|
|
|
Last Updated: Aug 22, 2008 - 12:10:50 AM |
Only a small part of the East
Iowa Herald is on the Web.
For the best in East Iowa news and
features click here to
subscribe!
Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans I drove through the city and witnessed destruction beyond my imagination. I drove into areas that no sensible boy from a small town in Minnesota should have been and saw block after block of empty homes, all with cryptic messages spray painted on them. Garbage and debris were piled high in the streets, at one point I encountered a city bus, the tires flattened, windows broken and the door torn from the hinges. In other places of the city, notably the suburbs and the French Quarter, life had resumed. But the specter of what existed just a short distance away was omnipresent. The specter of what had happened filled the air.
The aerial photographs of Cedar Rapids underwater can’t help but to bring on a comparison to New Orleans. I read the news of the evacuation of Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids and felt a huge sense of relief. As water began to trickle into the lower levels of the hospital, 176 patients were moved to other facilities. The distinction, to me, was amazing. On Sept. 1, 2005, the evacuation of Charity Hospital, an evacuation that occurred long after the facility lost power, had to be halted when a sniper or snipers began firing at the rescue helicopter.
There have been no reports of snipers in Cedar Rapids, there have been no reports of looting, either. The overwhelming news from the past several days has not been people taking what they can for themselves but rather of people pitching in to help their neighbors and their city survive a catastrophe. In some cases they were successful, in others they weren’t. But the attitude that prevailed during a disaster will go far towards speeding the recovery.
In scope, of course, there is little to compare. Nearly a million people were evacuated from Katrina, 25,000 were evacuated from Cedar Rapids, a total of 36,000 across the state. Regardless, the numbers are mind boggling. And in every case, it involved people who were being forced from their homes by forces beyond their control, facing the very real prospect that everything they owned would be gone when they returned.
Like New Orleans, the devastation in Cedar Rapids is beyond anyone’s ability to fully grasp. Many people will have lost everything they own, many will be out of work for weeks if not months. And while tempers are beginning to flair as evacuated residents are kept from their homes out of safety concerns, the picture that is emerging is one of resilience and determination. As people pitched in to help their neighbors, they are now preparing to dig in to rebuild their lives and their cities. I fully expect it to be unlikely that a year from now much evidence will remain to a casual visitor - certainly the likelihood of encountering an abandoned and vandalized city bus will be virtually non-existent.
In Victor, high school students gathered to save the concession stand at the baseball field, in Marengo, children and their parents gathered to fill sandbags, thousands gathered in Coralville, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids to save both historical and commercial buildings. No one was asking for a handout, seemingly no one threw up their hands and expected that “they” would do the work for them - whoever “they” is. Neighbors pulled neighbors to safety - and sometimes rescued pets and personal items. In so many cases, so many untold stories, the real story behind the flooding of 2008 is not the devastation but rather the triumph of the human spirit. We survived with grace and, in the words of the governor, we will be back better than we were before. When things were at their worst, Iowans were at their best. I am incredibly proud to call this place home.
© Copyright 2008 by The East Iowa Herald
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
Skies: SunnyTemperature: 20F -7CDewpoint: 6F -14CRelative Humidity: 55%Wind: NW at 21m - 34kBarometric Pressure: 30.46RUpdated: 04:53:38 PM
