8 years ago today

[ak474u]

It's been 8 years since Katrina, anyone wanna share their thoughts on how the affected areas are doing? It's of particular interest to me because it was relatively localized damage when you think of the US as a whole, and it was pandemonium. That doesn't make me any more confident about a national disaster being responded to well. So I prepare.


Anybody have stories of survival not already shared? Lessons learned? Etc.


I have 2 stories...

1. The saints relocated to San Antonio. I personally witnessed one of them try to run a tab at a bar with a FEMA card.

2. People in San Antonio were buying bottled water like the storm was gonna barrel thru and wash us all away. It really screwed up my ability to drink bottled water on a daily basis. I always laughed at the people stripping the shelves 250 miles from any affected areas.

[helomech]

Well I moved away from that area 6 months after that. All the areas of working people where back in shape in no time. The areas of the non working class are still screwed up and will always be. You just can't fix some people no matter how much money you throw at them. The area I lived in was back in shape within months of being hit, and we where hit on a regular basis. My property flooded 6 times in 10 years. I am not going to say to much more about the trash that are waiting for someone else to fix there free housing or I may get banned.

[The Stig]

The fair land of Shelton is around the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

In some ways Katrina is 100 years ago ancient history here. Damage long since repaired, bridges long since rebuilt and rubble long sense removed.

Building codes have generally improved across the board because of the storm.

In other ways, it's still very fresh. You can still find numerous empty slabs down on the coast where houses were never rebuilt. People still tell the story of the storm in somewhat reverential terms. People still vividly remember the mess it created.

When Hurricane Issac came through last year there was a period of time where it was headed directly towards us and was supposed to go Cat3. I made the decision to hang the hurricane shutters. I'm sure the neighborhood was laughing at the Yankee but you know what? My neighbor, who is a native and went through Katrina ended up putting up his too. After the storm hooked west and turned into a non-event he told me he was glad I "broke the ice" and put the shutters up.

After the shenanigans in New Orleans in Katrina I think a lot more people over here, a good ways distant from NO, are far more cognizant of the need for post hurricane defense/safety.

It was also interesting how so many people pooled their resources during/after the storm. Families spread across the county rode out the storm together at one specific family members house. Post storm groups of people would start at one end of the street and work their way towards the other.