Photo: File-VPC

Photo: File-VPC

The Spirit of America as well as the United States economy have been wounded, weakened and embarrassed by not one, but two hurricanes.

Once just a lowly Tropical Storm Katrina; Hurricane Katrina, once she got close to Florida, turned up the volume and shocked residents who were taking her Category I status too lightly.

Within two days, the prediction of a northward boomerang shot to the Florida's panhandle had been changed to a dead sure hit on New Orleans. And then she grew.

Katrina quickly grew from a Cat I to a Cat III as she sailed across the Gulf of Mexico. But what was surprising was that this happened during the night time hours.

Almost just as quickly she rose in stature to a Cat V with sustained winds up to over 175 m.p.h. and gusts of over 200 m.p.h..

Katrina had become a monster.

New Orleans had been highlighted in the news for years every time a storm came near her. Why? Because, New Orleans' streets lie below sea level. Not only that but, she is surrounded by a levee system that is incomplete. Also, Lake Ponchatran and the Mississippi River border her residents.

It was a disaster waiting to happen. Hollywood couldn't have come up with a more unlikely plot. Imagine, leaving a city the size of New Orleans is in population and economic importance, as a sitting duck for any large hurricane to come near.

Professors had long ago drawn out the scenario of what we are witnessing at this hour and yet the levee system was not completed. That was shear negligence or worse.

Not only has the power of Katrina stunned our nation and the world but the "third world" efforts at providing aid and relief to the victims has brought much tarnish to the image of the United States as superpower.

Given that it was well know what would happen, the lack of federal relief planning and implementation is astonishingly horrifying. It would almost be ridiculous if we were not talking about real human beings, animals and commerce being completely lost.

To make matters worse, the media and many radio talk show hosts, especially those that polish the administrations every blunder and try to make it shine, were focusing upon the looting that occurred instead of the travesty of wasted time and wasted lives.

Katrina's devastation becomes, each day, more awesome, shocking and costly not because of Katrina which was bad enough. No this extra dose of devastation is due to another hurricane. This hurricane is also a Cat V but it is not of water and wind. It is a hurricane of inaction and negligence that WAS preventable.

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Editor, Upper Valley Beacon

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