One Year

One year ago today, one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

I wrote last year about a friend of my mother's, who said, "...We are really scared this time. . . . There's no telling. I know one thing, we will not have a home if it comes ashore at category 4. I've tried to carefully pick only the stuff that would hurt me most to lose, the other stuff, well, it's just going to be a memory."

Since the storm, she and her husband have relocated further north in Pineville, Louisiana. They've got a nice trailer home (not one of those FEMA trailers), but they are struggling. They are near retirement age and are having almost to start over again. They have spent months fighting with pretty much every official agency and insurance claims person you can think of. They have tried going back to salvage what they can from their old house, tried to do what they could to repair it from the "toxic gumbo" that flooded it. In the process, her husband fell and badly broke his leg--and endured the long car ride back to their current home before letting her take him to the hospital, because there just wasn't anywhere in New Orleans for her to stay if they could find a hospital to take him to.

We heard from her yesterday, and she had this to say:

"Tomorrow is the anniversary of Katrina. We have put the house up for sale "as is." We are tired and the task of repairing now seems even more impossible than it did in December. Contractors are just not available for people with little houses. The contractors, understandably, want the big jobs. We are supposed to get an electrical contractor on September 14th and we rejoice over that; however, it's not carved in stone he will do it either. He said he will call us the day before and let us know whether or not he can do it. I sent him 30% of the fee to hopefully goad him to it a little bit. We have put the price as low as we can to pay off the remainder of our mortgage. I hope someone who is greedy to become a slumlord on the West Bank will bite at it. Meanwhile, we go down there every two weeks to mow the pasture that used to be our yard (it grows fast down here) and pick up garbage that people dump in our yard.

We are very hopeful and very thankful. Tomorrow, D and I will do an on-the-knees prayer to thank God for His bountiful goodness through all of it, not just for us, but for all of us. It makes you realize just what a miracle life really is."

Why am I telling you all this? For a couple of reasons. One, because like the 9/11 anniversary coming up, this is not an event we as a people can afford to forget. No matter what the reasons were--too much bureaucracy, not enough caring, plain incompetance, or just the size and scope of an overwhelming disaster--the human side of this catastrophe was inexcusable. Nothing could have stopped the storm making landfall. Nothing (it appears) could have stopped the levees from breaking (since it's not like we build them like the Dutch--heaven forbid we should ask for some help). But the fact that so many people of all races--with straightened resources were left for so long with no way out of the disaster area, and that they were then shunted about the country with no rhyme or reason--and more importantly--with no way to get back, or to get in touch with loved ones . . . this is something that needs to be addressed because, whatever the cause, it underlines how we failed our countrymen and -women when they needed us.

Maybe not you and me personally. Let's not forget the charity drive headed by Margene and Susan, which raised over $100,000 for hurricane victims. I know I gave more to charity last year than in any other year. But as a society, we let those people down. I just watched a special on NBC hosted by Brian Williams which pointed out that--all the other humanitarian issues aside (like, gosh, all those people dying), we lost a great opportunity to address the race and class and poverty issues in this nation of ours. America prides itself on being free and equal for everyone--and the vast majority of us really do believe in the idealism of that statement. And as individuals, we largely lived up to that last year, I think. But, really, in this instance, the government failed these people so badly.

And then the insurance companies came in and offered pennies to people who had lost everything. It's like the government stood on the side of the road, directing traffic around a bad car crash while the insurance companies came in, like ambulances, and parked alongside the road saying, "Sorry, we'd love to help, but it's time for our break."

Which brings me to my second reason for this. Not only can we not afford to forget this massive failure, we owe it to them and we owe it to ourselves to do something about it. Write letters to our congress-people. Make donations on behalf of the people who are still struggling 12 months later. Knit them something soft and cozy. Or even something as simple as say a little prayer.

Because I want you to note how my Mom's friend ended that email. Not full of bitter recriminations, or hatred, or despair (though yes, I hear it, too). But in hope. "...We are very hopeful and very thankful. Tomorrow, D and I will do an on-the-knees prayer to thank God for His bountiful goodness through all of it, not just for us, but for all of us. It makes you realize just what a miracle life really is."

I don't know about you, but I feel like I need to live up to that, somehow.

Red Cross. Humane Society. Mercy Corps. Habitat for Humanity. DoSomething.com. Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Network for Good. Noah's Wish.  ASPCA. Humane Society.

(Climbing down from my soapbox now. There'll be some kind of knitting content tomorrow--after my mouth recovers from today's visit to the dentist. New crowns, ick.)

Comments

[Rebekah]

Very good reminders. Thank you.

[Rachel]

It's nice to hear perspectives from elsewhere, and to know we're not the only ones thinking this stuff. Very well-expressed. I hope your mom's friends in Pineville are able to sell their as-is home and move on. Truly, the aftermath of the storm took a much larger toll than the storm itself. How difficult life has become for so many. Again, I'm grateful we were spared the worst of it, even though our neighbors weren't.

[Sharon]

Well-said, Deb. There but for the grace of some kind of fortune or power go you or go I.

[The lady in Pineville]

Deb: Thank YOU so much for your eloquent comments in your Blog today about me and my husband's particular struggles and especially to have you put this in your blog as you have to remind folks everywhere not only could it have been them but also that it continues STILL down here. I have so many (probably loose cannon) thoughts today. I've always, always believed the milk of human kindness overcomes all, and it's refreshing to find out it 99% has. However, on the other hand, I've always believed that our government would truly help people if something happened on this scope (like the San Francisco fire only in modern times). In that, I've been disappointed for sure. Sure, there are lots of folks down there which will welfare milk the system . . . and for that, of course, the ones who truly need help, the system not only backfires, but it penalizes for being in a situation you got stuck with. It's hard to believe, but people still need, are requesting, and are without FEMA trailers to dwell in while trying to get through the contractors, red tape, and a whole lot of et cetera to get the homes fixed. Let me go on a bit here. The last time we went down there, I was finally mentally ready to go see the worst of the worst neighborhoods. Picture this; it's a year later! They really look to me like the pictures of Katrina as if it were yesterday and not a year later. I wasn't prepared for that. I have a friend who used to live in Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood now infamous as the place Katrina really flooded and the place where you would see hands waving for rescue out of the sides of houses. So, I had to go to her address to see for myself what her house looked for. Believe me, I just could not do it sooner; I knew it would be terrible. It was. I cried for us, for her, for all of us, and then I cried for the United States, knowing yes, this could be San Francisco, Yuma, New Hampshire . . . only with the scenario just altered a little bit. When I called my friend to tell her I'd been there, well, we both cried again . . . and my heart is heavy for all of us all over. In the 9th Ward, I did witness "progress," in that these people are the poorest of the poor. So, what are they doing now to try to recover? Ever seen fishing shacks put together with drift wood? That's what they are doing, mostly. Why? Because of no means to do otherwise and because they have no other place to live; they really don't. On the other hand, my son and I went to see the still wrecked boats at the yacht club - millions of dollars of hulls piled up atop each other. Spectacular wreck pictures, but not as sad as people in 9th ward. We also toured Lakeview where the residents are much, much more affluent and where flood waters went up about 20 feet in some places. Over here, a strange thing to witness - NO REPAIRING, NO REBUILDING. All I could wonder was why and while I was thinking it, my son voiced the answer: "Mom, they are all waiting on the new height raising regulations. They can wait. They have the luxury of money behind them to wait and not start now until they can be sure - the 9th Warders don't." And so, that's how it is presently in New Orleans. When my husband broke his leg in May, our fixing came to an instant stop. Our electricity was out then, stopped by one of the last trees left on our lot that came down over the line. As a matter of fact, husband broke his leg on a ladder trying to see if our new (January) roof had been hurt by the tree falling. Soooooo, what happens. It's now 3 months later and we find out now IF we wait six months to get the electricity turned back on, it's city regulations our house will have to be totally rewired. We might get it done in September, but the point I'm making here is I can't feature one person in 9th Ward (with the utilities off for months over there) who similarly will be able to re-plumb (for gas or water) or rewire (for electricity) on top of re-fix. The city is also about to (as of today 08/29/06) begin seizing properties if there is no visibity of repair going on. This makes no sense at all since New Orleans is also the home of many thousands of blighted pieces ofproperties, owing to the peculiarity of inheritance laws in Louisiana. So, will it get fixed up? Maybe, but it sure won't be easy. So, do you think it can't happen in the city where you are at? Throw in Red Cross, FEMA, insurance companies, local government, state government laws/regulations and stuff you have never thought of - yeah, it could be there at your place too and my God Above, I pray this never would happen again to anyone.

Thank you Deb, for telling it like it is and for letting me vent a little too. You who have tried to help will be blessed before your Maker's feet when the Judgment comes. Doing the right thing is not only never wrong, it's always right.

With love
Seamond and David
Happy in Pineville

[Jenna]

I came to your blog via Laura (Laura's Thoughts) and ... wow. I'm stunned. By your post and the response left by your mother's friend. I had no idea until the one year anniversary shed new light on the situation that the area was still in such an extreme state. Makes me wish I could go down there and help people to rebuild. I wish there were more organizations like Habitat for Humanity who could help. Thank you for opening my eyes.

[maryse]

i stopped watching the piece by brian williams the other night, becuase it made me angry. homeland security my ass. our government failed miserably here.

[Mary-Kay]

Thank you for the great post. Unbelievable, that things still look like a bomb went off. Nothing seems to have changed. Nothing. And, to hear a comment by a person still going through the whole thing as if it happened yesterday just makes me ANGRY.

[JessaLu]

Well said :o)

[Rachel S.]

As a resident of Pineville, WELCOME to our city, Seamond and David!

I too made it over here from Laura's blog. One of my mom's cousins lost everything. It's still very sad and a little maddening to see so many officials and politicians STILL just sitting around and making no effort to get things done. A lot of the areas outside of New Orleans metro are recovering beautifully. I drove through Slidell just a couple months ago and it was almost normal. They were flooded pretty bad too, though not as bad as Chalmette and the Lower 9th. You could barely tell that anything had happened in Slidell. New Orleans East and the area just to the east of the Super Dome, still looked like it did the day after the water went away. I would really love to know what it is about Louisianians where we seem to elect and re-elect imcompetent people.