Some days ago, the missus and I watched A Refuge of Last Resort (2019) about surviving the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans which was recommended by somebody online. In the documentary, some people talk about Hurricane Betsy (1965) and those who remembered what had happened were either prepared or left the town altogether. What was clear was that neither the majority of people nor the governments till Katrina did squat to prepare for another catastrophic cyclone.
On the other hand, South Florida learned the terrible lesson from Hurricane Andrew: building codes changed and there is a religious-like preparation mindset when it comes to hurricane season. Hell, you read plenty about it here in this blog. We had more strikes, none as bad as Andrew but still causing damage that was minimized by there preparations and thankfully we were back to normal as soon as we could.
But back to collective memory. I think I posted about an idiot a couple of years or more ago, trying to get access to our backyard pretending to be working for Florida Power and Light. He got all puffy when I denied access because he had raised several alarms with the way he was dressed, lack of ID and the vehicle not having the proper decals and paint scheme. I called the cops of his ass and to my amazement, the got there pretty fast which I attributed to being in the area close by. Long-short, it turned out to be a kid working for the cable company trying to access a distribution box which was not even in our property. Supervisor arrived, things got cleared and he was not arrested but given a very stringent warning about pulling stunts like that pretending to be working for FPL which the company frowns upon very much so and go out of the way to warn people with ads.
And I just may have found out why (July 28, 1977):
This was the first recorded Mass Murder in Miami Dade county’s history. And yes, there are still criminals everywhere trying to access homes pretending to be working for utilities and assorted government agencies, but the LEO response I saw that day may be explained by this sad event.
Anyway. just a bit of history that serves to remind us not to break the home perimeter unless is safe to do so.
Our family left New Orleans in 1964, we still had friends living there when Betsy hit. One of our friends said that his biggest problem was that with the power out there was no ice for his cocktails. At that time corruption was rampant in New Orleans, with the levee board being the most corrupt organization, a difficult accomplishment considering, apparently little had changed in 40 years.
Before, during, after Katrina, I had a regular weekly run from Texas to Baltimore, DC, New York and return. I could take any route I wanted, within reason. Occasionally I would stay on I 12, other times I would stay on I 10 through New Orleans. On the day before Katrina, I ran across I 12, just to check what was happening in Louisiana. After Katrina, for a couple of weeks I went up to I 20 and across. Then I went back to the southern route and discovered that most folks along I 10/I 12 were out 24/7 repairing the damage. The government workers, the average people worked their asses off to get things back into shape. New Orleans? Oh, woe is me, someone come save us! We be helpless! Give our Chocolate City money! Did I mention that the mayor of NO spent Katrina in Dallas, in an expensive hotel while NO was hit? IMHO, NO was a shithole, is a shithole, will always be a shithole and anyone that would build/live in an area below sea level on the coast is a shithead deluxe. You want to live there? It’s on you, I’m not willing to bail you out, repair your damage, wipe your tears (much less your ass), take care of yourself, not my problem. My attitude covers the fools that get lost in the woods, in the snow, on a mountain, at sea, in the middle of the night in the hood, you wanted to go there? It’s on your dumbass to get out, not my problem. Just my two cents worth.