We all saw the anchorpeople battling the 120 MPH winds in
Galveston, but very little coverage was given during or after Hurricane
Ike to Southeast Texas, the area that was the hardest hit by Ike's storm
surge. The City of Port Arthur and its suburbs were spared because of a 15-foot hurricane protection levee, built during the 1960's
after Hurricane Carla. The levee had never been tested prior to Ike (Hurricane Rita,
which brought Category 3 winds to the area in 2005, had very little
storm surge), and it proved barely adequate to stop the 14-foot wall of water.
However, while Port Arthur escaped major damage,
areas outside the levee were completely devastated, particularly the
town of Bridge City, Texas, in which 3000 homes are still unlivable.
Another 1000 homes are unlivable in the surrounding county, but to date,
FEMA has delivered only a handful of trailers to those people despite
thousands of requests. Those who can't find shelter with their
relatives are forced to live in tents, because all of the apartments and
hotels in the area are completely full.
To make matters worse,
Michael Chertoff has proven once again his ineptitude, lack of
compassion, and complete lack of ability to organize anything larger
than your average church bake sale. Not only did he blow off a tour of
the damage, but his agency was later quoted as saying that anyone who
was still living in tents in Orange County was choosing to do so.
Have we learned nothing from Katrina? Does it take CNN going
down there and filming the devastation for any action to be taken at
the federal level? Everyone is making such a big deal about Joe the
Plumber, but at least Joe the Plumber has a house.
