Isaac vs Katrina: A different review
Firstly, thanks to all those who have contacted me over the last days asking if my family and friends are doing well. Thank you and so far all are fine.As most of you probably know now the city and the $14B of work which went into the repairs after Katrina have held well but others outside of the "system" did not fair as well. Our thoughts go out to those who lost family or their belongings.What I have foud interesting this last week compared to 7 years ago is the way I got information and the kind of information. Now, the storms and the aftermaths cannot be compared but the methods used can. In 2005 when Katrina hit as this time, it was not the initial storm which caused the problems but the chain of events it set into motion. I could not stand to watch the live updates, mostly on CNN as they were too gruesome and when unfiltered they were too much for me to handle so I went to the web. There I found http://www.nola.com/ to be a great source of "local" information. Remember most of the local TV stations were off the air either due to the water or the loss of electricity. But NOLA was up for most all of the storm and people would post items for others to find regarding specific areas of the city.This time, I had totally forgotten of NOLA.com until talking to my sister just yesterday as we compared our experiences. This time, the TV stations were much better prepared but still often just chasing the storm and the "stories" they wanted to show everyone. But in the 7 years since Katrina social media had arrived. Twitter did not exist in 2005 and Facebook opened their doors to the public a year after and MySpace was about to surpass Google in the most visits. Remember those days?So here we are in 2012 and MySpace while still there, well, who uses them? Facebook is the biggest game on the block and Twitter the "newsfeed". I was following #Isaac and watching the updates on WWLTV on Facebook while watching the live feed on my tablet from WDSU TV. I felt connected and informed. Guess that is a good thing. While talking to my sister she brought up the problem some of these sites have is any kind of structure. Those tweets and posts have a very short shelf life and quickly dissappear into the network. We were looking for specific information on a neighborhood where our mother lives and that was impossible to find. So, back to NOLA.NOLA is just a 'homepage' in the old sense with the additional 'forum' features one knows since the bulletin board days. There is a structure by neighborhoods and other subjects where one can easily find the information they are looking for. Good thing not everything has moved to a Facebook app.So, how is the city doing? Just as seven years ago it is not the initial storm which causes the hardship. This time it is the electrical grid which went out Tuesday for most of the city and up to 900,000 people. Today is Friday. It is hot and humid in the city. I listen to people calling in to WWL radio saying how they are hungry and have eaten everything in their house already. Without electricity the stores will not reopen. No new food. No ice to cool the water they drink. Entergy is promising quick resolution for many of those effected. Let's hope so. They have a great web site http://viewoutage.entergy.com/nola.aspx where you can see street for street the state of the grid. Here is a picture from midday Friday of the city.
