On Hurricane Katrina, from a Resident's Perspective

All too often I am hearing accounts on the hurricane that are half truths at best. Well, I would love to clear up some of the mis-education and confusion that is going on with New Orleans.

First and foremost, my hat is tipped to Mayor C. Ray Nagin. While I am not one of your biggest fans, nor am a staunch supporter of yours, I can definitely appreciate what you have gone through during and after Hurricane Katrina. You stood up and said some things that were long overdue and that needed to be said! However, you need to be more careful about what you say. Calling New Orleans a Chocolate City, not such a good idea! Nonetheless, thank you!

There have been recent accounts from residents coming out and saying they didn’t want to leave because they feared looters would destroy their homes. While the sentiment is truthful, many of them are leaving out key facts. Yes, residents fear looters. Every single time, New Orleans would evacuate, some low lives would begin their spree of looting. Still, the NOPD would always strictly enforce a curfew, and arrest anyone who did not abide by it. Thus, looting was minimal at best. Therefore, when someone says that they did not leave because they feared looters, I think, “Are you kidding me?”

I don’t know much about everything but I do know this, a killer hurricane looms ever closely to your home town, you live in a bowl, the levees (which everyone knew for the longest time would not hold up with any hurricane over a Category 3) are shabby and for 4 days leading up to Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, she was said to make a direct hit on New Orleans; worrying about looters is well….stupid! What good will all of those possessions do if you are dead? Just a thought….