This weekend marks the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I was living with my daughter, Bri, at the time in Ocean Springs, Miss., in a home on Davis Bayou that didn’t flood in Hurricane Camille in 1969.
People thought Katrina was the worst the area would ever experience. Like many others, I was lulled into a false sense of security. There is a saying that Hurricane Katrina killed more people in 2005 than Camille did in 1969 because people failed to evacuate.
My daughter and I watched as the bayou water rose up the steep hill to our house. Soon it was lapping up against the patio doors, then flooding into the house.
But the huge storm surge quickly subsided, we opened the doors, and the water flowed out as fast as it had flowed in. We were more fortunate than many as about a quarter of my friends lost their homes entirely, another 60 percent flooded, and almost no one escaped without wind damage.
People didn’t just lose their homes, but their churches, schools, businesses, parks, stores, and marinas. Nearly all of the large, historic waterfront mansions along the beaches were swept away.
Electric lines and poles were twisted into bizarre shapes. I thought it would be months before we got power back. But utility trucks from throughout the region converged to restore power. Our house was without power only for a week because it was located close to the hospital.
If not for Katrina, I would probably still be living in Ocean Springs. It took me a couple of years before I “found” Eureka and moved out of the hurricane zone.
I had hoped Katrina would be the worst natural disaster ever seen in the U.S., and now we have the Covid-19. It is interesting to compare the two, one visible, the other invisible.
- When Katrina moved inland, it was over except for the years’-long efforts to rebuild. With Covid-19, we have no idea when it will be over.
- After Katrina was a time of kindness and solidarity. No one asked if you were Democrat, Republican, Black, White, Christian or pagan when they came to help. Faith-based groups were the first to arrive, and some sent groups back for years to help people rebuild. Government support was incredibly generous.
With Covid-19, the country is intensely politically polarized. Common-sense precautions like wearing a mask and social distancing have been widely disregarded despite the U.S. leading the world in the number of cases and deaths.
- After Katrina, I didn’t see most friends for months. Everyone was busy trying to do their regular job while rebuilding. But we could hug when we saw each other. After a few months, we had big public meetings to envision rebuilding stronger and more resilient.
- With the hurricane, non-profit groups came in and replaced the destroyed playgrounds very quickly. With Covid, our playgrounds are closed.
- After Katrina, education was disrupted until temporary classrooms went up. By January, most kids were back in school. With the coronavirus, kids got out of school abruptly in March, and now are either home schooling or going back wearing masks and social distancing. Parents who believe their children need in-person education face the choice of exposing their child to an illness that might not make the child terribly ill, but could be brought home.
As I write this, there is a hurricane warning for my old hometown. I feel fortunate to live on higher ground, but most of my friends here are largely in an age group at risk for complications from Covid-19 as about 80 percent of the deaths have been in people 65 plus.
Just as many who have worked hard all their lives are preparing to enjoy retirement, they find there is danger all around, from hanging out with friends to going to the grocery store, eating out, or taking a trip.
Some good friends are bickering with each other, policing each other for mask and social-distancing compliance, and being short-tempered and Covid-fatigued.
One of the harder things in this socially conscious community is seeing how much Covid-19 has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. “Stocks are soaring. So is misery,” was the headline of a Paul Krugman column last weekend. Unemployment is the highest since the Great Depression, millions face eviction for non-payment of rent or mortgages, and we have no idea when or if things will get “back to normal.”
Katrina showed me the resilience of humans.