Filed Under:  OpEd, Regional

Questions from the storm

5th September 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis
The Louisiana Weekly Editor

It’s Friday, August 31, 2012. The sun is shining, birds are chirping away and it looks like another golden day in the city that care forgot. Were it not for the scattered twigs, lack of electricity and the slow return of residents, one might have never guessed that we spent the better part of last week doing the two-step with Katrina’s baby brother Isaac.

Or course we did, and of course the experience got me asking all kinds of questions.

Here goes:

• What did you make of the uptown N.O. caller who told Uptown Angela on the radio Thursday night that an Entergy worker in his neighborhood mean Children’s Hospital that the mayor said restoring power to that area was “not a priority”?

• What do you make of the rise in the number of claims that said improvements in levee protection in New Orleans caused more flooding in surrounding parishes?

• Why is it so hard for Entergy executives and spokesmen to give truthful information and updates about power restoration that don’t insult the intelligence of residents?

• With some people unable to leave a sick loved one and some without transportation how helpful and practical would it have been to dispatch mobile units to distribute hot meals, ice, bottled water and other essentials to residents?

• How could there still be nursing homes and assisted living centers in the G.N.O. area that don’t implement and execute top-notch evacuation plans?

• Doesn’t it still just rub you wrong to hear about folks drinking, driving and partying while so many others worry about and fight for their lives and the lives of their loved ones?

• Shouldn’t the city get props for the speed and dedication it should in clearing up the CBD—as long as it follows through with that same level of commitment throughout the rest of the city?

• What is it with hurricanes and Republican national conventions?

• Didn’t reports of people in lake-view dancing in the streets Thursday night after power was restored bringing to mind that infamous photo of a well-lit lake-view and Metairie standing in contrast to a completely dark New Orleans east of the canal?

• What have you learned from this storm that you will carry with you the rest of your life?

• How will Hurricane Isaac and its aftermath affect the team chemistry of the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Hornets?

• Wasn’t it great to hear about people actually social media to save peoples lives and take them out of harm’s way rather than to simply show anyone who will pay attention how wonderful and important they are?

• With three more months of hurricane season remaining, will you make sure you still have a battery-operated radio, battery-operated fan, batteries, a generator, portable air conditioner, ice, coolers and all the other things you will need to survive with your mind, body and spirit intact?

This article originally published in the September 3, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

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