Katrina Retrospective

In 2005 we lost a major American city, New Orleans. It is being rebuilt but it will never be what it was. With luck, the new New Orleans will be smaller, safer, and more prosperous.

Looking back at the events surrounding Katrina, there are a lot of myths that were reported. Lets look at some of them:

Myth: Katrina represented the mainstream media at its best.
The networks set up shop in New Orleans. Some anchors rode out the hurricane in the Superdome. They rented boats and showed us footage of flooded streets. They even rescued a few people. So, was this the MSM at their best? No. Many of the other myths started with them. They passed on any stories, no matter how wild, without doing basic fact-checking. In some cases this cost lives. When they reported that people were shooting at rescue helicopters, the rescue flights were suspended for days until the National Guard secured the streets. Likewise, reports of armed gangs roaming the streets were wrong.

Similarly, the images they showed of flooded houses were only half the story. Residents in the 9th Ward probably expected to find their houses intact, possibly the first floor ruined but still solid. Instead they found block after block was simply gone. The footage of reporters boating from house to house was shot where the flooding was not as severe. The viewer had no way to know where they were filming and where they avoided.

Myth: Katrina showed the racial/economic divide in America.
This is one that the MSM came up with on their own and pounded us on the head with. Day after day we were told that Katrina showed fissures in American society that had to be fixed - they never said how but one can speculate that the solution would include a European-style social safety net.

The facts are that 1) The people left in New Orleans when the floods came were there be choice. They had passed up rides out of town in the belief that they were safer at home. Many were older with health problems and, had the floodwalls held, they would have been correct. 2) A disproportionate percentage of the victims were white. New Orleans was 75% black but slightly over half the bodies recovered were white. 3) Many of the victims were employed and earned a living wage.

In addition, Katrina was a huge storm. New Orleans was only one area hit but it got more than half the coverage.

Myth: The devastation caused by Katrina could have been avoided if the levees had been built for a category 5 (or at least 4) hurricane instead of for a category 3.

There is some doubt about how strong Katrina was when it hit the coast. Initial estimates put it at a category 4 just before hitting but newer data showed that it had weakened to a strong 3. Regardless, the strongest part of the hurricane missed New Orleans. What hit was the equivalent of a category 3.

Myth: Officials should have known what to expect.

President Bush and others in his administration said that no one had expected the floodwalls to break. A simulation run just week before Katrina hit showed significant flooding. Similarly, other previous warnings had been issued about the possibility of flooding.

All of these were referring to the likelihood of water coming over the top of the levees. They assumed that the walls would hold and that the pumping stations would continue to function. Instead, the canal floodwalls broke. The pumping stations pump water fron t he city into the canals. That meant that the pumping stations could not get rid of the water. Worse, the pumping stations themselves soon were flooded. Possibly authorities should have anticipated this but no one did.

Myth: It was all President Bush's fault.

This is part of the Bush Derangement Syndrome. As the floodwaters rose, Democrats were looking for some way to blame Bush. Surely something as catastrophic as this must be Bush's fault somehow. Examples of this include:
Cutting funding for the levees. This one got nation-wide attention before anyone noticed that what failed were floodwalls, not levees. Current thought is that the floodwalls were flawed from the start but no one noticed.

Cronyism. A lot was made of FEMA director Michael Brown's previous work experience. No one paid any attention to the fact that he had been in charge of FEMA during the 2004 hurricane season when four hurricanes hit Florida. His problem was more that he had a political tin ear than anything else. In addition, FEMA is not a search and rescue organization. That is done by the military. The continual focus on New Orleans instead of the surrounding area also gave a false impression.

Global Warming. My favorite. Katrina fed off of warm Gulf waters. The waters were warmer because of global warming. Bush withdrew from the Kyoto agreement therefore, Bush cause the global warming which made Katrina so bad.

There are several problems with this, all of them showing just how out-of-touch Bush Derangement Syndrome makes people. The National weather Service and the American Meteorological Association are on record as saying that global warming did not contribute to Katrina. Kyoto is supposed to slow global warming decades from now, not reverse it the same year that it is implemented.