A Sorrowful Warning From The Big Easy

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Sep 2, 2005

A Sorrowful Warning From The Big Easy
STEVE OTTO


Someday there will be only painful scars along the coast that goes from the still- recovering Pensacola to the cataclysmic mess that is New Orleans.
But that will come long after a historic effort to salvage thousands of lives and reconstruct an entire region takes place.

Who can answer what happens when a major metropolitan area becomes uninhabitable for any length of time?

You sit there and stare at the images on television and wonder whether New Orleans, which is as much a part of the American psyche as it is a place, ever again will be that casual mix of lagniappe and Southern soul.

The greatest tragedy coming out of a seemingly endless list of tragedies is that we had to know this was going to happen.

We had to know that one day an unholy harmonic convergence of events would combine to push a devastating storm into that muddy delta and do exactly what Katrina did.

We had to know because we have said so. There have always been warnings, always been lip service to the day that the ``Big One'' would come calling.

It is true that New Orleans is a story unto itself. Part of its lore is how low the city sits. You've heard about the above- ground cemeteries. Maybe you've sat and sipped chicory coffee at the Cafe Du Monde and wondered that the ships you see going by appear to be floating on water above where you are sitting.

Around the Crescent City they built the great levees and installed massive pump systems. There were always plans somewhere to deal with an event such as the one still unfolding.


Deadly Game

But somehow, I don't think we really believed it, or if we did, we were willing to risk the odds to play the game.

Aren't we paying the same lip service here? Aren't we playing the same game?

Every summer we do the same thing. We buy batteries and a few cases of bottled water.

After four systems sliced up the state we were more aware this season. All you have to do is go down to the Home Depot and ask how the generator business has been.


What If?

Tell me what good those generators would have been had Katrina made a mighty turn out in the Gulf and stormed ashore near Tampa Bay.

Did you see the images of the traffic desperately trying to get out of New Orleans on I-10 before the storm?

Try to imagine I-75 as a million people attempted at the last minute to escape a 25-foot surge of water that would sweep across the Interbay peninsula, cover downtown Tampa and keep going across the state.

How many sick and elderly are there living in the Tampa Bay region who could not be moved? How many poor are there, people who depend on mass transportation or who would have nowhere to go?

Today there are small towns in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana that no longer exist. It could be years before New Orleans recovers.

Maybe this is a once-in-a- generation event. Maybe our lucky string will play out for the rest of our lives.

But if we don't learn from this, if we don't make realistic decisions about housing and transportation in the event of another Katrina ... well, just look at the images in our newspaper and on television.

Maybe some will say there are adequate plans to deal with a national catastrophe. New Orleans is proof there are not.

This story can be found at: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBBH1LT3DE.html