New Orleans        Western North Carolina never expected the aftermath of a hurricane was going to wreak havoc throughout their region and its communities.  The night the waters were rising as the rain continued to fall, I was talking a to woman who was the station manager of a small, low-power station in Ashville.  We were in New Orleans, where we know something about hurricanes, and the devastation they bring.  I wondered about that conversation subsequently.  There’s no way she could have imagined what she might be facing when she returned home, and the challenges of running a radio station dedicated to arts and culture in the middle of a natural disaster.

She wouldn’t be alone.  Now that months have gone by, I can follow friends on Facebook and elsewhere, who are maintaining.  Many are back in their homes with telephone and internet service again.  Their comments are not only about the storm now, but almost back to normal, even if that’s not really the situation in much of this area of North Carolina.

One of the things we learned from Katrina, partially by visiting Japan and seeing how that country had dealt with disasters, like earthquakes and fires, was quick relief was vital, especially for lower income residents.  In Japan, the Diet almost immediately appropriated $3 billion and directed it primarily to lower income residents and their housing.  In Katrina, the slowness of the Republican Congress and President George W. Bush in finally appropriating the money, months later, and then the slow rollout in the New Orleans area continues to have a crippling residual impact.

Surely, they had learned this lesson in North Carolina, I hoped.  I was wrong.  The deeply partisan Republican-majority legislature in North Carolina seems to be spending too much time and energy trying to hold on to their power and prerogatives before putting people first, especially since the governor is a Democrat, as is the next recently elected governor.  Indeed, the recent elections also eliminated their single vote majority, so these efforts to hobble the voter’s will was their last waltz.  In a bill pretending to be about hurricane recovery, the legislature rejected the over $3 billion proposed by the governor.  In fact, they approved about $250 million in principle, but it practices other bills would have to be passed in the future to actually appropriate even that money. Worse, they larded the bill with “take it or leave it” attempts to reduce the power of the next governor as well.  The governor of course vetoed the bill, and the Republicans can’t lose a single vote, if they are able to override, even though three of their majority didn’t vote for the original bill because it didn’t provide real relief.

One of the lamest rationalizations by one Republican member offered the fig leaf for their action, saying they were waiting to see what the federal government did first, before they put up state money.   That hasn’t happened, of course.  There have been other things on Congresses mind, like getting re-elected and the presidential race.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.  Smaller businesses won’t be able to survive.  People won’t be able to come home.  When, and if, the money finally comes, western North Carolina will face the same dilemma that continues to constrain New Orleans almost twenty years after Katrina, which is how to bring back the people and businesses lost.  New Orleans is still 80,000 short at least.  Things may look better, but the change has been permanent.  While politicians play games for partisan advantage in North Carolina, the western region of the state will potentially pay the price for decades, perhaps forever.

Why can’t we learn to prepare for climate disaster, and to react quickly when it comes?