A Bad Situation Worsens

New Orleans. Home to the House of the Rising Sun. Birthplace of Jazz. Where the Saints Go Marching In. The Big Easy. Not so easy living in a glorified swamp, is it? The gamble exists when man tries to defy nature's balance. In a battle between the two, nature eventually wins. Yes, humans make adjustments, but nature always proves stronger.

I was in New Orleans for a National Youth Gathering in 2001. The theme was "Higher Ground." At that time, I knew we were close to the sea, but I didn't realize we were below it. Protected by a concrete levee, the city thrived like any other city.

Designed to withstand Category 3 hurricane force winds, the Category 4 and 5 winds of Hurricane Katrina pushed the levees beyond their limits. Residents knew the potential of the storm but didn't get out. City officials knew the limits of the levees, mandated an evacuation of the city, and prepared for worst hurricane since Camille, yet some residents chose to ride out the storm. As usual, hindsight is 20/20.

With a city under water, those remaining struggle to survive. There is no power, the water contains sewage and corpses, the weather remains hot and humid, and escape is difficult. Looting runs rampant, but police forces are short. A reporter asked one man, who was carrying designer shirts, "Isn't it wrong to steal those?" He responded, "If it was wrong, there'd be cops here to stop me." Stealing electronics makes no sense in this emergency, but I would expect supermarkets to be targeted. People need food, water, and other supplies, and the food in stores will only spoil if no one takes it.

Days past the initial storm, one sees rescue efforts in full swing. They do the best they can in their situation. We can read about the new challenges facing rescuers. The water, the fires, the violence, the desperate survivers. How can the Red Cross work in such conditions? I suppose they are prepared. So often they help out in disasters abroad. We recognize NATO for there relief efforts elsewhere, but we never expect them to be needed in the States. However, here they are.

The economic impact of Katrina is amazing. By wiping out a relatively small section of the United States, citizens throughout the country feel pinched by the fuel shortages. Forced to shut down offshore oil rigs ahead of the storm and with refineries and pipelines closed because of storm damage, gas stations are running near E. In a society that depends on automobile travel for business and pleasure, no one goes unaffected as the gas prices push upward. Down South, where there is power to pump fuel out, stations are unable to obtain fuel to keep up with demand. In attempts to alleviate the problem, the US has opened its Petroleum Reserve to refineries short on crude. Further, Europe will dip into their own emergency gasoline supply to help the US. However, the prices won't drop back down until we have certainty on crude oil supplies and refining capacity. Prior to the storm, refineries were running near capacity to keep up with American demand. Shut down a few of those plants, and the problem is obvious.

In the entire disaster, I have a few questions. If the oil industry was running near capacity, why weren't they building new refineries? If they were, how long until they could be used? Or else, were they just building on to current setups? No, my questions are not all oil based. What happened to the residents of the bayous? Many of them live in flimsy shacks or houseboats. I wonder how much warning they had of the hurricane's approach. Just because New Orleans is more populated, why don't we hear about those living further south on State Highways 1, 23, and 39? There are many small towns builts in the swamps leading toward the Gulf. Will this teach people not to defy nature by building below the waterline or near the coasts? Probably not. Will America turn from its oil dependencies? Probably only at the same rate they did before this. We have a lot to learn from such a major disaster. Let's hope it sticks.