Biding our time

As the residents of southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama prepare for the worst and hope for the best the rest of the nation can only sit back and watch as a nightmare unfolds before our eyes. Being a coastal resident (within 60 miles of the ocean) I've been through hurricanes and heard horror stories that go along with them all my life.

Since my father's family grew up in Wilmington, NC the big storm I'd always heard tale of growing up was Hazel. Hazel struck in October of 1954 (thirty some years before I was even a dirty though) and destroyed 15,000 homes and wiped Topsail Island clean. Had she been a category five (or a catastrophic class) hurricane, as Katrina is, when she came ashore Topsail Island may have been erased from the map.

Those tales were pushed aside when Hurricane Floyd wreaked its havoc on the eastern seaboard. The initial winds and driving rains however weren’t nearly as damaging as the flood waters that would follow in the days after Floyd cleared out. Farms were decimated; sewer and septic systems became one with the rivers and streams; caskets buried for decades floated freely downstream only to be pushed aside by the moving islands formed by hundreds of drowned livestock. As bad as the storm and its aftermath were it could have been worse.

How much worse, the only thing I can think of is the scenario unfolding right now. People have often worried about the worse case scenario should a Category Five Hurricane come ashore in New Orleans. Kelley of Suburban Blight found an article that discusses the worst case scenario. The Times-Picayune has a feature on their site titled Washing Away; in both articles scientist project the loss of life to be in the tens of thousands and possibly higher.

All we can do is sit and pray and wait and watch as tragedy is unleashed by the power Mother Nature. For those who skipped The Times-Picayune article mentioned above, Joseph Suhayda of Louisiana State University is quoted as saying that "a catastrophic hurricane represents 10 or 15 atomic bombs in terms of the energy it releases". Ole Mother Nature can be a one mean and nasty bitch when she wants to be, and it looks like she wants to be this go round.

As bad as they're forecasting the storm it's the aftereffects of the storm that truly scare the hell out of me. Should the levees give way as they're forecasting we're going to see a twenty-plus foot deep punchbowl of raw sewage, chemicals and death that is indescribable.

In the weeks following the floods resurgences of plagues we've forgotten as aid workers and residents are attacked by mosquitoes large enough to rape a turkey. The remaining portions grand architecture that was once a proud portion of New Orleans history will have to be ripped out to ensure it is no longer a breeding ground for mold and disease.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those in Katrina's path; hopefully they’ll dodge another bullet. Hopefully the nightmare scenario so many people have worried about won’t come true; but right now all we can do is bide our time as we watch a real life horror story unfold.