Mayor
Ray Nagin is right on point, making sure his people evacuate the Big Easy
before they are besieged by Hurricane Gustav, but there’s a bigger question
that needs an answer. Gustav is a category 3 storm that looks to hit American soil
at a category 4. Hurricane Katrina was a
category 5, and we can all agree that there’s no sense in the locals waiting
around to see what the nuanced difference between the two will be. Yes,
it’s encouraging that no one is waiting for the worst case scenario and pulling
the stragglers out of their homes and putting them on the bus. FEMA seems
to have learned lessons from Katrina. That’s fine and I’m hoping that everyone
comes out on the other end of the storm ok. But geologists say that because of
its location, New Orleans is prone to this kind of thing: it is in the perfect setting
for a recurring natural disaster. So, is the
mass exodus of New Orleanians to parts unknown going to be an annual pilgrimage? There has to be a better, permanent solution.
How do we fix New Orleans?
