Mississippians are generally a generous and empathetic people. We sincerely feel the pain of others struggling to deal with the suffering of natural disasters and communities that are ravaged by wind, water and unrelenting storms.
That Mississippi characteristic is often revealed through acts of
self-sufficiency and Good Samaritan service – truckloads of our people,
armed with chainsaws, generators, and trailers of drinking water, along
with mobile kitchens funded by people of faith
in various churches, show up where they are needed.
Perhaps over our history, there have been so many instances after
hurricanes, tornadoes, heavy rains with flooding and other calamities in
which we in Mississippi have needed and received such help. “Thoughts
and prayers” are nice and beneficial in their ways,
but real help comes in the form of muscle, money, hot meals, and cold
drinks.
Bill Hardin, a popular former Mississippi State College of Business
professor and current dean of Florida International University, was in
their vacation home in Hunt, Texas, when the surge of the Guadalupe
River swept the home away. Hardin survived, but his
wife and daughter were still missing as of Sunday and were presumed
drowned.
So many accounts of pain and loss have risen from the Texas floods. The
sudden brutality of these events is difficult to accept and process,
regardless of whether the victims are family, friends, or strangers.
In Mississippi, such disasters are sadly part of our DNA. From the Great
Flood of 1927 that my late mother survived as a five-year-old refugee
in the Mississippi Delta (246 dead, 700,000 homeless) to the aftermath
of the wall of water that leveled the Mississippi
Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (238 dead, over 1 million
displaced) to the Easter Flood of 1979 in the Pearl River Basin (9 dead,
15,000 displaced), we have learned hard lessons.
There was a lethal Mississippi River flood in 2011 that killed 20 people
and did more than $3 billion in damage throughout the Mississippi River
Basin. National Centers for Environmental Information records reflect
that the 2011 Flood “tested the Mississippi
River and Tributaries System like no flood before; it was the largest
recorded flood through much of the Lower Mississippi River. Stage and
flow rates broke records at several locations, and for the first time,
three floodways—Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway,
the Morganza Floodway, and the Bonnet Carré Spillway—were all operated
during a single flood event.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency watches risk maps for river
basins and drainage areas that bear familiar names across Mississippi:
Coldwater, Tallahatchie, Little Tallahatchie, Big Sunflower, Upper
Tombigbee, Yocona, Yalobusha, Upper Big Black, Upper
Yazoo, Deer Creek-Steele Bayou, Lower Big Black, Middle Pearl -Strong,
Lower Leaf, Lower Pearl, and Mississippi Coastal.
That means about half of our state is at any point in time subject to
flooding, depending on whether cloudbursts “stall” and continue
producing heavy rains at critical points in the river or drainage
basins. That’s what happened in the Easter Flood of 1979,
and that’s what happened in the Texas floods in early July.
I covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf
Coast in 2005. I saw what a 25-foot wall of water can do to life and
property. The result, among our friends and neighbors on the Coast, was
as if the very hand of God brushed everything between
the sand on the beach north to portions of Interstate 10 off the map.
Weather scientists have established that a gauge in the Kerr County town of Hunt,
Texas – where the Bill Hardin family was trapped – measured that the Guadalupe River had become a 37.52-foot wall of water, flowing at a rate far exceeding a normal day at Niagara Falls.
Texas – where the Bill Hardin family was trapped – measured that the Guadalupe River had become a 37.52-foot wall of water, flowing at a rate far exceeding a normal day at Niagara Falls.
For Mississippians, it is important to note that the responsibility for
your safety before such a disaster affects your community and your
relief and recovery after the storm or flood dissipates is shared
between local, state, and federal governments. The reductions
in force and budget cuts to agencies like FEMA may draw applause in
political speeches, but ring hollow when inevitable disasters occur and
fingers of political blame begin to be pointed.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
7 comments:
I suspect most Americans don't know that state emergency management agencies cannot do more than be first responders even in states far wealthier than we are.
Having a President show "concern" is not useful. Money to help recover and rebuild is.
We are supposed to be UNITED States and all Americans . We don't depend on Dukes or Princes or Governors . Texas and California and New York might could muddle through disasters on their own but Mississippi can't and we benefitted from their federal tax money and federal workers when we needed it.
Sometimes I think we've forgotten to teach our citizens how our government is supposed to work. It's not a business nor does a Dictator or King help only those he thinks are loyal.
I saw what a 25-foot wall of water can do to life and property.
Storm surge doesn't inundate as a wall.
No Sid. The responsibility for your safety is yours. Not the government. Thats what most people get wrong.
YOU are responsible for your safety.
The federal government is broke. Its credit cards have maxed out. The national debt per taxpayer is $323,052 or $108,232 per citizen. Just as the president is reducing foreign aid to get to a handle on the debt, federal grants and other aid to states is also being reduced. It's up to the states to carry their own weight.
You are on your own. People need to research where you buy, there’s insurance maps, flood maps, and historical maps, although it’s never a 100% percent guarantee. Research and be prepared for the worst case. If you rely on the government you could end up being like the people in Ohio, the Carolinas, and Florida no thanks to the King Biden Regime’s slow to no response to disasters.
Well said, @8:21.
I want to brag a little about my great aunt Lucinda. She was awarded the key to the City of New Orleans for her work with the American Red Cross during the 1927 flood. I had it framed and it hangs in my home office. Later, she was promoted to the position of second in command of the ARC in Europe where she mainly worked in France. She was a personal friend and pen pal of Charles De Gaulle, and we still have a couple his letters to her. We've always wondered if she was more than just a friend to him as they apparently spent a lot of time together.
Are you through with your little Never-Trump, liberal, silly, TDS rant?
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