Replies to '08/28 Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later'

Thank you so much for your thoughts, and for your courage in posting this.  You are absolutely right.  I've lived in Houston for many years, and weathered hurricane Alicia in 1983 and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 - which has gone on record as the most expensive storm in US history to date.  Yes, it took time to recover from both storms, but the people of this city rolled up their sleeves, and DID IT - without demanding that the US government rebuild our city.  Private insurance was our first avenue for recovery, and FEMA was there only if insurance wasn't available our wouldn't pay.  And believe me - it was no picnic trying to get assistance from FEMA, even back in 2001.  My heart truly goes out to the people of New Orleans who were so devastated by Katrina.  I worked in the Astrodome for a couple of weeks, and what these people had to go through was totally incomprehensible.  Many of the folks who came to Houston as evacuees have settled in and truly enriched our city and it is a pleasure to have them as our new neighbors.  And yes - there have been many problems that have cropped up since the massive evacuation of folks to our city - but that's something to be expected from all the horrors that occurred because of this horrible storm.

 

I truly appreciate your comments about the importance of self-reliance and not sitting around waiting for repair to be done.  Of course, there are people who need the assistance who are not getting it - the elderly, the sick or disabled, the folks without income or insurance - but I know that a lot of us would appreciate the media placing a focus on the people who HAVE taken the initiative to rebuild and restart their lives...people all along the Gulf Coast.  The people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida who were hit with Katrina; the people in Louisiana and East Texas who have been totally forgotten in their struggles rebuilding after Rita; the people in Florida who were hit with Wilma.....and an ungodly number of other hurricanes within the past few years.  The American people, and friends across the world have shown their enormous financial and emotional generosity and support - but it's time to equalize responsibility for rebuilding now...

The insurance companies are getting into a p***ing contest over what kind of coverage you have...

 

With my friends situation, he didn't live on the water or below sea level...the winds caused the tidal surge, which in turn caused the water damage i.e. flooding...his insurance company of course said no, it was flooding, and since he didn't carry flood insurance they wouldn't cover it....

 

That's the problem IMHO, the insurance carriers are looking at ways to AVOID paying claims, by using its "flood" damage because most people don't carry flood insurance. 

 

I think that if you live in certain areas, especially those below sea level it should be mandatory that flood insurance be carried....

 

The bottom line is however, that the taxpayers are going to end up footing the bill....whether the insurance companies pay out or nor, we'll either have to pay higher premiums for the pay-outs, or we'll have to just pony up the entire cost. 

 

For the poster who said that Hurricane evacuees are living better, I hope that's not the norm...but you do hear more and more of this...the abuse of the cards, people taking advantage of the FEMA trailers, and you really really hope this is not the norm, and I don't think that it is.  But I agree, several of the surrounding states have had their public assistance programs MAXED out with the hurricane evacuees, where legal residents of the state's can't get help....

 

It's a no win situation, and it will take a lot of time and effort to rebuild. 

While it is horrible to see the pictures of what happened in New Orleans, it is not soley the governments responsibility to fix everything. FEMA is an emergency organization, it is not here to rebuild our homes after a disaster. Personal responsibility is endless - at the end of the day you are responsible for your choices and how you deal with things such as a disaster is also a personal choice. You can rise up and learn the lessons that you were supposed to learn or not. The consequences are applied accordingly. I'm not saying we don't all need help but blaming the governement doesn't absolve any of us for what we should be doing.

 

I lived through the 1989 earthquake in the Bay Area - and it was the citizens, private industry and charities that rebuilt our towns, homes and businesses. The governement is there to provide infrastructure - not put a roof over the head of everyone. Almost 15 years later the city is still rebuilding the roads - some people left the area because they couldn't afford to rebuild, others stayed and have ended up on a different path in life as a result.

 

There are no guarantees that every day we will have everything we have today. nobody can guarantee that.

 

My husband's grandmother lost her home in a hurricane several years ago in Florida.  Nobody was there to help her out except us.  There are still many parts of Florida that have not been rebuilt from hurricanes that happened 20 years ago.  I truly feel sympathy for these people, but I feel that everyone forgets that NO is not the only place to ever get hit with a hurricane.