Gustav and the lessons of Katrina

“With another potentially dangerous storm swirling in the Caribbean,” said the New Orleans Times-Picayune in an editorial, this third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is “fraught with anxiety.” But as Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast, “we can take comfort in the fact that we are safer and better prepared today.”

Locals who learned a lesson from the levee breaks may be ready, said The New York Times in an editorial, but federal emergency planners, despite Katrina’s painful lessons, have “failed to come up with a new strategy for providing housing to disaster victims.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency promises to have a new plan in place by fall, but that’s “well after Gustav makes his move.”

“We are powerless to stop a storm's devastation,” said the Macon, Ga., Telegraph in an editorial, “but it is in our power to move people away from the affected areas.” And there, at least, the state of Louisiana seems to have benefited from experience. If Gustav hits, buses will be ready to help with evacuations, and there will be no “dilly-dallying around.”

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