Some information to wrap your mind around

[WilliamPitt]

As bad as this has been so far, the worst is well and truly yet to come. At some point, there will have to be an accounting of the dead and missing. There isn't yet anything close to an accurate estimate of the number of lost yet, but if this is any indication:

Horrible scenes at New Orleans airport
In triage center, baggage conveyor used for grim task of moving bodies

By Kerry Sanders
Correspondent
NBC News

Updated: 3:26 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005

NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - I cannot believe what I am seeing here in the New Orleans area. I’ve been reporting for 21 years around the world and I've never seen the likes of this...The airport, meantime, has been converted into a triage center. There are so many bodies that medical staff are using the baggage conveyor to carry the stretchers...The man with the broken jaw said that he had another friend who was beaten to death at the Superdome. He said that they had no choice but to leave his body there...People are coming in and many don’t have hospital tags. Others are arriving with recent injuries dazed, unconscious, and not even knowing their own names, but they are being shipped off on planes to other hospitals. Family members may not know what happened to their loved ones. They are being distributed across the country and people don’t even know who they are.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9175928/

...it is going to be simply awful.

This is a list of the worst hurricanes ever to strike the United States:

1776
Sept. 2–9, N.C. to Nova Scotia: called the “Hurricane of Independence,” it is believed that 4,170 in the U.S. and Canada died in the storm.

1856
Aug. 11, Last Island, La.: 400 died.

1893
Aug. 28, Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., Sea Islands, S.C.: at least 1,000 died.

1900
Sept. 8, Galveston, Tex.: an estimated 6,000–8,000 died in hurricane and tidal surge. The “Galveston Hurricane” is considered the deadliest in U.S. history.

1909
Sept. 10–21, La. and Miss.: 350 deaths.

1915
Aug. 5–23, Galveston, Tex., and New Orleans, La.: 275 killed.

1919
Sept. 2–15, Fla. keys, La., and southern Tex.: more than 600 killed, mostly lost on ships at sea.

1926
Sept. 11–22, southeast Fla. and Ala.: 243 deaths.

1928
Sept. 6–20, Lake Okeechobee, southeast Fla.: 1,836 deaths. Second-deadliest U.S. hurricane on record.

1935
Aug. 29–Sept. 10, Fla. keys: “Labor Day Hurricane”; 408 deaths.

1938
Sept. 10–22, Long Island, N.Y., and southern New England: “New England Hurricane”; 600 deaths.

1944
Sept. 9–16, N.C. to New England: 390 deaths, 344 of which were at sea.

1947
Sept. 4–21, southeast Fla., La., Miss., Ala.: 51 killed.

1954
Aug. 25–31, N.C. to New England: “Carol” killed 60 in Long Island–New England area.

Oct. 5–18, S.C. to N.Y.: “Hazel” killed 95 in U.S.; about 400–1,000 in Haiti; 78 in Canada.

1955
Aug. 7–21, N.C. to New England: “Diane” took 184 lives and cost $8.3 million ($5.5 billion).

1957
June 25–28, southwest La. and northern Tex.: “Audrey” wiped out Cameron, La., causing 390 deaths.

1960
Aug. 29–Sept. 13, Fla. to New England: “Donna” killed 50 in the U.S.; 115 deaths in Antilles.

1961
Sept. 3–15, Tex. coast: “Carla” devastated Tex. gulf cities, taking 46 lives.

1965
Aug. 27–Sept. 12, southern Fla. and La.: “Betsy” killed 75 and cost more than $1.4 ($8.5) billion.

1969
Aug. 14–22, Miss., La., Ala., Va., and W. Va.: 256 killed as a result of “Camille.” Damages estimated at $1.4 ($6.9) billion.

1972
June 14–23, northwest Fla. to N.Y.: “Agnes” caused widespread flash floods killing 117 (50 in Pa). Damages estimated at over $2.1 ($8.6) billion. Still the worst natural disaster ever in Pa.

1979
Aug. 25–Sept. 7, Caribbean to New England: “David” caused five U.S. deaths; 1,200 in the Dominican Republic.

Aug. 29–Sept. 15, Ala. and Miss.: “Frederic” devastated Mobile, Ala., and caused $2.3 ($4.9) billion in damage overall.

1980
Aug. 3–10, Caribbean to Tex. Gulf: “Allen” killed 28 in U.S.; over 200 in Caribbean.

1983
Aug. 15–21, Galveston and Houston, Tex.: “Alicia” caused 21 deaths and $2 ($3.4) billion in damages.

1985
Oct. 6–Nov. 1: “Juan” struck La. and the Southeast. Though only a category 1 hurricane, it caused severe flooding and $1.5 ($2.4) billion in damages; 63 lives were lost.

1989
Sept. 10–22, Caribbean Sea, S.C., and N.C.: “Hugo” claimed 86 lives (57 U.S. mainland). With damages estimated at over $7 ($9.7) billion, it is the second most costly U.S. hurricanes.

1991
Oct. 30–Nov. 1, Eastern Atlantic seaboard: an unnamed hurricane labeled the “perfect storm” caused extensive erosion and flooding along the Atlantic seaboard and created 39-foot waves.

1992
Aug. 22–26, Bahamas, southern Fla., and La.: Hurricane “Andrew” left 26 dead and more than 100,000 homes destroyed or damaged. With total U.S. damages estimated at $26.5 ($34.9) billion, it is the most costly U.S. hurricane.

1994
Nov. 8–21, Caribbean and southern Fla.: “Gordon” led to an estimated 1,122 deaths in Haiti. Eight died in Fla.

1995
Nov. 29, Fla. panhandle and Ala.: storm surge during “Opal” caused extensive damage to coastal areas; nine U.S. deaths and damages of $3 ($3.5) billion.

1996
Sept. 5, N.C. and Va.: “Fran” took 37 lives and caused more than $3.2 ($3.6) billion in damage.

1999
Sept. 14–18, Bahamas to New England: “Floyd” and associated flooding caused at least 57 deaths. Damage estimated at $4.5 ($4.6) billion.

2001
June 8–15, Gulf Coast to southern New England: tropical storm “Allison” caused severe flooding, damage estimated at $5 billion (actual cost); 41 deaths.

2003
Sept. 18, N.C. and Va.: “Isabel” took 50 lives and caused more than $3.7 billion in damage.

2004
Aug. 13–Sept. 26, Fl., Ala., and southern U.S.: Four major hurricanes hit Florida in 6 weeks. “Charley,” on Aug. 13, a category 4 hurricane, killed 34; “Frances” on Sept. 5, killed 38. “Ivan” swept from Grenada to Alabama and Florida on Sept. 16, killing 52 in the U.S., 66 in the Caribbean. “Jeanne”, on Sept. 26, flooded Florida again, killing 28. Total U.S. damages from the 4 hurricanes estimated to exceed the cost of “Andrew.”

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001443.html

When all is said and done, when all the lost have been recovered and the cost of the annihilated neighborhoods has been counted, when another accounting is made of the myriad ways in which the Bush administration specifically and Reaganomics generally bear responsibility for the severity of this disaster, when a mother thinks her daughter might be alive if a Louisiana Guardsmen been available to help had he not been in Iraq, this last week will be numbered as perhaps the worst we have ever seen.

Oh yeah, and psssst, we just lost our first city to global warming. As a resident of another oceanside city, I fear it will not nearly be the last.

So...

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."

- Joseph Campbell

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

"You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far."

- Uncle Remus

"If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful."

- Barbara Bloom

Stout hearts, all.

[spanone]

1. Not a hint of how many died. Yet in the tsunami we got hourly reports.

[speedoo]

10. That's no coincidence.

Rove has the clamps on this kind of info. At this moment, he is trying to figure out how to keep the number low, if he has not already done so.

[JuniperLea]

2. Something good has to come of this...

Guest House
This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the sham, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

- Rumi

[Theres-a]

8. Thank you

[H2O Man]

9. Something good will come ....

"This world and yonder world are incessantly giving birth;
every cause is a mother, its effect the child.
When the effect is born, it too becomes a cause
and gives birth to wonderous effects.
These causes are generation on generation,
but it takes a very well lighted eye
to see the links in their chain."
-- Jalal-ad-din Rumi, Persian Sufi poet

[murray hill farm]

12. Thank you for that piece!

So beautiful and so true.

[JuniperLea]

14. Just don't tell anyone I'm quoting an ancient Sumerian

I'm sure he must be connected to Al Qaeda! I could be jailed under the Patriot Act.

Those words were written in the 11th century and they still ring true.

May the Almighty Powerful Being, whomever that might be, bless all. Jeez. What a world. I couldn't possibly be more upset than I am right now. If I hadn't been out of work for the past five weeks, I'd take some vacation time and volunteer with the Red Cross or something. I feel so helpless and hopeless. I can't imagine how much worse those poor people down south are feeling right now. If that had happened to me, I'm sure I would have snapped by now.

Give us strength.

[Ellipsis]

15. Yes thank you for that.

At a friends house yesterday heard this tune... like to share It... sent a shiver of effectiveess down my back giving what was happening in New Orleans.

Artist/Band: Young Neil
Lyrics for Song: Don't Let It Bring You Down
Lyrics for Album: After The Gold Rush

Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

There is nothing wrong with moving to better ground to be more effective in our future.

Gaia still spins.

[Horse with no Name]

3. What breaks my heart

is that many people will have washed out to sea.
Many will have been eaten by the rats and alligators.
The only accounting we will have is from people who lost family members that can stand for them and make sure they are counted.
The very poor. The homeless. The people who fall through the cracks of society will not have a legacy here.
Their numbers will be hidden.
There is no way that Bushco will count any more bodies than he absolutely haves to.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Terrible, awful, excellent point.

[VelmaD]

6. You are so sadly correct...

and that's why it's up to us to stand for them and remember them even if we didn't know their names. :hug:

And we have to make damn good and sure that people are held accountable so something like this clusterfuck of a federal response never happens again.

[VelmaD]

4. This is going to be so very very bad...

before it's "over". :cry: :hug:

[leftchick]

7. tens of thousands at least

and because the Feds are in charge we will never know how many could have been saved had the response been immediate.

[Must_B_Free]

11. Galveston

[Quixote1818]

13. Wow! Look how many have happened since 1989!

Thirteen of the worst Hurricanes since 1989! Thats almost one a year in the past 16 years. Compare that to 25 of the worst Hurricanes from 1776 to 1985.

1776 to 1985 - Average = about 1 every ten years

1985 to 2005 - Average = about 1 every year

Powerful and deadly Hurricanes are ten times more common in the past 15 years according to this data.

[undeterred]

16. kick!

[SheilaT]

17. Great post.

This is fascinating information.

If you haven't yet read the book "Isaac's Storm" about the 1900 Galveston hurricane I strongly recommend it. Among other things it details the growth of the National Weather Service and the limitations on weather forecasting in those days.

I'm also reading a book about the Great Hurricane of 1938, and while no where near the caliber of "Isaac's Storm", still makes interesting reading.

I've long been amazed at the relative low loss of life in the U.S. in recent years (the past 40 or 50) from hurricanes. Katrina brings us in a way back to the days before any kind of reliable forecasting -- even though we knew it was coming, knew it was a powerful storm, we'd dodged the bullet (more specifically New Orleans had dodged the bullet) many times before, and so this happened.

[Horse with no Name]

18. kick

:kick: