Rains and Floods

On this date in 2005, the hurricane that exposed hypocrisy, Katrina was born.

Who knew that this tropical depression, so innocuously birthed in the middle of the western Atlantic would be the very embodiment of death and destruction for a whole nation a short 8 days later.

At the end of her march through the tender Mississippi Delta, and into the heartland, nearly 1900 people would die (officially). She started like a punk, the bastard offspring of two weak storms named "Tropical Depression Ten" and "Tropical Depression Twelve." If it was a human, Katrina would have been abrasively derided as a "test tube baby." But from humble roots, she reached the top of her destructive craft.

We'll cover more of The Big One and her impact as the anniversary of landfall approaches.

But now, here in 2007, the country is transfixed on another battle between man and Mother Nature, where Mama is schooling us...again. After nearly a week of nearly incessant rain, widespread flooding and damage has visited the Midwest of the United States, driving people from their homes, and taking lives.

While there is no comparison in terms of immediate damage, I wonder what the long-term legacy is going to be for this disaster. How often does a nation have to be taught the same lesson? What has the Federal government learned about emergency management and making resources available for her citizens?

The short answer? Not much.

Again, states are left to fight their battles with nature short-handed, in part because the National Guard, who might normally be responsible for sandbagging, rescuing the endangered, and supporting local forces is off fighting a foreign war in a country where most of the people don't know what freedom is, and quite frankly don't want it.

Our "cavalry" watches from afar on the news helplessly as their neighbors and families fend for themselves. How many of those troops will get emails, calls, or letters from mom, dad, wife, husband, brother or sister saying the family homestead is washed away, damaged beyond repair, ruined and needing to be torn down? Or God forbid that so-and-so drowned on a patch of land that is normally bone dry...

While we rebuild someone else's country, how can we watch what happens as a good portion of our own is swept away by rains and floods.