Hurricane Outrage
Contraflow begins Sunday morning. That means that the interstate from the Mississippi Gulf Coast will run every lane northbound to accommodate people evacuating from the path of a Category 4 hurricane. This is to accommodate the mandatory evacuations from the three coastal counties. Jackson is the destination. Jackson is also the only major airport north of Biloxi and Gulfport, and I-55 will get also be the primary evacuation route for people from Slidell and other Louisiana towns.
Jackson is the staging ground for the Red Cross and most emergency responders because they are close enough to be accessible without being in the direct line of fire.
In 2005, after Katrina devastated south Mississippi, my wife went with others from our church, hotel to hotel, providing food and resources for families who were providing their own shelter, at the first safe hotels they could find north of the storm.
Tonight, Gustav is a Category 4 hurricane, and it likely will begin to make landfall the day after tomorrow.
Tomorrow, The Senator from Arizona and the Governor of Alaska, with their depth of knowledge in hurricane disaster preparedness, are coming to Jackson to "check on preparations." They will bring with them Secret Service and an airplane or two to the only major airport north of the storm zone. They will close intersections. They will motorcade over an interstate being used as an evacuation route. They will bring a press corps who will need hotel rooms. They will tax police resources. They will tax military resources. They will tax the attention of the governor, the mayor, the government. They will receive a "briefing" from MEMA, who surely have other things on their minds.
I thought the Palin pick was amusing yesterday.
Tonight, I am furious that any politician, from any party, in any election, would be so reckless, thoughtless and selfish as to distract from the preparations and endanger people running for their lives.
Have they learned nothing? They are terribly concerned about the perception of holding their festive convention during the storm but apparently are not concerned about actually getting in the way.
Jackson is the staging ground for the Red Cross and most emergency responders because they are close enough to be accessible without being in the direct line of fire.
In 2005, after Katrina devastated south Mississippi, my wife went with others from our church, hotel to hotel, providing food and resources for families who were providing their own shelter, at the first safe hotels they could find north of the storm.
Tonight, Gustav is a Category 4 hurricane, and it likely will begin to make landfall the day after tomorrow.
Tomorrow, The Senator from Arizona and the Governor of Alaska, with their depth of knowledge in hurricane disaster preparedness, are coming to Jackson to "check on preparations." They will bring with them Secret Service and an airplane or two to the only major airport north of the storm zone. They will close intersections. They will motorcade over an interstate being used as an evacuation route. They will bring a press corps who will need hotel rooms. They will tax police resources. They will tax military resources. They will tax the attention of the governor, the mayor, the government. They will receive a "briefing" from MEMA, who surely have other things on their minds.
I thought the Palin pick was amusing yesterday.
Tonight, I am furious that any politician, from any party, in any election, would be so reckless, thoughtless and selfish as to distract from the preparations and endanger people running for their lives.
Have they learned nothing? They are terribly concerned about the perception of holding their festive convention during the storm but apparently are not concerned about actually getting in the way.
posted by JRB at 11:45 PM
1 Comments:
Great post. Thanks for putting some perspective on this.
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