Nobody is immune to natural disasters...

[ddeclue]

Those who complain about New Orleans being "below sea level" need to look around in their own neck of the woods for the disaster that is coming their way some day:

New York City - a CAT 2 in the Gulf would equal a CAT4 in Manhattan. Subways would flood and be destroyed. Bridges would be unusable and possibly collapse. People would be trapped in skyscrapers. Lower Manhattan would flood to the second floor or higher. It would be a major disaster and it is in fact over due. The last time it happened was in 1938 and over the last 1000 years it has happened on average every 70 years.

The Hudson River estuary and Long Island would serve to magnify the storm surge.

Tampa/St. Pete - also very low lying a hurricane into Tampa bay would cause widespread flooding by trapped storm surge.

Washington DC - another example if a hurricane came up the Potomac, much of Washington D.C. is reclaimed swamps also.

Miami/Biscayne Bay - another example.

Houston, Galveston, Charleston, and Mobile are also vulnerable.

And should we not abandon San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco because they are vulnerable to no notice earthquakes and wildfires? We at least get 2 to 3 days warning for a hurricane.

Disasters can happen anywhere - ask Iowa.

In the plains states they have tornadoes and blizzards.

In the northeast they have blizzards and heat waves.

In the far west they have earthquakes and wildfires.

In the northwest they have earthquakes and volcanoes.

In the South we have wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes.

We need to treat disaster preparednes with due respect. Natural disasters are far more likely and therefore more dangerous than terrorism yet we've largely ignored them since the beginning of the Bush administration and focused instead on Tom Clancy-esque terrorism which is unlikely to happen.

Every American should take classes in First Aid and emergency preparedness from the Red Cross.

The government ought to do more to build infrastructure protection where needed.

The government ought to return our National Guard to the home front where it belongs so that it can be effective in these disasters.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Chovexani]

1. K&R for the "let them eat swamp" crowd

[ddeclue]

4. The weather channel actually did a special on what if NYC was hit by a hurricane.

It would be pretty devastating and nobody up there has any clue what they are supposed to do anyways.

On top of everything the storm would come at them at 45 miles per hour forward speed and go from Cape Hatteras NC to NYC in about 6 to 8 hours - not enough time to evacuate Manhattan.

This is the kind of stuff we are simply not prepared to handle in this country.

Doug D.

[Chovexani]

5. I'm a New Yorker and remember that special

I also remember after Katrina, there were hurricane preparedness drills and roleplaying scenarios run here by officials. And a lot of people kind of went WTF and laughed them off. I live on a coastal evacuation route about 30 minutes from Coney Island so I have thought about what could happen.

I think a lot of the problem is there are a lot of people here either too young to remember Gloria or who aren't natives. Complacency is our biggest problem.

[undeterred]

2. In Wisconsin we had a lake disappear in June

and all the homes on the edge of it went into it. At least 32 counties were declared disaster areas because of the flooding.

[ddeclue]

3. Why didn't Nancy Grace cover this story?

She's Nancy on the spot whenever there's been a mysterious disappearance in the last few years...

Oh wait I forgot, the lake isn't a blonde white damsel in distress...

Doug D.