Instead of heading back to Hattiesburg, MS like we were scheduled to do last weekend, the local Church volunteers will be heading to Slidell, Louisiana this weekend to help out with Katrina AND Rita cleanup efforts. This time, it looks like in addition to clearing trees, we will be responsible for cleaning up flood damage as well. And unlike having the comforts of civilization like we had two weekends ago staying at a member's home, we will be camping this weekend.
My initial thought was "Nooooooooooooooooo!!! I can't go!!" Serenity is opening this weekend in theaters - a long-awaited movie for Firefly fans like Jen & myself. But then the better part of my conscience took over and decided that the movie can wait until I get back.
I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I stayed here this weekend, simply for the sake of seeing a stupid movie, while others are homeless and still trying to piece their lives back together. It would be a guilt-ridden weekend for sure.
So I am seriously considering going down again this weekend, and lending my energy & muscle to Do Some Good (TM). I think I would come much closer to finding serenity that way instead of watching a sci-fi flick.
I've also been bothered this morning by the revelation of some startling and surprising news....
With almost all of the national news coverage focused on Texas, SW Louisiana, and FEMA, little coverage has been shown anywhere else in Louisiana. However, did you know that parts of Terrebonne Parish were flooded by 6-8 ft storm surges from Hurricane Rita? This area was approximately 180 MILES east of where Rita made landfall.
From the Houma Courier:
"A 9-foot storm surge from Hurricane Rita caused massive flooding in every southern Terrebonne Parish bayou community and likely damaged thousands of homes.
Emergency officials estimated Saturday that the storm caused havoc in an 820-square-mile area across the southern portion of the parish. Rita may have caused some degree of flooding to homes or property for up to 15,000 people, almost 15 percent of the parish population.
The storm dumped 6 to 8 feet of water in Dulac, Dularge, Chauvin, Montegut, Pointe-aux-Chenes and other low-lying communities. None of those areas had power Saturday night, more than 12 hours after the Category 3 hurricane made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. The water overflowed bayous, topped drainage levees and breached at least five levees across Terrebonne."
Un-freaking-believable. That's what I deserve relying on national news coverage rather than seeking out the local perspective. What's even worse to me is that this affected area is precisely the area where we've been focusing our marsh restoration modeling studies. The flooding in these areas can be directly attributed to the deterioration of the wetlands south of these communities.
Prior to learning about this flooding in Terrebonne Parish, I had called someone at the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District this morning in an attempt to obtain some information for my current project. However, the secretary who answered the phone told me that it may be a while before anyone could get any information to me because their offices were flooded and most of the staff was out helping rebuild the breached levees. I must have sounded like a completely heartless fool to her, asking for this information, all the while ignorant of what sort of devastation they had just sustained.
For all intensive purposes, as EX-CWB put it, that is "our part of the world." That's the stuff I've been living, eating, breathing, & sweating over here at work for the past several years. To hear about them out of the blue being affected from Hurricane Rita left me a little shaken. But it's just additional proof that the modeling studies we're doing are critical and essential to the future livelihood of coastal Louisiana. It's an affirmation that the work I do is making a difference and that I'm making a contribution to society. That's ultimately the best reward you can get in a career, isn't it?
Posted by adinar at September 28, 2005 10:59 AM