This article first appeared at ProPublica, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the Advocate. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Perhaps their Congressman is part of the problem?
The sad part about this whole thing is simply geography. Much of this land is below sea level anyway and the reclamation efforts have not been as successful as they might be in, say, the Netherlands. With climate change raising water levels, this problem will only get worse with each successive storm.
It may be time to consider, rather than re-building, re-constructing the geography and relocating the residents to higher ground.
At the same time, disaster recovery is not something the US does well. That needs general re-construction as well, but with two warring factions in Congress, it won’t get done any time soon.
Consider: It took just 15 days for Congress to appropriate long-term aid intended for victims after Hurricane Harvey; it took 26 times as long for the federal government to agree on an aid package that included Laura.
And of course, it always comes down to the local economics. Poor people don’t have the tools to force equal treatment under the law or even the regulations.
Southwest Louisiana’s congressman, Clay Higgins, a far-right Trump supporter, faced accusations of failing to do enough to have the money approved, particularly after he didn’t show up for Biden’s visit to Lake Charles in May 2021. He has defended his record.
And this is where a little victim-blaming comes into play - how does he get re-elected when he does nothing to help his constituency and defends the indefensible? I’m remembering back a few years ago, as we all do, when Texas and the Gulf coast got hit with storms and relief was almost immediate, but the damage to NJ, NY and CT from a similar epic storm was delayed weeks because the same southern folks didn’t want to help. This shouldn’t be a yes/no issue. It should just get done.
Many others ended up leaving the city entirely.
Certain areas will eventually be deemed as unlivable because the costs of restoration and the probability of new damage in the future will simply be too great. It’s just like river flooding. At some point, realistically, the land just isn’t usable and needs to be returned to the water.
It does sound, though, as if there should be a budget item or a fund. But of course if you did that you’d have to acknowledge the kind of ongoing large expense that “natural” disasters entail, and that’s a discussion the people who privatize the profits don’t want to have.
Yes, their Congresscritter is part of the problem. It would be entirely consistent with GOP values for him to vote against the bill that provided the funding (in fact, I’d be mildly surprised to learn that he had voted for the bill) and then come home crowing about and getting credit for bringing home the bacon.
Have I mentioned how much these people (GQP congresscritters, though voters who continue to send them to the Capitol need their heads examined, too) disgust me?
More correctly, the land’s best use is agriculture, or parkland, or greenspace, or anything that isn’t built-up.
Don’t forget the potential for fraud in the process of awarding and adminstering CDBGs and downright ineptness. Think about how HUD has been run, particularly in the last, TFG administration ( Ben Carason? – wasn’t he the guy who used HUD money to buy fancy walnut dining table furniture for his offices in D.C.? What a doofus.)
It’s one of the reasons every good government has to issue warnings like this:
Had Hurricane Laura hit another major city with more congressional support… I think things would have been very different
Try electing Democrats.
Their Congressman didn’t run on his ability to help the folks in his district when disaster hits. I’m sure he ran on social issues. But then more importantly since he represents an area in the country where storm damage is just one storm away from wiping the district out, does he have someone on his staff that knows how to get what his constituents need? Or just he only hire mean tweeters?
Imagine a world of bipartisanship. It shouldn’t take a disaster for it to happen.
“The Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, includes a provision for funding the block grants. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, is among the co-sponsors.
Graves, the Louisiana congressman, has offered his own proposal, co-sponsored with U.S. Delegate Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands. He, too, wants a pre-authorized set of disaster funds to be available, but favors having FEMA handle it rather than using the current block grant system.”
Disaster capitalism. The rich make bank. The middle class and poor lose out.
Article buries the lede.
Rep. Clay Higgins (Louisiana 3rd District)
Before being elected to Congress, Clay Higgins was apparently a “YouTube star” known as “Cajun John Wayne,” a distinction he earned by making bad, useless videos for the local Sheriff’s department that encouraged wanted criminals to turn themselves in. According to Salon, Higgins was inspired by another reality TV celebrity, Donald Trump, to parlay his name recognition to political office after he was forced to resign from the Sheriff’s office due to backlash from one of his videos. And here we are today, doomed.Higgins’ campaign mirrored Trump in almost every way, in both and lack of substance. His campaign website is a spectacular example of this: “I am not a politician. I don’t have to form a committee to know my opinion on something. I don’t need a focus group to tell me how I feel or what I believe. I speak my mind,” he writes.
He goes on to list his platform, noting he’s aligned with Trump’s xenophobic, anti-immigration rhetoric, which he calls an “educated opinion from the perspective of a successful American businessman who loves his country and does not intend to quietly see it destroyed by career politicians, weak policy and political correctness.”
Indeed, Higgins is anti-abortion and has compared women choosing to terminate their pregnancy to the Holocaust. He also appears to be against any regulations on guns. “The modern hysteria over guns is another example of our weakened society,” Higgins writes. “Guns weren’t really regulated at all prior to the 60s in America. Throughout our history, prior to just 50 years ago, a child could purchase a gun from any seller, if daddy sent him with the money. Prior to just 50 years ago, a child could purchase a gun from any seller, if daddy sent him with the money.”
Additionally, he vows to “protect marriage” and writes, “I define marriage Biblically, as between one man and one woman. That being said, I do not believe that love can be statutorily defined and I support every Americans right to pursue happiness as they see fit regarding the choice of whom they love. I have one very good gay friend, he lives in Nevada. If he decides to get married, within the legal parameters of his State, and if he invites me to the wedding, I’ll attend if I am able. However… although I support the individuals freedom to marry… I also support a States right to regulate marriage and its definition according to the will of the people of that state. Further, I stand opposed to any state or federal mandate that requires an American citizen to betray their own moral fabric and be forced to participate in any endeavor or ceremony which is inconsistent with their religious convictions. Non-Traditional marriage is both an individual’s rights issue and a States rights issue. I stand firmly rooted in my Constitutionally sound position on both.”
When you elect the Cajun Trump to represent you, don’t be surprised if you get the Cajun Trump level of competence.
In my big backyard, we have a success story, and it took 10 years to get it “off the ground.”
10 years later:
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/quileute-tribe-opens-k-12-school-on-higher-ground
I stitched a little depression sampler that read:
Beggars make rags,
Rags make paper,
Paper makes money,
Money makes bankers,
Bankers make beggars.
ETA: BTW, MIT did a little model a few years ago on “end-of-times capitalism.” The model predicted the end of modern capitalism in 2040. Only 18 years to go. I might even be living then… Sounds pretty “depressing.”
Capitalism like cancer is predicated on unlimited growth.
Either humanity is cured of Capitalism or it dies.
Maybe the governor of La should send these people to Florida, Ron DeSantis seems to think that is a great way to solve some problems.
As as long retired USPS clerk one of the main problems in Government is the idiots who can only speak and think in Governmentese.
Having to deal with these jerks from Postal management and other Federal agencies made you understand why we have problems stated in this post.
Original thought is outlawed.
Working around regulations solved many problems in less then 5 minutes saved our customers waiting 3 weeks or more.
All this right wing crap about “privatiation” is just another word for fascism. Now we can see that, ya?
Puerto Rico is suffering a hurricane right now as I type this…
Neo-Capitalism proudly operating their corruption.