MOMania

By dittohead

September 2, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this

This ia America. They do havr a choice, however difficult that is.

By dittohead

September 2, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this

This ia America. They do have a choice, however difficult that is.

By JATL

September 2, 2008 8:10 AM | Link to this

I think it all depends on how important living in certain places are to you. If the Mississippi Gulf Coast or NOLA is your home, you have a great job there and you want to raise your family there, then you deal with evacuating sometime and maybe losing things and having to repair and rebuild. Anyone who lives on the coast almost anywhere can face evacuation. I think the same could be said for people who live in areas of California or Colorado or the West where there seem to always be terrible wildfires. They also have to evacuate and often lose everything, but that is where they want to live.

Remember, this usually is not a yearly occurance -often this doesn’t happen for years at a time. Living where most of us do, a tornado could wipe any of us out at any moment and take all of our belongings with it, but we stay. When it comes to Mother Nature, there’s no really safe place.

By JJ

September 2, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this

With a hurricane, you have a little bit more time to decide what to do, as opposed to a tornado. You don’t get too much warning with tornados.

On the other hand, the media LOVES to whip us into a frenzy.

By Smart Ace

September 2, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this

The is no place on earth that is 100% safe. You do the best you can with what you have and when mother nature hands you lemons you make lemonade.

By motherjanegoose

September 2, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

I cannot imagine the emotional and physical trauma of this ordeal and going through it more than once is not something I could take.

Our neighbor’s house got struck by lightening in June and caught on fire. It will take MONTHS to get it back together. We passed it as we were walking our dog and I told my daughter that I think I would rather just walk away and start somewhere new

These folks have more guts and grit than I will ever have. Of course, I have lived in 6 states and do not have deep roots…they must!

By Jeff

September 2, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this

Well, even down here in South GA we keep an eye on these ‘canes. Roughly 100 miles to the coast from where I sit right now, meaning an Andrew-sized Cat 5 could EASILY push Cat 2 level winds up here before it even gets ashore. Also have relatives (grandparents-in-law) that live in Ft Walton, about 2 miles off the shore and right in the area that LOVES to get hit! :)

As far as NOLA itself goes, the city should be allowed to be destroyed. It aint exactly that bright to be below sea level 20 miles from the shore, particularly in an area that has known more than its fair share of strong storms.

Now, if you want to level the city, use the debris to bump the overall level of the earth in the area to even 5 feet ABOVE sea level, THEN rebuild, I say go ahead.

As other locations - Japan and Denmark come to mind - have shown, we HAVE the technological fortitude to withstand these storms and build systems that can protect us in even the most disastrous of times.

Problem is, most in NOLA want the NATIONAL government to do this, and it not the NATIONAL government’s job.

It is the LOCAL government’s.

Until the LOCALS decide to do what is necessary to protect THEMSELVES, the NATIONAL government should not spend one red cent in the city for ANY reason.

By lovin life

September 2, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Yea Jeff is back and I agree with him!

By Returning from Florida

September 2, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

YES, Jeff is absolutely right!

“Until the LOCALS decide to do what is necessary to protect THEMSELVES, the NATIONAL government should not spend one red cent in the city for ANY reason.”

Amen!

NOLA residents interviewed just recently during Gustav were still expecting handouts if they stayed and got hit. Your life is your responsibility - not the governments!!

The government gave you the buses to evacuate you and get you out of the path. Why didn’t you get out?

By Annie

September 2, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

I lived in the Outer Banks for many years in the ‘90’s. Hurricanes were part & parcel of our summers there for many years.

Our island used to have mandatory evacuations, and then the police department would close both bridges on/off the island.

You grabbed what you could, prayed you’d see the rest after the storm, and headed to the mainland with kids & pets accounted for.

During the clean ups, The Red Cross would show up with cold hot dogs and warm oj - and you’d be thankful to have it!

It was just a way of life; something you planned for each year. Some years we got hit, others we didn’t - just a roll of the dice.

By Topic Suggestion

September 2, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

Teresa

I think you should do a blog on Sarah Palin and pros and cons of trying to balance motherhood and a high powered job at the same time.

Are the children short changed? Can they achieve balance? If so, how?

By Penguinmom

September 2, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this

Notice how much better the response was this time with that incompetent Louisiana governor gone?

I agree with Jeff on the Locals taking responsibility. Florida gets hit with hurricanes also but you don’t see them whining and complaining and expecting government handouts for everything.

By DB

September 2, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this

When I lived in a high-risk hurricane area (South Florida, I moved out two years before Andrew, thank goodness!), the paper bags at Publix had “hurricane preparedness tips” on them starting in June, through October. If you had any brains at all, you had a week’s worth of food and drinking water stored, and had a gas or charcoal grill, and a drawer full of batteries. If you were VERY well prepared, you had a home generator. In other words, you were prepared. As a matter of course, we kept our personal records (insurance, certifictes, etc.)in one safe place that we could easily scoop up if necessary. Basically, we could walk out of the house with two hours warning and probably set up life reasonably comfortably somewhere else. We always kept three big empty plastic boxes in the garage that had a list in each one, of what went in each box in case of evacuation (photo albums, whatever was important to us.) The cats had an emergency pack, too, of food and water, that could be scooped up quickly.

Did I mention how glad I was to move? :-) I hated living like that — I hadn’t grown up with it, and I always felt under seige. I think I’d probably give it one chance at re-building, but it God came along and knocked it down again, I’d figure He was trying to tell me something!

By My3Kids

September 2, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

I agree with Jeff also. The Local Government needs to stop up to the plate NOW. Problem is almost every Local Government needs to step up to the plate.

By Theresa

September 2, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

Hey everyone — I am planning for us to discuss Sarah Palin tomorrow — So tune in for that — it should be exciting —- I didn’t want to ignore the suffering with the hurricane — busy news week!!

By lovin life

September 2, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this

alright Theresa, You are opening up a huge can of worms tomorrow!! Can’t wait to read that!

By JJ

September 2, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this

Ditto what Lovin life said. I hope I’m not to busy tomorrow and can blog the day away….hee hee…

I’m anxious to learn more about Gov. Palin…..

By Stacey

September 2, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this

Thankfully, I have never had to flee due to weather but I really feel for those who do. As others have said, relocating is often easier said than done so while it’s easy for me to say they should not go back, I don’t know their situations. Also, being that these catastophic storms are usually few and far between, I may be willing to try to stick it out too. You are at Mother Nature’s mercy no matter where you live so you just have to pick your poison, so to speak.

My sister lives in south Mississippi (not the Gulf Coast Region) and they were caught off guard by Katrina. Their rural area was without power for a week and a half, the stores ran out of gas, water, and price gouged on the food and things that was available. Fortunately, she had a freezer full of food and a gas stove to cook it on but they had to drive two hours north to fill their cars with gas and buy stuff like bread milk and water.

This time she made sure to have a several cases of drinking water, plenty of food, all gas tanks full, cellphones charged, and enough batteries to keep Las Vegas powered for a week. She said they didn’t get any bad weather this go around but it is still early in the season.

By Gerald

September 2, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this

It’s not living on the coast that’s bad…it’s how things are built - that keep getting blown away! Like ants that keep building dirt mounds right in the path of the gutter spout, we keep building above groung, flabby structures that get demolished! I think NOLA shouls become a huge Naval Base/ship yard. The oil industry sure knows how to evacuate their people. Either LOCAL govt. builds it right, or watch it happen again and again!

By motherjanegoose

September 3, 2008 7:21 AM | Link to this

cut the cord…it appears you do not know me or my opinions so I will help you out….readers? I cut the cord years ago when my 16 year old son signed on for his own car payments and paid his own car off at 19. I cut the cord years ago when my son started working at 14 and saved up his own money for the down payment. I cut the cord 3 years ago when he left for college and has been working and paying his own bills…he works 24 hours per week and carries a full load.
He also has 3 weeks paid vacation as a Senior Pharmacy Tech. Mama never helped him land that position. I am trying to help him find NINETY insects and some are kind enough to understand that this is a daunting project, with everything else he has going. The topic at hand was children being entrepreneurs and I mentioned that I would be paying 25 cents per bug to the neighbor kids…this is all in fun. If you want to go head to head on cutting the cord…I can refer you to other parents who are miserable since their babies left for college and cannot understand why their kids cannot figure anything out for themselves. The mamas who are calling their students every day to get them up for classes or sending them their spending money and asking what they ate for dinner or what time they went to bed…do not get me started! Cutting the cord has never been an issue at this house.