Images of Disaster

I rarely, if ever, watch Sean Hannity on TV (I can't take the constant lists), but last night I happened upon his program from the site of the floods in Louisiana.  It was an amazing display of the power of television.  There was video of street after street of homes which had their contents piled on their front lawns.  This was the first step in the clean up after the flooding (which isn't yet completely over).  The images brought me back to things I had seen in similar situations while I was in the National Guard.  When an area gets flooded, the waters carry filth, disease, and vermin into the homes.  Almost anything that gets dunked into the water has to be thrown away.  There is just no way to rescue furniture, carpets, clothing, food, appliances, toys, or anything else.  Wood floors swell from all the water, buckle and weaken; there is a constant danger that these floors will fail if too much weight is placed upon them.  Walls get soaked with the toxic brew and also have to be torn out.  The truth is that if you have not lived through such a disaster, it is difficult to comprehend just how terrible a flood can be.

Most of the media has paid little attention to the Louisiana disaster.  In fact, the biggest media focus has been Donald Trump's visit to the area instead of the needs of the people there.  The victims will have problems for years due to this mess.  We ought not forget them.  It's time for us all to step up and contribute what we can to disaster relief for Louisiana.