The Second Storm

From Cursor, I see Hurricane Rita topped CJR's list of forgotten stories from 2005...although New Pravda managed to find space for coverage today:

No one died in Hurricane Rita, which struck early on Sept. 24, thanks to a vigorous evacuation plan, but the storm destroyed or rendered structurally unsound about half of the 5,400 parish homes and commercial buildings examined by the Army Corps of Engineers, parish officials said. They caution that many more structures may also have to be condemned. In the lower part of the parish, as few as 20 of 1,000 residences may be inhabitable, according to the most dire estimates. Residents remain scattered.

There is a great fear here, residents say, that the hurricane destroyed not only property but a way of life. Many of the parish's 10,000 residents say they feel both neglected by the federal response and suspicious that outsiders will dictate their future with prohibitive building codes and flood insurance requirements. They worry that even if they want to return to lower portions of the parish, they may not be able to afford it.

Louisiana was hammered on both east and west sides by storms this year--and the blows struck extra hard thanks to the rapidly eroding coast.

And, as a friend just reminded me, Bush found time to adjust his schedule to sign Terry Schiavo legislation--but evidently he can no longer be bothered by Louisiana--home of the nation's largest port, and supplier of upwards of 20 percent of the nation's oil.

Think about it.