Hooray for the NOLA sizzlean! I'm trying to wrap my head around why it matters that people are taking supplies -- or even microwaves. Like I said, those stores would sooner toss or bulldoze it than inventory it all and try to put it back on the shelves. Insurance will pay for it, they'll say. The work it'd take to recuperate the merch for sale again would be more than it's worth. So, who cares if people steal diapers -- or even microwaves. Now that they've stolen them, they'll have to evacuate anyway!
Honestly. And the rhetoric the officials uses: "We will not tolerate people stealing for citizens" I don't know if people are stealing from private houses (this did happen during Andrew but after weeks without water, ice, food), but they seem to be stealing for stores. I love how they play on fear of the darky hordes!
I keep hearing people say that power won't be back up for a month. Last hurricane season, some people were without power in Tampa Bay for a month. Tampa never got hit directly. One of my clients just built a house. She had no power for three weekss. To me, it sounds really optimistic to think that power will be restored in a month.
I woke this a.m. to hear about the bridge and 1000 people dead in Iraq. I need to turn the telly off again.
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From Jaycon again:
A few final thoughts before we return home now that electricity has been restored (no cable I'm sure, no this will be the last post for some time).
N.O. is the economic engine that drives the state. There are now no businesses left in the city. None. The economic impact on the state, region, and to a lesser extent, country, should be something to contemplate by all.
N.O. is poised to join Chicago and San Francisco in the 'rebuilt from scratch' category.
Attempts to stop the flooding from failed levees has met with failure. Failed, too, was the newest pumping system that was installed a few years ago.
Once the salty water is replaced by a layer of freshwater (rains), a new menace will migrate in - alligators. They will compete with all other scavengers for decaying corpses. (My grandmother stopped eating crabs after hurricane Audrey in @1959 for this very reason.)
The effect on the ecosystem will be catastrophic. Toxic water will eventually be pumped into the Mississippi River to exit N.O. It will end up in the Gulf of Mexico, where it will follow the coast to the west towards Texas, shutting down oyster beds indefinately. The commercial fishing industry will crash, as will shrimping (I'm assuming). Residential fishing, which brings in a few billions dollars in direct and indirect costs, will cease to exist until the water is no longer contaminated (given the stirring of sediments by storms, this will be a recurring problems for years). Thus, the impact from the storm will cause cessation of rural- based industries far beyond the 'city that care forgot.'
See y'all when my cable is restored,
Con (from Lafayette)
"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."
-- rwmartin
"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."
-- rwmartin