Run for your life

The headline in my local paper reads “Forecast: Disaster” and the lead paragraph of the ensuing story is as follows:

“This much is certain: The damage will be horrific: the cleanup will be long.”

Now the two of you who read this blog may remember my previous post where I praised the media (and by extension myself) for its role during the Katrina disaster. I stand by that assessment in regard to the first few days of the storms aftermath. I’m not sure, however, I will heap that same praise this time around. With a few hundred thousand folks stuck on the interstate and my own local grocery store (200 miles from the coast) out of bottled water, I think we may be going a bit overboard. The force of the storm, while formidable, was not the reason we had the disaster in New Orleans. New Orleans, as everyone knows by now, was built below sea level and was kept dry by a system of levees. Those levees failed and New Orleans was screwed. Houston, whose citizens are fleeing by the thousands, does not sit in such a soup bowl and while they may fall victim to high winds, some localized flooding, and possible disruption of utility service, will probably not be decimated by this storm. The fact that people who truly need to leave can’t get away because the roads are clogged with people who should just stay put is the result of a very nervous government and a very slap happy press.

And I don’t blame local officials for being cautious. No one wants to be a Ray Nagin – if I was the mayor of Galveston or Houston I’d probably put all my poor and old people on busses out of town too. Even the off chance of having Jesse Jackson come down and berate me would be enough to do that – however, the press does not have that excuse and while they were the only ones telling the truth during Katrina’s initial aftermath, they are simply stirring up panic this time around. The mass exodus from Houston is not only unnecessary it could prove to be more dangerous than the storm itself.

Meanwhile, my wife has stocked our house with batteries, canned goods, and enough bottled water to shower for a month. She has informed me that my mocking of her purchase means I will not be allowed to partake when all hell breaks loose. I will have to die of thirst.

Which brings me around to this: what do I know? I'm not a meteorologist or even a weatherman. Maybe this thing will blow Houston off the map and I’ll look like a moron.

But I doubt it.

Run.