Nick Coleman of the
Star Tribune wrote a
great column today comparing the flood in Grand Forks, ND in 1997 with this week's tragedy in New Orleans.
He aptly notes that the reason no one died in Grand Forks was not that it's smaller or whiter or more middle class (though he acknowledges these factors). The reason why the residents of Grand Forks escaped relatively unscathed is simple:
That was the good old days, 1997, when Americans expected their government would assist them, and back before those who governed bragged that they wanted to drown government in a bathtub. Along with whoever was in the way.
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Almost a week after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, there are supposed to be 7,000 National Guard troops in New Orleans, including 2,000 from states other than Louisiana.
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There were at least 2,000 Guard and military personnel in or on their way to Grand Forks the day the flood hit. (Almost 4,000 troops ended up being called to flood duty that spring, just in Minnesota).
And some Guard units had equipment to make 65,000 gallons a day of potable water from contaminated flood water -- something that might have saved countless lives in New Orleans.
The New Orleans metro area has 13 times more people than the Grand Forks region, and maybe 25 or 50 times the number of poor and elderly people, the folks who are often unable or unwilling to evacuate during a natural disaster. So a comparable troop ratio for New Orleans would have meant 25,000 on hand before the disaster. And more now.
Simply doing the math about the numbers of Guard troops dispatched to New Orleans shows how woefully unprepared FEMA was for this disaster. Compound that with the fact that the troops who were there had no effective direction or organization for several days.
The horrific deaths in New Orleans continue, on a scale never before seen in this country. Unfortunately, it's not Grover Norquist or Bush's bloated and useless war administration that have succumbed to death by drowning.