Cost Of The Storm

To say that the past month has been challenging is the understatement of a lifetime. What you have seen in the mediums about New Orleans does not begin to describe the destruction here. In effect, New Orleans is dead. The latest estimate is that 350,000 homes in this area must be bulldozed because of Hurricane Katrina.
One entire parish that is adjacent to New Orleans, St. Bernard, was under 10 feet of water. There is no usable home or business left. Another parish, Plaquemines was half reclaimed by the Gulf of Mexico. That part does not exist because it is now an extension of the Gulf. About 60% of my parish, Jefferson, had flood water in houses. Most of those residents have tom out walls cabinets and furniture and will sit and wait for months to repair. Many have left the area because their jobs were washed away or because three is no livable home or apartment. Every house, including mine, suffered significant wind damage.
New Orleans itself no has about 25,000 residents that have moved back in, Sections of the city were under water and are no longer usable (houses have mold to the ceilings there). The one blessing for the city is that the French Quarter and CBD, the heart of the city, were the only two areas spared of flooding. Humans will be moving back in there to restart a down sized New Orleans that may reach 60% of it's former population in a couple of years.
I was called back to work on Sept. 21st, to help rebuild the system's central office. It was destroyed by the storm and now operates out of a school system warehouse. I moved furniture and assited in the new offices. Friday was my last day, and I am officially retired now. Most of our schools were severely wind damaged or flooded, and have been temporarily repaired for Monday's first day of school. About 1/2 of the students are gone though, having moved out of the area due to unlivable homes.
Jane's school was one of a small few that had little damaged. it reopened to a smaller student body on September 26th. She has just finished her first week back. Too bad, her two best friends in the class have moved to Texas. This has been tagged as the greatest natural disaster is history, because of property loses that total 200 billion dollars. Because the area was 90% evacuated before the storm, only 1000 died. Had it not been evactuated the total would have been closer to 100,000.
Media reports have been false, inaccurate and have focused on isolated incidents more than giving a clear view of what happened here. The local state and federal governments performance has been inept at best. More on that later, and you can image how badly the Bush crowd botched the aftermath of the storm. I have been nearly oblivious to the world events since the storm, trapped here without much communication or information.
All the local TV stations still have 24 hour hurricane coverage to pass on information that citizens can not get any other way. The Red Cross trucks, Fema and other relief agencies are still in my city, even though residents have been allowed to come back home. But then, poor people here have nothing and will depend on charity for some time to come.
It will be interesting to see if Bush finally stops his phony message that taxes are bad and unnecessary. The cost of Hurricane Katrina relief will be far more than the cost of the entire Iraqi war he implemented. Because it is estimated that the cost of the storm will exceed 200 billion dollars, there must be a realistic approach to paying for this mess. This country is in debt and the debt is mounting. Politicians like Bush pander to voters by telling them they need never pay taxes.
But now, the debt is so high, even that kind of politician may have to tell the voters the truth- that they must pay for theses and other services. I do not feel confident this country will act fiscally responsibly with Bush and his administration in power.