Monday, November 07, 2005

Okay, Now I understand

I've got it. I understand the problem. When an American city floods, everyone should come to help. The Fed should build levees, everyone in the nation should drop what they are doing to be a part of the recovery effort.

Sounds reasonable to me. Until you understand that I've been flooded out three times. 1981, 1987, and 1991. A little country lane in southern Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana is prone to flooding. It is in a low area, crossed by a bayou and sloughs. About forty families live there. We know the risk.

The first time I was there was 1981 when the area experienced unseasonably heavy rains. The water supply for Natchitoches is Sibley lake and the lake was in danger of breaching the spillway, so the Mayor ordered the floodgates opened. Natchitoches was saved, but almost 100 square miles of the parish were flooded. I had to evacuate my house and we couldn't return for three days. Then we moved back in and cleaned up.

The second time was in 1987. The Fed had built I-49, which was basically a large levee across the southern part of Natchitoches Parish. We got unseasonably heavy rains again, and guess what? The interstate held the water. We were screwed again. FEMA? Ha! Flood assistance? You must be high! Oh yeah, that infrastructure was really great. It held water like a sunuvabitch.

1991, same deal. Flooded three times in twelve years, we moved back in, cleaned up, and continued our lives. The folks that wanted to live there, lived there. Those that didn't moved on. The Fed did finally come and put a couple of culverts in so the water would drain. We really appreciated that.

While I am being righteously indignant, don't get me started on the poor folks who live on Black Lake, near Campti, LA. Black Lake drains into the Red River, which is one huge infrastructure debacle. The Corps of Engineers had to raise the pool stage of the Red River so that it could be navigable. Now, anytime the Black Lake area gets unseasonably high rains, the water has no place to drain and the houses along the lake flood. But those are just country folks. They aren't worthy of assistance.

If you live on Bayou Derbonne, in southern Natchitoches Parish, you know the dangers and the risk. Property value is stagnant. You are in danger of flooding. Of course, the people who live on Bayou Derbonne aren't really people. They're country folks. Amish-type. It's just farmland and small holdings. Not really worthy of assistance. At one point I had my property on the market for eighteen months without a single bite. Not one. We lived in a floodplain.

If you live in New Orleans, that's different. Sophisticated city types that understand concepts of leverage and the time value of money. Simple country bumkins couldn't begin to understand the sophistication. So, when they flood, we should all come to their rescue. When Bayou Derbonne floods, fuck 'em. I appreciate it.

Thanks a lot.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pawpaw, the flood problems of 40 families doesn't affect the "general Welfare of the United States." The flood problems of 40,000 families does.

Pawpaw said...

I would ask, then, what is the magic number? If 40 families don't count, yet 40,000 families do count, where is the cutoff point? At 400? 4,000, or some magic number larger than that.

I need to know so that I can move to a community that large, so that when it all turns to shit, I can whine and moan and expect other peoples money to pay for my bad choices.

Does anyone but me not see the basic injustice here?

Rachel said...

I see your point and I agree. If it's like that for one it should be like that for everyone, no matter how large or small the community.

Building a city below sea level and in a hurricane prone area with levees that weren't up to par....well, it was just a matter of time. I think when you live in those areas you have to know that you run the risk, just like you living in an area that is in a flood plain. You know the risk and you prepare for it and you know that it could happen again. When it does you go back in and clean up and resume life. People in NOLA were definitly not prepared.

Anonymous said...

>I would ask, then, what is the magic number?

Ask FEMA. When a tornado almost destroyed the town of Olla, Louisiana, FEMA said there wasn't enough people affected to receive FEMA aid. Olla got zilch.

oyster said...

There's no magic number. Federal help depends in large part in getting declared a disaster area. Here's an interesting list of all the declared areas since June 2.

(I seem to recall New Jersey experiencing severe flooding during this period, yet they aren't on the list. It appears they will get screwed in terms of federal assistance-- perhaps similar to the area of localized flooding you experienced.)

more later...

oyster said...

Now, recent events have enhanced my understanding of floods. I am very sorry for your losses in recent years, and can surely relate. I would never tell someone in such a circumstance to "F*ck off", and I've no doubt that there is a lack of fairness among responses to various catastrophes.

But in the case of New Orleans and South Louisiana, you don't have to put a human number on it. Forget me, and forget the people in your state for a moment. Rebuilding is the best investment purely in terms of brute economics (i.e.,
the oil and natural gas infrastructure, the seafood industry, the ports, the military bases...). All of these assets greatly serve the entire country, and are worth protecting. The cost of rebuilding these things elsewhere would be far, far more expensive.

Finally, I presume your concluding remarks are a reference to comments I made in response to a previous post. I disagreed with the following statement you made "There is no sense paying someone to do something you can do for yourself." I still disagree with it; sometimes it makes a whole lot of sense (and cents) to do so. I still maintain that leverage is an important financial concept. I contrasted that with the less (financially) sophisticated concept of "doing everything yourself"-- like the Amish do. [Actually, they don't do everything individually, they work as a community; but I suppose I was saying that they do too many things they don't have to do.] My relatives are from Amish country in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, and while I admire many things about those people, I do not think they provide a great business model for the 21st Century. For the most part, they're stuck in place, and they like it that way.

But do not take my comments to mean that country folk are necessarily unsophisticated, or that city-folk are necessarily the reverse. I was born in a small town in Indiana, and some of the best, most cutting-edge businesspeople work in that town. Cummins Engine is just one example. One of the most sophisticated bankers I ever met was a Hoosier from a small town. Some of the best advice I ever got about real estate came from a rancher in Texas. (Among other things, he told me: "I see what's supposed to be there.") My philosophical mentor, a universtiy professor was also a rancher. As I'm sure you're aware, many of today's farmers are immensely knowledgable in a wide array of scientific disciplines. Huey Long was one of the most sophisticated political minds of the 20th century. The New Orleans political machine he crushed seems barbaric in comparison. LBJ was also strategically sophisticated. So was Karl Rove (he grew up in Utah, and Texas)... and on and on.

In this stage of my life I like the city. However, I never would want to underestimate the sophistication of country folk.