Hurricane!

Well, the media is having another feeding frenzy. This time it is hurricane Gustav. I hope and pray the people of the Gulf Coast are spared.

I heard Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr., the Mayor of New Orleans, extolling everyone to leave the city and describing the hurricane as “the storm of the century”. Good for him. As we used to say, "they can learn"! However, his incompetence a few years ago contributed greatly to that disaster. But they re-elected him, anyway!

I know a little of what I speak. I experienced the full force of a category 4 storm some years before Katrina. It was called “Hugo” and it slammed into the South Carolina coast, washing away parts of Charleston. At the time, the situation was similar to that I found myself in as Katrina approached New Orleans. I had been in the Charleston area conducting business. My client had told me not to worry about the hurricane and come on down, those things always veered away! So against my better judgment I caught a flight, and upon landing and as I was driving my rental car out of the Charleston Airport, I turned on the radio, tuning to the local news. The reporter was describing how the US Navy had just left Charleston harbor and was pulling out to the safety of the deep ocean. At that point the lights in my brain went on and I realized “I’m going the wrong way”!

Well, I’ll tell you, I certainly was, and the next few weeks were not good. Not good at all! The hurricane was a frightening thing and damage was extensive. My motel was spared the worst of it, but the electric, air conditioning and water were out. For several days after landfall I drank and used water with which I had previously filled the bathtub. (I had first scrubbed it and bleached it and then after filling with tap water had covered it with visqueen plastic, taped in place). The week after Hugo was anything but fun. However, I learned a good lesson from that “adventure”. First, the locals, who are frequently under threat of hurricanes and experience many near misses, cope with the situation with a denial mechanism. For this reason, they cannot be trusted to use good judgment when it comes to predicting hurricanes. Second, the politicians should not be trusted. For an idea of how politicians are, in my view, observe the mayor in the movie “Jaws”.

Prior to Hugo making landfall, I concluded that the governor of South Carolina was a dolt, as he was making pre-Katrina style speeches about preparation, etc. However, the mayor of Charleston was an incredible man. He was a little old guy and it was only after experiencing Hugo that I really understood him. He had been there and done that, and had not forgotten how it could be! I watched him being interviewed on a local TV station and he was telling the talking head that “everyone must leave Charleston NOW”! The reporter said something to the effect, with a sneer in his voice “Mayor, are you telling us that this is dangerous?” To which this mayor turned and looking into the camera, pointed at the viewers and forcefully said “I’m telling you that if you are here tomorrow, you will be dead, DEAD!” At this, the reporter stammered something more or less incoherent. I thought, man, now that’s telling it like it is! Under the mayor’s pressure, all lanes of I-26 were opened westbound and the exodus began. The people did leave!

Fast forward to Katrina, and in my view, the leadership from the Mayor of New Orleans was terrible. So the people stayed and we know how that turned out. But I wasn't one of them. Yes, I again was in the path of a hurricane, but I was older and wiser. So when I saw the force and breadth of Katrina as it was crossing Florida, I checked the temperature of the waters in the gulf. I knew it was going to be very, very bad. Trust your own experience and judgement, and let the politicians and talking heads be damned, I said!

I called my spouse and we discussed things, as usual. This time, that included the weather and I told her I did not like that hurricane “Katrina”, which was hammering Florida. She responded "that’s a long way from New Orleans, honey!” to which I gave her my concerns and told her I was watching its progress very closely.

As Katrina bore down on New Orleans, I shifted my plans to leave into high gear. I don’t think my client really understand my fuss. Two days before Katrina made landfall I completed my work and left for the airport. As the Avis bus took me to the terminal, I struck up a conversation with the driver, and asked him where he was going for cover. He said he was staying and would be fine! I reminded him of the anticipated magnitude of this hurricane and that it exceeded the strength of the levies surrounding New Orleans. He again repeated the mantra “things will be fine”! I told him he was taking a terrible risk, that I had experienced the full wrath of a category 4 hurricane and said “God be with you” as I departed the bus. Walking into the terminal, I had expected crowds and flights to be full, but no, the airport was pretty lazy and the flights were less than half full! Obviously, people just didn’t get it. An hour and a half later, the airplane with me in it, rose into the gray sky and I said a silent prayer for the people of New Orleans, and cursed the politicians.

We know the rest of that story, and it was indeed ugly. Some months later, I returned to my client in New Orleans to assist in getting that facility back into production. I saw firsthand the destruction in Chalmette, the Irish Bayou, and other coastal communities. Over the period of a month I had the opportunity to have a lot of conversations with these Katrina survivors. Many people did very brave things, had fed and cared for their neighbors for days and weeks after Katrina. But in the national media, you seldom heard about that. Instead, the focus was how terrible things were in the 9th ward of New Orleans. That’s politics for you! I asked Chuck, one of the employees of my client, what he would do if another Katrina were to come, and his response was “I’m moving to Idaho”!

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If you are thinking I am being hard on the Mayor of New Orleans, let me say this. People in New Orleans and many communities rely heavily on their local leaders for clear, concise and truthful information, direction and guidance. No matter what the governor, senators or congressmen say on the boob tube, what the mayor says will carry inordinate weight for local matters. That is what I saw in Charleston and that is what I saw in New Orleans.

After the fact, it becomes politically expedient to pass the blame to the top, which is where the deep pockets are. But the failures begin at a local level. I saw statistics after Hugo and as I recall, in Charleston proper, there was more loss of life from accidents which occurred while felling trees after that hurricane, than there were during the hurricane. That, I think, tells it all! My hat is off to that Mayor of Charleston for having the political courage and the common sense to put the people of that city first, and get them out of harm's way. He didn't tell people what they wanted to hear. He told them what they needed to hear. That is why we elect our leaders, that is what he was paid to do and he did it.

Links:

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/cohab/hurricane/hugo/hugo.htm

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1989hugo.html