I had amazing stories from callers to my KMOX show this afternoon who were still heading north after evacuating the gulf coast.
One woman, Joanna, told how her life in New Orleans is over because everything she had was destroyed, and explained why so many people couldn’t get out of town — too much poverty, not enough options for how to leave. I asked her if the local government should have provided evacuation transportation for the poor and non-mobile, but she replied that she doubted there was any way to handle the huge volume of people who fit those categories.
Meanwhile, there’s a dearth of media and information in Biloxi. Inside Radio reports that all the radio stations were knocked off the air by Katrina, and one of the TV stations had its roof blown off and studios filled with water.
As for New Orleans, Jeff Jarvis asks:
Having visited the city often in my last job, I was always struck by its poverty and its lack of a workable economy. Tourism is pretty much the only industry. The food is great. The attitude is fun. But big companies had left. And… Does it make sense to rebuild homes and offices in a place that can be destroyed all too easily, putting thousands of lives at risk? Is that the right thing to do?