The Morbid Fascination

You can see this phenomenon all around. If you're reading this blog over the past few days, you've probably experienced it. In fact, most of the bloggers themselves are experiencing it because it is THE story of 2005 and pushes every other story off the front page in the US.

The 'it' is the morbid fascination with the scenes of utter devastation coming out of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Some have focused that feeling into assistance efforts to help those who are in need of immediate assistance.

I'd like to think that my blog is helping people who know someone in the region to get an idea of what is going on, and maybe provide information that the network media isn't able to provide. If you know of someone in an affected town or locality in the region, and can't contact them or obtain any news on them, I'll see if I can get you pointed in the right direction.

For starters, Instapundit should be an essential link. He's not called the blogfather for no reason. He's put together an impressive links of aid, news, and other resources for Katrina victims and those wishing to help. While clothing and food donations may seem like the best way to help, believe it or not, the aid organizations find that cash donations are the best way to provide immediate assistance since they can marshal the resources in the most efficient manner. Again, Instapundit has a good list of charities.

Brendan Loy is on top of the situation, providing news and commentary. See also the Katrina Help Wiki.

For those who need information on the town of Slidell, LA, a blog has been set up to distribute information.

Help is on the way, but it will come slowly to the hardest hit areas for reasons I mentioned yesterday. It simply takes time to clear debris from roads leading into the hardest hit areas, not to mention bridges and overpasses that were damaged or destroyed that have cut off access to New Orleans from the East/North. More than 125,000 National Guardsmen have been mobilized to assist in the relief efforts and a naval group is heading to the Gulf Coast to render assistance.

One possible way that the Pentagon could provide additional assistance would be to potentially send some of the nuclear submarines that are in port to the affected locations in order to generate power and water for coastal communities, at least to get emergency services powered. Perhaps the sub bloggers could comment on the feasibility of this idea.

Several regular commenters on blogs that I visit are going to be headed to the region - one is an insurance adjuster, and the other is organizing a shipment of medical supplies to deliver to a hospital in the region where his brother works.

Meanwhile, looting continues to be a problem in New Orleans and Biloxi, and obtaining potable water and food are a major concern. New Orleans residents have been told to evacuate from the city, although it isn't entirely clear where they should go and what to expect when they get there. People have taken to camping out in parking lots in New Orleans to escape from the rising water, but many have nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

To follow up on the environut claims that this storm is the result of global warming, check out this blog's response. They cite to the NYT and good science, which means examining the facts that are known - not blind faith-based suppositions that are meant to score points rather than enlighten.

Word has also come in that President Bush will be releasing some of the strategic petroleum reserves. This is an interesting move. Some folks, like Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), have been calling for a SPR release every time there's a price increase, but this storm has dramatically cut production in the Gulf of Mexico. It is that fact, not the rising price at the pump that has forced the Administration to open up the SPR. If the refineries cannot obtain the petroleum to turn into gasoline, we could potentially see shortages in various regions of the country. Many refineries that had relied upon the Gulf Coast pumps and wells for their raw crude oil or natural gas stocks will probably receive their raw stocks from the SPR until the Gulf Coast facilities are back on line. In other words, the price at the pump will probably not decrease, but the jump in prices may level off until the refineries can get back online.

This is another reason to spread out where refineries are located and to look at other regions of the country for petroleum production - it spreads the risk of loss over a wider region and prevents a massive disruption to oil production that could harm the national economy.

UPDATE:
Aridog at Discarded Lies posts a story of how the government (federal, state, and local) planned on dealing with fixing the levees. It would take a concerted effort to close the breach, and then bring in high powered pumps to reduce the water levels.

I have a suggestion for the rebuilding of New Orleans that might be heeded but for the costs. I was out in Seattle back in June and took the Bill Speidel Underground Tour, which gave a unique look the early history of the city. The tour literally takes you under the existing city streets to look at the city as it stood nearly 100 years ago. The tour guides speak of a colorful history of Seattle and the problems the city had with the daily tides in the Bay because the city was originally built on tidal flats. This should be a lesson in how to reduce the likelyhood of future calamaties like Katrina. After being flooded out once too often, along with a massive fire that damaged many structures, Seattle's city leaders decided to build the streets at a new higher level (up to 30 feet higher in some places - and used the nearby mountains to provide the fill), which forced local businesses to comply or lose business to those that didn't.

New Orleans should do the same. It should be required rebuild its critical infrastructure at a level equal to, or exceeding the height of the levee system. Businesses could get additional assistance to raise the levels of their businesses to the new height. In most places, this would mean raising levels anywhere from 5 to 25 feet. Many residential areas are totally submerged and would need demolition because they are too severely damaged and weakened from the flooding. Concurrently, new building codes should require better construction techniques all along the Gulf Coast.

UPDATE II:
Donald Sensing has more information about yesterday's erroneous reporting of martial law being declared in New Orleans or Louisiana. There was no such declaration as Bubbleheads also noted yesterday. Donald had noted that the only people who could make that declaration were the Governor of Louisiana or the President of the US, and neither of them did so. If law enforcement was acting roughly towards looters and those who risked travelling in the affected areas, it was because the law enforcement knew that they would probably end up having to rescue those individuals from rising flood waters, downed lines, or other emergency situations.

Bubbleheads also answers my question about using nuclear submarines to provide power onshore to assist devastated regions. The short answer is that it just isn't feasible.

UPDATE III:
Howard Fineman looks at the political fallout from the flooding, and thinks this is a political storm of bad news for the Bush Administration. Never mind the fact that the local governments failed to heed the warnings and call for evacuations 24 hours earlier than they did, failed to preposition or prepare emergency supplies for areas of last refuge, Fineman thinks that the country's mood will turn on Iraq and the Bush Administration because active duty forces in Iraq could be used in the relief efforts in the Gulf Coast.

Never mind the fact that it takes more than just manpower. What exactly would 100,000 active duty forces (or take any number for that matter) actually do with their tanks, humvees, or other military vehicles? In flooded areas around New Orleans, many of those vehicles would be useless. This is the pontificating of a person who has no clue what actually is involved.

Fineman is looking at tactics, not logistics.