It seems strange that Hurricane Katrina happened seven years ago. I was still living in Austin then & we watched horrified as the storm bore down & it seemed like the government wasn't doing a thing to help save a legendary American city. I guess you can watch the show Treme to see how things went. I haven't kept up.
I remember the days afterward, when we'd go to Costco & buy things in bulk like water & peanut butter & take them to places where people in cars were loading these things up to drive the five hundred miles to the almost-destroyed city.
One immediate consequence of the aftermath of Katrina - &, it's true, it was a good thing for Austin - was a lot of refugees from the city, their homes destroyed - hell, their lives destroyed - found their way to Austin to start anew. A bunch of community radio folks from New Orleans came to KOOP radio, & they contributed to the station greatly. I was even reunited with an old friend who I didn't know had moved away.
It's still hurricane season - it lasts from June to November, at least within the Atlantic Ocean's sphere - so my show is surprisingly still timely. It's going to take a few more years of hurricanes before we forget how horrible Katrina was, & still is.
I only wish I had visited New Orleans before. I know it's not the same city anymore.
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