One of my drawings from Katrina. This is Long Beach, MS
The images on the screen were all too familiar. As I watched the coverage of Sandy’s aftermath, my psychic scars from Katrina began to burn.
There were wrecked homes from the storm surge. Seen that. Frustrated citizens in Staten Island cried for relief. Yup, heard those cries along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Officials struggled to get the power back on. Yeah, remember that, too. There were stories of death and survival just like we heard along the coast. And cars lined up as civilization broke down from a lack of gasoline. I was swimming in deja vu.
It was the same story just with a different accent.
New York and New Jersey are struggling to get back online. Traffic is snarled and, for the most part, the citizens have been remarkably patient. As time passes and citizens remain without heat, electricity and gasoline, that patience will wear off. The biggest difference between what happened here and there is that there are way more people there. And because it happened in the media’s backyard, their stories will get more national attention.
What I hope is similar is the outpouring of relief. I hope that the goodness of strangers pours into the affected area. And I hope that lessons have been learned from the mistakes made during Katrina.
Bless those who have been affected. To our friends who have been touched by Superstorm Sandy, we feel your pain. You have a long haul ahead of you.
I think the strangest image was seeing the reporter wearing a jacket and scarf in the aftermath. Down here, there’s almost always blazing heat in the aftermath, not freezing temps.
Bizarre, isn’t it?
I read that the Alabama Power folks that went to help were turned away because they aren’t part of the union. Pardon me, but that just chapped my ass. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.
That’s kind of the story. I read what really happened on al.com. They got to a staging area in Maryland on their way to New Jersey, were asked to affiliate with union, saw that area already had crews going into it and decided to go home instead. I agree, the union folks acted ridiculously. But it was also one incident.