Three weeks ago this past Monday, my wife and I had dinner at a nice restaurant on Bourbon Street near Canal Street in New Orleans, which we visited for our honeymoon.
This Wednesday, I watched on CNN as the building across the street from that restaurant burned while firefighters scrambled through thigh-high floodwaters, attempting to get water flowing to put the fire out.
One of the exit ramps I took to get to the car rental agency near downtown in early August now disappears into murky water covered with a glimmering sheen of gasoline. In the poor but still handsome neighborhood we drove through after taking the wrong exit, water is now above roofs, and many of the dead are assumed to be concentrated in attics there.
My cousin-in-law was lucky enough to be in Houston this past week, but the university she attends and the apartment she lives in may be under nine feet of water by the time flooding stops, according to the mayor of the city.
New Orleans, one of the most unique, historic and beautiful cities in the United States, is now 80 percent submerged under floodwaters from Katrina, the hurricane that devastated Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and killed hundreds of people.
It is stunning to see one of America's iconic cities in ruins and under water, with refugees streaming out on whatever roads are left and warnings of cholera and looting. Many have a hard time believing that such devastation can be wrought and such loss of life can occur with the technology and advanced warning now available in the face of such storms.
In fact, it appears that while many people were stranded on the Gulf Coast for economic reasons, some also tried to ride out the storm because they simply couldn't believe it could be this bad.
If we learn anything from this event, it should be that as lucky as we are as Americans, we are not invincible, and all our wealth and advanced technology can only do so much to protect us. When the storm comes, we're no different than Sri Lankans or Hondurans or anybody else without a home - or a hometown.
Chris Narkun
Opinion editor
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