Now What? The Lessons Of Katrina!

by The Editors - Published in the March, 2006 issue - Popular Mechanics

NO ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SURPRISED.

Not the federal agencies tasked with preparing for catastrophes. Not the local officials responsible for aging levees and vulnerable populations. Least of all the residents themselves, who had been warned for decades that they lived on vulnerable terrain. But when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, it seemed as though the whole country was caught unawares. Accusations began to fly even before floodwaters receded. But facts take longer to surface.

In the months since the storm, many of the first impressions conveyed by the media have turned out to be mistaken. And many of the most important lessons of Katrina have yet to be absorbed. But one thing is certain: More hurricanes will come. To cope with them we need to understand what really happened during modern America's worst natural disaster. POPULAR MECHANICS editors and reporters spent more than four months interviewing officials, scientists, first responders and victims. Here is our report.--THE EDITORS

This group of articles by Popular Mechanics will tell you much more about what happened during the Kartrina disaster than you will find out from the congressional reports that the main stream media (MSM) are giving so much coverage. The politicians are concerned with finding scapegoats and assigning blame to someone other than themselves since they realize that the real blame lies at their feet. The MSM is participating in this scapegoating since they are so hostile to the Bush administration and blaming the administration is their fist choice.

These articles will tell you a lot more . . . . and the pictures are amazing. The following is the most important quote from ALL the articles.

According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the Atlantic is in a cycle of heightened hurricane activity due to higher sea-surface temperatures and other factors. The cycle could last 40 years, during which time the United States can expect to be hit by dozens of Katrina-size storms. Policymakers--and coastal residents--need to start seeing hurricanes as routine weather events, not once-in-a-lifetime anomalies.

Another simply amazing quote tells you a lot about how incompetently our government officials run the flood insurance program.

Just 1 to 2 percent of claims were from "repetitive-loss properties"--those suffering damage at least twice in a 10-year period. Yet, those 112,000 properties generated a remarkable 40 percent of the losses--$5.6 billion. One homeowner in Houston filed 16 claims in 18 years, receiving payments totaling $806,000 for a building valued at $114,000.

At what point can government officials be expected to stop wasting our money?