In 2000, there were only 25,000 two-parent families in New Orleans with children under 18. By contrast, there were more than 26,000 female householders with children under 18, and no husband present. In other words, slightly more mothers all alone with children than married-couple mothers.

In addition, there were more than 18,000 householders who were more than 65 years old and living alone. Of these, most would normally be female.

If you add together the 26,000 female householders with children under 18, no husband present, and the 18,000 householders more than 65 years old and living alone, that is an estimated 40,000 female-headed households. That explains the pictures we are seeing on television, which are overwhelming female, most often with young children. The chances of persons in this demographic being employed full-time, year round, and with a good income, are not high. The chances of them living in poverty, and without an automobile, are exceedingly high. Anne Hendershott

The US is about halfway through the hurricane season and the storm names are already up to the N and O.

The city the tourists never knew by Sonja Steptoe

Sure, there are isolated spots dotting the tourist maps that are well stocked with pristine prettiness and antebellum hospitality, but like A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche DuBois, the real New Orleans hasn’t possessed much beauty or charm for nearly 30 years. The deep wealth and class divisions, the decayed infrastructure, the lax civil-engineering management, the depleted city coffers, the lawless depravity, the history of political corruption by a long line of city and state officials, and the incompetent governance that television viewers are discovering are, to use the local vernacular, the roux of a long-simmering pot of gumbo that finally boiled over when Hurricane Katrina turned up the heat last week. Now the city is drowning in it.

Father Jake Stops the World

New Orleans knew of the danger. Why was the city so unprepared? For suggestions as to what might have been done, I refer you to this morning’s editorial in the NY Times by John Tierney, Magic Marker Strategy;

…Mr. Judkins is one of the officials in charge of evacuating the Hampton Roads region around Newport News, Va. These coastal communities, unlike New Orleans, are not below sea level, but they’re much better prepared for a hurricane. Officials have plans to run school buses and borrow other buses to evacuate those without cars, and they keep registries of the people who need special help.

Instead of relying on a “Good Samaritan” policy - the fantasy in New Orleans that everyone would take care of the neighbors - the Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified.

“It’s cold, but it’s effective,” Mr. Judkins explained.

That simple strategy could have persuaded hundreds of people to save their own lives in New Orleans. What the city needed most was coldly effective local leaders, not a president in Washington who could feel their pain. It’s the same lesson we should have learned from Sept. 11 and other disasters, yet both liberals and conservatives keep ignoring it…
When facing this magnitude of disaster, I’d say “cold but effective” is the way to go.

I’m not interested in playing the “blame game.” But I do think that it will soon be time to begin the process of learning from this disaster. We need to identify what went wrong and create better plans for the future. Such plans might benefit from exploring creative options in place in other communities. Personally, I agree with Tierney; the best plans will be developed locally, with state and federal assistance being a secondary support system.

Rescue workers, rebuilders and responders must take health precautions in the Gulf States, particularly but not limited to New Orleans according to the Centre for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency.

A few days ago I posted on a bloggers search for a missing Louisiana blogger.
Kevin’s last entry was August 27th and his blog has not been updated.