Thick clouds and warm rain: the remnants of Hurricane Katrina are falling on Southern Ontario right now. It’s suitable, mournful weather after what has happened.
I found the picture to the right on the CBC website today, that pretty much sums up the utter destruction of the gulf coast…and man’s frailty in the face of nature’s rage:
Meanwhile, New Orleans is filling with water like a giant bowl, looters are being shot at by police, fires rage, and bodies float in the water. Thousands upon thousands of people are still trapped, without power or clean drinking water. The city itself is a waterlogged, crippled, structurally compromised shell.
How does one even begin to contemplate rebuilding a city the size of New Orleans? How do you recreate a place with so much history and culture? How do you rebuild so much infrastructure?
And has anyone contemplated that there is still 7 weeks left in a hurricane season that has already brought 11 named storms? The thought of even a second, smaller storm, hitting the area is simply appalling.
My head hurts trying to take all of this in. My eyes water as I watch the Louisiana Governor’s press conferences: she’s terribly heartbroken, and can barely maintain her composure. Reporters are also having a hard time coming to terms with what is virtually a war zone in their own backyard.
I honestly don’t know how all this is going to resolve itself. I won’t be defeatist about it…but it takes a lot of effort.
