Still More Katrina Blogging

Here's a blog by a mom from Slidell, LA who (with her hubby, kids, and dogs) made it up to Tennessee to stay with her sister. Excerpt:

That's our minivan in the driveway being loaded a few items. It still has the car-top carrier on it that I used for the camping trip. We threw a few of our things up there as well, but we didn't have much.

Car Inventory:

1 bag for each person with enough clothing for a week
2 coolers full of food from the fridge, drinks for the road, water, and a few frozen items
1 box photo albums
3 pillows
1 large dog crate
1 small dog kennel
1 box of dry goods (peanut butter, bread, cereal, pretzels)
1 bag of important papers and files
2 dogs
3 kids

Hubby drove his car, and I drove the van.

A few thoughts on the situation in the Gulf states:

• I hope economists, sociologists, and historians are keeping copious notes on all this; The sudden removal of an entire major American city from the economy and the introduction of hundreds of thousands of newly homeless and jobless people into new areas will have God-knows-what effects on the rest of the country.
• Slate explains the Sea Level concept.
• National Geographic and Popular Mechanics have both run articles in the past few years about this very scenario. IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE TODAY, READ THESE TWO ARTICLES! NG excerpt from 2004:

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

• If you're a woman, then you don't sweat; You perspire. If you're white, then you don't loot; You salvage.
• On 9/11, the New York Police and Fire Departments were devastated. But the survivors knew they'd still have a) jobs to return to, and b) a city to serve and protect. Will New Orleans Police and Fire personnel have the same assurances?
• For every worst-case scenario that pans out, I bet there are thousands that are sheer malarkey. The trick is to separate them. Just because this far-fetched possibility actually happened, that doesn't mean that the next one will.
• Keep a skeptical view of charities with catchy names that pop up out of nowhere. Refer to the American Institute of Philanthropy for documentation of the legitimacy/efficiency of charitable organizations.
• On a related note, keep an eye out for hoaxers and scammers. Some will be looking for a way to make a quick buck, some will be looking for attention by means of sad stories about "dead" relatives who are safe and dry in Omaha (if they even exist in the first place). For example, those reports of Dan Kennings floating out to sea just after he used his last ounce of strength to swim his little girl Kodee to a rooftop might not be 100% accurate.
• Southern hospitality aside, there will be thousands and thousands of displaced persons in all the neighboring states (and beyond) for an indefinite amount of time to come. They are planning on moving the refugees from the Superdome over to Houston's Astrodome. (Although according to that Chronicle story, New Orleans evacuees who did not go to the Astrodome first are not welcome there!) How long will they stay? For the first while, everyone in Texas will make a big deal out of welcoming them, but how long before tensions rise and the locals start murmuring about Louisiana immigrants they same way some do about Mexican immigrants? Same goes for any other community that suddenly finds itself with a large influx of "outsiders."
• Kaye's Hurricane Katrina Blog is now up to #5679 (Flappy Bird) on TTLB, as of 11:20 PM, 8/31/05. Still no links graph.
• Cindy Sheehan certainly had the media spotlight yanked from it's focus on her quite suddenly.
• I'd like to see stats on how this site and this site have had their hits spike in the past few days.