A few rambling thoughts in no particular order:
1. The utility companies are once again doing a great job. OK, I am biased. My power stayed on. But you really don’t know what a big deal that is to me. I remember all to well the misery after Hurricane Katrina. The fact that my electricity did not even flicker during the storm makes my next Entergy bill easier to pay. But region-wide, the response across Mississippi and Louisiana has been rapid. I wish the utility companies didn’t have so much experience with this. But it has paid off.
2. Social media has changed the world. One big difference between Katrina and Isaac is the advent of social media (other than the storm wasn’t nearly as bad). Facebook and Twitter rule the day. Links to power outages, road closures, news stories, first-hand accounts, humor, photos and official word from public officials kept us in the know. I know first-hand the power of social media because I sent out a link from a trusted source that had bad information in it — and immediately got a call from the Governor’s office to fill me in with the correct scoop. I promptly sent out a new link with the corrected information. Social media is here to stay, folks.
3. The Mississippi Gulf Coast residents are tough as nails. They’re like the old Timex watch commercials, “Take a licking and they keep on ticking.” I read stories where crews were out cleaning up even before the storm had passed. The Gulf Coast is a special place. And it is largely because of the amazing and resilient people who live there.
4. The Federal and State responses were strong. Sure, you fight the last war — and we were enacting the battle plan learned from the holocaust we experienced after Katrina. And it helps that Isaac, although bad, was no Katrina. But MEMA and FEMA both were on top of things. The Governor was calm and full of useful information during his press briefings. The National Guard was prepositioned and ready to go. All and all, the cavalry was there when the time came. There was no “Heckuva job, Brownie,” moment.
5. National media got the message that hurricanes hit Mississippi, too. Hate to harp on this and I know some people think the Land Mass thing was overblown, but let’s be honest, the national media heard Mississippians. (The wonderful The Land between NOLA and Mobile Facebook page went viral.) After the horrible job telling Mississippi’s story after Katrina, the national media were all over the Gulf Coast telling both Mississippi’s and Louisiana’s story with lots of energy and passion. (with a few gaffes like Pass Christian, Louisiana — thanks Al Roker).
6. Isaac hitting on Katrina’s anniversary rattled nerves. And down in Louisiana it caused some places to have worse flooding. I bet Xanax, Valium and Whiskey sales were off the charts this week. Like I’ve said repeatedly: Next time Mother Nature, send a card.
7. I’m glad it is all over at my house. The good news is that I have a lot less leaves to rake this fall. (my seven trees got a good haircut). But I’m VERY thankful that they are still vertical and not on my house. And we’ll be eating hurricane emergency supplies for Labor day. My family is safe. Life is good.
8. And finally, thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by the storm. Isaac dumped a lot of water on South Mississippi, so there has been a lot of folks flooded. And if you don’t have power, I hope the electric company truck shows up soon. Prayers also go out to Mississippi’s victim of the storm. Greg Parker. He was a tow truck driver out trying to help someone when a tree fell and took his life.
P.S. After struggling with it for a few days, most people on Twitter and Facebook finally figured out that Isaac is spelled “Isaac” not “Issac.”
That story about Greg Parker was from the New York Times? Wow!
Has Obama showed up yet?
He does not care about Landmass people.
He’s not scheduled until Monday, but did you notice Romney didn’t let the door of the Republican National Convention hit him in the but good until he was already planning to be on his way. Romney/Ryan is what we need – they truly care.
Great insights! And just so you’ll know…My first introduction to the Amazing Marshall Ramsey was his incredible Katrina drawings for The Clarion Ledger. I’ve been a fan ever since.
Excellent piece! So agree!
Love you, Marshall. You are true Southern gem.
Like Drewe, my first intro to “the Amazing Marshall Ramsey” was his drawings for The Clarion Ledger after Katrina. We share the experience of volunteering at Camp Coast Care and seeing firsthand how remarkably resilient people from South Mississippi are. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of Isaac, and we are thankful that God has blessed all of us with this Mississippi Ambassador named Marshall Ramsey!
One other mistake I heard on the Weather Channel was reference to Mobile Bay, MS. It was written on the screen. Sometimes they take away and sometimes they give. :)
I was saddened to hear of the passing away of Robin Roberts’ mother yesterday.
Nice article, however I disagree with #1. The utility company (Entergy) did NOT do a great job for my area. Their response was not rapid. We lost everything in both freezers due to what appears to be Entergy sitting doing nothing because of supposed high winds. There was plently of calm, sunny time during the 30 hour period we went without power where something could have been being done.
I probably would not be so critical had I actually been allowed to report my outage and been given some indication that something was being done. When we called to report our outage we were not even allowed to report it as we have in the past. Instead we were answered by a recording that said its spill and then promptly hung up. We were not even sure anyone knew we were out of power until 24 hours later when we received an automated call from Entergy saying an outage had been reported at 10:39 a.m.. No mention that the outage did occur around that time, but not on the current day but rather the day before.
It seems like they just sat on their behinds for the first day waiting to do any repairs until after the storm was gone so they wouldn’t have to possibly fix the same area twice due to another limb falling on a line.
I have since heard from others that the news media was reporting that Entergy could not send people out in the winds because of the danger, but what about those of us who were without power and were not able to see the news on TV, did not receive a paper, did not have a smartphone, and did not have internet service due to our Wi-Fi boxes running out of power and having no way of charging them. A simple answer from someone at Entergy could have helped settle some nerves tremendously.
Atleast during Katrina I could call Entergy and they would give me updates about where they were on restoring my power. Atleast I knew then how long it was going to be and started preparing to grill everything or lose it, instead of playing the guessing game this time and guessing wrong that they would surely be able to fix our power quickly since there was little to no damage in the area only smalls limbs thrown everywhere.