We Will Never Forget

We Will Never Forget 
God bless the United States of America

Patriot's Day - September 11, 2011

The Anniversaries

On September 11th, here in America we will be commerating the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when our country was attacked by terrorists.  We lost over 3,000 people that day in a man-made disaster that changed my country forever. 

On the same day, Japan will commerate the six month anniversary of a natural disaster with a loss of 28,000+ people in a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.  Whether we speak of one life or many, grief invades our hearts and we remember. 

I sometimes wonder if two such disasters are in any way connected?  When hatred and violence stir in mens hearts and propel them toward war, could it also unleash the forces of nature wherein both innocent and guilty become victims?  I have no answers; I just wonder.  

The Strange Co-incidents of the Sister Storms

Today is the sixth anniversary of Katrina.  Six years ago, flood waters were rising in New Orleans; today in the nation's north, flood waters are rising in Connecticut.

Today, there are memorial services in New Orleans and Coast Guard helicopter rescues in the north. Comparing the storms, Katrina was much stronger, Irene much larger. 

Nearly two thousands lives were lost in Katrina, Irene's death toll, at present, is two dozen.  We have much to be thankful for and much to contemplate.

While there wasn't any earthquake that occurred before Katrina as there was with Irene, we had all watched the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami only 8 months earlier.  A MSNBC concentric circle image of the Mineral, VA, August 23rd earthquake shows the quake was felt in regions represented by the same states that would later be affected by hurricane Irene. Then, there are the warning of the animals. 

Both storms are now part of history, but perhaps we should be reading the signs more closely!

A prayer of peace for the victims of both hurricanes and a salute to America, land that we love.  

  

Sister Storms – Irene and Katrina?

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hurricane Katrina reached Cat 3 intensity at 5:00 AM.  At 5:00 PM, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced a state of emergency and called for a voluntary evacuation.  He would only order a mandatory evacuation 30 hours before landfall, reportedly to avoid gridlock.  He did advise those living in low lying areas, such as Algiers and the 9^th Ward to get a head start.  He said he would open the Superdome as a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs.  President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana and Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center briefed the president, Louisiana and Mississippi governors and Mayor Nagin on the status of Hurricane Katrina.  Katrina reached a Cat 4 short after midnight.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Evacuations have already been ordered in at least six states:  North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Hundreds of thousands have been advised to leave the areas.  New York hospitals and nursing homes in low-lying areas have been evacuated.  The New York transit system has been shut down which leaves the Big Apple, “the city that never sleeps,” totally immobile, but not asleep!    

The good news is, six years later, we’ve learned something!     

Animal Alert: Hurricanes and Earthquakes

The outer bands of Cat 2 Hurricane Irene are beginning to smack the North Carolina coastline.  The projected landfall is Cape Hatteras, N. C. on Saturday.  Irene is approximately the exact same size of Katrina.  Just as in the 2005 Gulf coast disaster, eastern coastal residents are fleeing the storm.  One of the benefits of Katrina is the absolute seriousness with which now view threatening hurricanes.     

Irene, understandably, has eclipsed the August 23^rd 5.8 Virginia earthquake. The earthquake was felt in major urban areas, Washington, D. C., New York and Boston. Broken glass and minor cracks were found in the 1857 castle of the famed Smithsonian Institute; pinnacles were toppled from the main tower of the National Cathedral, (said to have no insurance). and cracks were found in the top portion of the Washington Monument. The Monument was closed due to unanswered questions as to whether or not it was leaning.
http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/washington-monument-national-cathedral.html.

As a southern girl, living on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, I grew up with hurricanes.  I always considered us lucky as we knew when the storms were coming.  Tornados and earthquake sneak up on you!  Now, I’ve learned other ways to predict calamities on the way. “Inmates” at the Washington D. C. National Zoo had the word long before we did! Several of the animals “announced” an upcoming upset and an elephant let out a low-pitched growl to alert her family.  I’m not surprised; my novel, The Night the Elephants Cried is tells more of elephants remarkable abilities!       

The Hurricane Cheer

I was invited to a number of public and private schools to read my picture story book, Gullah, the Nawleans Cat Meets Katrina.  Children in the lower grades were too young to remember Katrina, but the older ones did, thanks to TV coverage. Kids, however, are never too young to educate about danger.  During my author visits, the kids and I, with appropriate hand gestures, would act out our Hurricane Cheer.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  

What to do?  What to do?  What to do?

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! 

Listen up.  Listen up.  Listen up.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!

Stock up.  Stock up.  Stock up.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!                          

 If you're told ... if you're told ... to evacuate ...?                                                                  

  GET OUT OF TOWN!  Go ... GO ... GO!                                                                           

 

Expect the Unpredictable – Enter Gullah

Irene is moving north, north-west at 13 mph.  And the nation is beginning to react.  Evacuations have been ordered from North Carolina’s barrier islands. Here in Florida, we feel relatively relieved.  However, seasoned Southerners know to expect the unpredictable

After Katrina’s frontal assault on the Gulf coast and just as New Orleans was exhaling, the real trouble began.  New Orleans has a levee and flood wall system to protect it from its low-lying areas.  While Katrina’s eye passed about 20 miles from the heart of the city, the powerful force of a storm, only hours before identified as a Cat 5, was able to cause the levees on four of the canals to fail.  The surge overtopped Lake Pontchartrain which poured into the city and flooded 80% of New Orleans.  An estimated one million  people had fled, but 20% of the population remained in a city clearly sinking.   

People took to their roofs, having hacked through ceilings with an axe.  The roof-tops were filled with screaming babies, frantic families, the elderly, the sick and their pets.  A popular journalist, Chris Rose, was later to write a book, the title taken from the post storm markings on front doors, One Dead in the Attic.  

Watching the aftermath of Katrina, everyday “in real time,” was an emotional experience.  One story in particular, that of a small boy carried sobbing onto an evacuation bus, was especially touching.  The bus driver refused to allow the boy’s small fuzzy dog, “Snowball,” onto the bus.  Snowball was left stranded by the wayside; two hearts were broken. Snowball was all the boy had left and now the beloved family pet was gone.  The story made national news; for me, it was the inspiration to write Gullah, the Nawleans Cat Meets Katrina.