Needing A Bigger Boat, , ,

(Needing A Bigger Boat, , ,)

The best scene from the movie Jaws was when the mechanical shark, "Bruce," breaks the surface as Roy Scheider (Chief Brody) was chumming the water. Stunned, he slowly walks back and informs Robert Shaw (Quint) that "he's gonna need a bigger boat." In the wake of Hurricane Helene, that left most of the Southeast under several feet of water, before that water can dissipate.


A lot of people remember Hurricane Katrina that flooded New Orleans in 2005. Recovery efforts were slow as there was a break-down in communications between the federal and local levels. That is when then President Bush "Brownee. you're doing a hell of a job" referring to then Federal Emergency Managment Director, Michael Brown. Of course, he wasn't. The Republican Administration  of George W. Bush clashed with the Democratic leaders in the Big Easy and it took the Army to finally organize things.


Whereas Katrina affected only New Orleans and the immediate area, Helene's impact has been much more damaging. The Category 4 at landfall, it lost strength as it moved inland and it became less a wind event and more of a water episode. It produced a storm surge of seven feet at Tamp and some twenty feet when it finally came ashore.


Needless to say, Helene has proven more destructive than Katrina but the calls for leadership have not changed. Like George Bush in 2005, so it is Joe Biden's challenge now. And how is he handling this ? People from Florida to Tennessee but especially in North Carolina where there is no power, no water and no food. It will take days if not weeks for the region to recover.


What happens to those efforts if the long-shoreman strike advances ? President Biden says he is "pro-union" so he is. However, if this is not the time to forego politics and do something good for people, this would be the time. That being said, as Biden is still Chief Executive in name only, such perhaps have not occurred to him.


For his part, Donald Trump is touring the affected areas stopping in Georgia. Vice President Harris made a return to the White House for an additional briefing. That being said it will not be the likes of Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris or even the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Recovery will be locally driven. Local churches, hardware stores and mobile kitchens. In time the waters will recede and what emerges will be a community that has a shared experience.

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