick. Where are our leaders? Why aren't they acting, pro- or re-? The Gulf Coast states, cities, their towns and communities are earnest and resilient indeed. But, they can't be long-lasting unless some real thought-out help is given them soon.

9/11, as God-awful it was, had human-inflicted damage and destruction at least contained within a few square miles whereas the nature-inflicted - aka Katrina - damage along the Gulf Coast and inland counties, cities, and towns covered no less than 100,000 square miles. That's twice the size of New York state! So, what now? Let's get our thinking caps on, folks. Next time, no matter the disaster, it could be you ... Help us and help yourself. Let your Congressional leaders know what you think. See you around, soon, if not sooner, I hope.