Topic : 09/08 Hurricane Katrina

I agree with you. My family lives in Orange, and are still having to live in Dallas. We have not heard anything from anybody about Rita. It really upsets me that my child cannot go back to school and know will give us any infromation. I know how you feel.

After having spent 8 days in Waveland, Mississippi as part of the medical assisstance team I continue to find it hard that New Orleans and Houston are bad mouthing the assistance or lack of that they are receiving.  The people of Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Gulfport that I actually saw would be better off to bulldoze and start over in most places and yet they continue to be positive and know that God is watching over them.  It is my understanding that 98% of Mississippi had some type of damage from the Hurricanes and they haven't received near the media attention as the other places but it was and is devastating. 

  

  

  

I would like to know about any follow-up you have done with the people you spoke to on the show you did when you visited the hurricane devestated areas of the south.  Have you been able to see any improvement since your visit? It is hard to tell if there has been any changes unless you have actually been in the area. Please let the viewers know of any updates that you know of to make us understand what has been done or what is still in need of being done. Thank you

I have a really tough trivia question to which I'll bet you'll never guess the answer.  You see, with at least 25 US states being close to an ocean, it is safe to say there are about 25 states that could be directly affected by the wind and/or rain of a hurricane.  However, 24 of them (all but 1) could ONLY be affected by an Atlantic OR a Pacific hurricane -- never 2 storms of the same 1st letter on the same day!  (Nothing in the Atlantic could ever impact Hawaii while Florida will never be touched by anything in the Pacific.)  However, there is one state, the one you'd probably least suspect, that is sort of like Mexico in that it could be reached by 2 different storms in 1 day if weather conditions were just right.  But with no state in the US being touched in any way by the 2 oceans, HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE?   Well, here's one way the scenario could play out: let's pretend it's Friday, July 13, 2012 (1st leapyear since 1984 to have 3 Friday the 13th's, by the way) and that tropical activity is just getting started for both the Atlantic Basin and the East Pacific.  Because in 2006 (this year) neither Aletta nor Alberto did any major damage, their names are used for the 1st Pacific and Atlantic tropical storms in respective order.  But on this unlucky day, the 2 storms have "conspired" to attack a large, proud state, with a surprizingly short, simple name and a clean-lined, patriotic flag, from both sides.  Aletta, once a Category 5, goes up through the Gulf of California and then accelerates due east upon landfall after which the now Category 1 storm pummels the westernmost corner of this state with torrential, flash-flooding rains and tornadoes, with no regard to the fact that the states southeastern residents may have beach homes being swept away simultaneously by Alberto's massive storm surge!  Having strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico during his perfectly-northwest voyage, his winds shatter glass on the skyscrapers in this state's largest bayside city, and in between there is total chaos at the largely-spared state capital where officials are trying to decide what to do!   So what state could I possibly be talking about?  The answer is totally shocking because the state is revered as dry and hilly, storms and rain being the furthest thing from the mind when its name is spoken, and few people realize that it is second ONLY to Florida for having had the most hurricanes!  Most people never think, as they bask in the sunlight of the warm beaches all along the coastline of this state, that these very sands have been the final resting place for millions of dead bodies and obliterated buildings.  How should a person feel, now knowing this fact, if they happen to live along this state's upper Gulf Coast?!?