Requiem for a City

I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience New Orleans before it surrendered to the sea. It is going to be a long time before that city can be rebuilt into a fully functional community. It will never see the glory of its pre-Katrina days, though, with the loss of its historic mansions and graveyards. All that is left now is a port city with a economy based heavily (and precariously) on tourists and conventions. New Orleans had a delicate economy before Katrina; now, there will be little to support a community the size it once was.

The arrival of food and water today is a huge relief, but the question that is on everyone's mind is why it didn't arrive sooner. Perhaps this truck driver's comments will shed some light on the situation:

I run a trade association of tank truck carriers trying to assist in the relief efforts by transporting food and potable water. I'm in regular contact with many of the companies, and here are some "on the ground" facts:

1) Large trucks (80,000 lbs. gross weight) almost always have to use the Interstates. For trucks attempting to come in from outside the area, most of those roads (approaching the disaster area) are either closed or have bridges out. The so-called secondary roads may be somewhat passable, but their bridges (over rivers and streams) are not built to sustain such loads. Simply stated, you can't get there from here.

2) Trucks domicled in those areas (because that's where the companies traditionally serve customers) are still underwater, thus the equipment is not accessible;

3) Nobody in their right mind is going to take loads of gasoline and fuel oil into a city controlled by unfriendly folks carrying automatic weapons. A tank truck loaded with 8,000 gallons of gasoline can produce a very impressive fire;

4) Those local trucking companies can't contact their drivers. There's no power, thus (even) cellular is unavailable, and many of the drivers homes (in places like Kenner, Slidel, Metarie, etc) have been destroyed and families dispersed. I have one member with about 120 drivers and mechanics in that immediate area. To date, management has been able to contact 12. Those in the National Guard have been mobilized and are not available to drive.

5) Pumps -- needed to load the vehicles -- don't work because there's no power...

I suspected that mere access was the major problem; it's interesting to have at least some confirmation of that circumstance. Unfortunately, the worst of life brings out the worst in some people:

More than four days after Hurricane Katrina struck, the National Guard arrived in force Friday with food, water and weapons, churning through the floodwaters in a vast truck convoy that was met with both catcalls and cries of “Thank you, Jesus!” from the suffering multitudes.

“Lord, I thank you for getting us out of here,” Leschia Radford said at the New Orleans Convention Center as the military rolled in with orders to restore order and feed the hungry.

But 46-year-old Michael Levy said, “They should have been here days ago. I ain’t glad to see ’em” — words that brought shouts of “Hell, yeah!” from those around him. He added: “We’ve been sleeping on the ... ground like rats. I say burn this whole ... city down.”

I'd undoubtedly be frustrated, too, if I were in his shoes. I'm pretty sure, though, I wouldn't bite the hand that was literally feeding me or advocate further mayhem. It is this apparently widespread collective descent into the worst recesses of the human soul that saddens me more than anything.