With the weatherman predicting a great Labor Day weekend, we hope that all of our readers will have a chance to make the most of the final weekend of the summer season.
The Summer of ‘25 overall has been just the way we like it — hot and humid — with just enough rainfall (until recently) that our gardens did very well. This has been a banner year for vegetables and flowers of all types — we have had more tomatoes than we know what to do with.
This summer also has been an unusually calm one. We belong to a rowing club on the South Shore that ventures a couple of miles out into the ocean as far as Minot’s Light (our readers who are boaters no doubt are familiar with it, as are those who have taken the ferry to Provincetown, which passes close to it) and we experienced many “flat water” days — great for rowing, though not so much for the surfers and sailors (until the past week when Hurricane Erin sent wind and waves along our shoreline from hundreds of miles away).
The weekends were generally sunny (after a rainy start), providing us with plenty of perfect summer days that created memories that will last a lifetime for our friends, families, and ourselves.
The promise of a dry and sunny Labor Day weekend gives us one final opportunity to enjoy a last taste of summer.
However, as always, we urge our readers to do so safely, not only for ourselves, but also for our family members, friends, and loved ones, whether we are on land or on the water.
None of us wants to be a tragic statistic, and that means making sure that both we ourselves and those around us do not overindulge in alcohol. Yes, accidents do happen, even under the best of circumstances, but generally speaking, no one ever becomes a victim by being sober. It’s when “a couple of beers” become four or more that the chances for a tragedy increase exponentially.
We wish all of our readers a happy — and safe — Labor Day weekend.
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and devastated the city of New Orleans.
It was a disaster in which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
We vividly recall watching the TV news reports of the levees giving way not only during the hurricane itself, but in the ensuing days, flooding entire neighborhoods within minutes — forcing residents to clamber onto their rooftops to avoid being trapped in their homes — because the vaunted Army Corps of Engineers, which had built the levee system around New Orleans, had completely failed in its design of the levee system.
We remember then-President George W. Bush when he proclaimed, “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job,” referring to then-FEMA Director Michael Brown. However, as FEMA’s total mismanagement of the disaster unfolded over the ensuing two weeks, it became apparent that “Brownie” was a clueless and incompetent political appointee who ignominiously resigned 10 days later.
We vividly recall the nightmare that was the Louisiana Superdome, where tens of thousands of residents turned for shelter, but which became a veritable hellhole for poor people who had nowhere else to go.
The death toll from Katrina tallied 1,392 persons and it is now estimated to have caused $190 billion in damage, far beyond the original figure of $125 billion.
Eighty percent of New Orleans, as well as large areas in neighboring parishes, were flooded. To this day, large sections of the neighborhoods that were flooded remain abandoned and tens of thousands of residents who lost their homes, many of whom did not have flood insurance, have never returned. The population of New Oeleans was about 500,000 before Katrina, but is only about 370,000 now — a decline of about 25%.
With climate change promising to bring us ever more-devastating natural disasters, the lessons of Katrina lead us to make three observations:
The first is that we are completely at the mercy of Mother Nature. We need to realize that climate change is happening now — and that things are only going to get worse in the years ahead.
The second is that when local authorities tell us we need to evacuate, we should do so. Most of those who died in Katrina (as well as in most other natural disasters) had refused to leave and they paid with their lives.
And the third is that each of us needs to devise an exit and recovery plan for ourselves and our loved ones. If our home is destroyed, what will we do and where will we go?
Hurricane Katrina proved to be an apocalyptic event for those who lived along the Louisiana coast. Twenty years later, It serves as a warning that each of us needs to be prepared for the inevitable disasters that climate change will bring in the years ahead.