When the Levees Broke

[JeremyEritrea]

Did anyone else watch this?

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image

What an incredibly moving documentary. And that's only the first half.

That poor poor man describing his mother dying at the Superdome was one of the saddest things I've ever seen in my life.

[CHICO13]

The HBO documentary on Hurricane Katrina by Spike Lee. It's being shown in two parts that started tonight. I have to say it's one of the most powerful, poignant films I've seen in the last few years. I've always thought I knew the scope of the disaster until I saw this film and realized how wrong I was. It's a must see to understand just how things went so horribly wrong and thousands of lives were dramatically affected. I now feel like I didn't do enough.

[JeremyEritrea]

Not a single person should've died (apart from natural causes) in the aftermath of that storm. It's sickening that so many did in one of the greatest cities in the USA.

[CHICO13]

We were talking about it at work today and this moron says....."Yeah, I heard about it and was planning on watching it but then I found out it's a Spike Lee movie and we all know how that's going to turn out" :rolleyes:

Like it or not, race is a BIG issue in this tragic story.

[JeremyEritrea]

We were talking about it at work today and this moron says....."Yeah, I heard about it and was planning on watching it but then I found out it's a Spike Lee movie and we all know how that's going to turn out" :rolleyes:

Like it or not, race is a BIG issue in this tragic story.

In-freaking-credible.

Yeah, a lot of people are idiots.

[Via_Chicago]

I don't get HBO and I don't want to wait for DVD. Damn, I really wish this would get a theatrical release. Four hours bothers me none at all.

[MyHouse!]

Yeah I sat riveted watching it for two hours. Just incredible really.

I was in Tallhasee, a couple of days after it hit. Tallhasee is a straight shot east of NO on I-10 and there were people at the hotel I was staying at, including one guy down the hall that had taken as much as they could and were just living out of the hotel not knowing what they were going to do.

Gas had, predictably, shot up (thanks Bush, etc.) and there were mad people filling their tanks from Louisiana and just getting out of dodge.

All of that stuff came back to me as I watched last night.

[os_mutante]

I got home drunk last night at 2am with my housemates, remembered it was DVR'ed, and we sat there till 4am watching this. It was intense, and I can't imagine what being in the Superdome was like. I remember last year hearing that it was just an absolute hell zone, that there were piles of dead bodies here, piles of crack vials there, human excrement everywhere, babies getting raped... fortunately a lot of this was debunked in the documentary. One of the many, many disturbing things covered last nigh was the plight of those trying to get to other areas, only to be turned away by cops with shotguns. I mean, really, that is just a complete lack of compassion borne from racism. There's no excuse for it at all. I know, easy to point fingers...

[JeremyEritrea]

That poor old woman who went back to her house with Terrence Blanchard was so sad.

I can't even begin to imagine what the people of the Gulf Coast went through last year and are still going through today.

Why haven't we rebuilt this place? Why haven't we fixed the levees? Why have we let one of America's greatest cities just die?

[JeremyEritrea]

How the hell did it take EIGHT MONTHS to find the body of that poor woman's five year old daughter? How the hell do we as a society allow a five year old girl to drown in a flood?

[JeremyEritrea]

Most Relief Money Still Unspent (http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_08_22.html#174900)

WTF??????

[Shaydee]

Just finished watching it and it was so powerful.

[MyHouse!]

Why haven't we rebuilt this place? Why haven't we fixed the levees? Why have we let one of America's greatest cities just die?

We're too busy bringing security and democracy to the peope of Iraq.

[Foosinho]

Good comments, and I'm not surprised. I have not had a chance to watch it yet, but it's sitting on my TiVo and is a high priority.

I went to NOLA this past January on business (nearest major airport to the Navy base in MS I was teaching at), and it was stunning. I don't think I really had an understanding of the volume of destruction until I drove from my hotel near the Superdome east into MS. Miles and miles and miles of complete and total destruction. Every single house looks like - and I do mean every one - looks like those typical shots of a house knocked off it's foundation with high water marks above the windows. Entire suburbs. And in Waveland MS, everything between the railroad line and the ocean was scraped clean off the face of the planet by the storm surge.

It was a remarkable experience, and the only phrase I could come up with that did it any justice was "war zone".

I can't wait to watch this documentary. Spike Lee is often very insightful into race and class issues.

[JeremyEritrea]

I'm going to read a few books after watching this.

http://www.michaelericdyson.com/comehell/images/comehell.gif
http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/0805081305.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V65591873_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400065526.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V52133109_.jpg

There are lots of others, but these seem a pretty good place to start.

I realize that Katrina was one of the biggest disasters to have ever hit the US. However, so was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Dade County, Florida. How long did it take to rebuild the areas south of Miami that were affected by Andrew? Were thousands of "refugees" from that storm living in far-flung cities a year after it hit?

[bmurphyfl]

However, so was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Dade County, Florida. How long did it take to rebuild the areas south of Miami that were affected by Andrew?

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead%2C_Florida), it took 5-10 years for Homestead, FL to recover from Andrew.

[JeremyEritrea]

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead%2C_Florida), it took 5-10 years for Homestead, FL to recover from Andrew.

Yeah, I see this bit on that Wiki entry.

Hurricanes pose a threat to the area, and even know it is not located on the immediate coast, Homestead has been affected by hurricanes before. The only recent strong one was Hurricane Andrew, in 1992, which devastated the town. It took 5 to 10 years for things to recover. Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma brushed by in 2005, but did not pass directly over Homestead.

This page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew) is linked there though, and might have some more specific info (depending on how much you can trust Wiki as a source).

Aftermath

Andrew's catastrophic damage spawned many rumors, including claims that hundreds or even thousands of migrant farm workers in south Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) were killed and their deaths were not reported in official accounts. An investigation by the Miami Herald found no basis for such rumors. These rumors were probably based on the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, when the deaths of migrant workers initially went uncounted, and were still debated at the time of Andrew.

The slow response of federal aid to storm victims in southern Florida led Dade County emergency management director Kate Hale to famously exclaim at a nationally televised news conference, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? They keep saying we're going to get supplies. For God's sake, where are they?" Almost immediately, President George H. W. Bush promised, "Help is on the way," and mobile kitchens and tents began pouring in. [6]

Insurance claims in the wake of the extreme damage left by Andrew led to the bankruptcy and closure of 11 insurance agencies and drained an excessive amount of equity from 30 more. Nearly one million residences were no longer eligible for coverage by any insurance agency. This led the Florida Legislature to create new agencies (the Joint Underwriting Association, the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund) to restore adequate insurance coverage.

Homeowners and officials criticized developers and contractors for inadequate building practices and poor building codes. An inquiry after the storm concluded that there were probably construction flaws in some buildings, and that the state of Florida did enforce some strict building codes since 1986, but they were either overlooked or ignored. [7] However, the evidence was not sufficient enough to issue criminal charges for neglect.[8]

The effects of Hurricane Andrew on Florida wetlands were considerable. In the Florida Everglades, 25% (700,000 acres) of the trees in the everglades were knocked down by the storm. However, new trees and vegetation grew 20 days after the storms passing. Damage to marine life was moderate as the storm increased the turbidity and lowered the oxygen level in the water, threatening many fish and other marine wildlife. In Louisiana, the hurricane knocked down 80 percent of the trees in part of the Atchafalaya River Basin near the coast. In addition, the storm killed 182 million fish in the basin leaving $160 million dollars (1992 USD) in lost value. Offshore, the storm killed 9.4 million fish which left $7.8 million dollars (1992 USD) in lost value, and damaged large area of marshland along the Louisiana coast. [9]

In the decade after the storm, Hurricane Andrew has been credited with the massive and sudden housing boom in Broward County, Florida. Located just north of Miami-Dade County, residence who had lost their homes migrated to western sections of the county that were just starting to be developed. The result was record growth in places like the Miramar, Pembroke Pines and Weston. Two of these three cities have been listed in the top ten Fastest Growing Cities Within The United States within the past fourteen years [1].

I would like to find a source regarding the numbers of evacuees and how long it took them to return to the area to start rebuilding.

[os_mutante]

Saw the second part (acts 3 and 4) last night. Surprise, surprise, insurance doesn't wanna pay up, FEMA lags on giving people trailers, and there's tons of developers looking to buy land. I can't remember which guy said it, but he described the situation and said, "Someone doesn't want those people there, the land will be developed, the area gentrified and you know what? A lot of the nation probably looks at it like, 'Well it's for the better.'"

And the doc ends with another guy saying, "You know what? New Orleans just wouldn't be New Orleans if diverse areas like the Lower 9 ceased to exist."

REALLY well done by Spike Lee. An auteur.

[schafer]

Anybody know if this will be reshown on HBO? I saw part of the first one and missed the rest of the series, unfortunately.

[Foosinho]

Anybody know if this will be reshown on HBO? I saw part of the first one and missed the rest of the series, unfortunately.
I believe all four acts will be rebroadcast tomorrow.

I watched acts I and II yesterday on the TiVo, and it was brilliant. Hopefully it won't take me a week to get to III and IV.