Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Wrecked

New Orleans is the kind of place that everyone ought to have fond memories of. I haven’t been there in a long time, but I do. Hard to imagine the entire city being evacuated. Or the damage all along the coast, since New Orleans is hardly alone in its suffering.


Very hard to imagine it all as I was driving around on this sunny day here in Illinois, where the only hints of trouble were coverage on the radio and about a 30¢/gal. increase in the price of gas from yesterday, at least at the place I usually buy gas. Warned of this hike (again by radio), I filled both cars yesterday at the old price of $2.87.9/gal. Now if they would only stay full.


Katrina inspired me to pull out the 2005 World Almanac and check the table called “Some Notable Hurricanes, Typhoons, Blizzards, Other Storms,” p. 206-7, which runs from the Great Blizzard of 1888 (400 deaths) to the storms last year that beat up Florida. My conclusion: if you want to avoid the worst storms, don’t be Bangladesh.

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2 Comments:

At 1:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The N.O. situation is unthinkably tragic. I have visited the city about 21 times in the last 25 years, also living and working there in the summer of 1984 (the summer of the World's Fair). Everyone always talked about hurricanes. Just close the shutters and stay away from the windows. Everyone I know who has been there does in fact have fond memories of this magical city. MT

 
At 7:57 PM, Blogger Geofhuth said...

Dees,

This situation is, strangely, even more unbelievable to me, since I was in the city just 8 days before the hurricane hit. I keep seeing damaged or flooded areas of the city on TV--areas I was walking in a couple of weeks ago.

Geof

 

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