NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina, Stella Chambers' modest red-brick house had finally been repaired, and she was waiting for one last utility hookup to move back in. But the 85-year-old woman never made it.
A tornado tore through her neighborhood in the city's Gentilly neighborhood before daybreak Tuesday, flattening her house, ripping apart the front-yard FEMA trailer in which she was living, and killing her.
At least 29 people were injured, including Chambers' daughter, Gail, as the twister heaped more misery on neighborhoods still trying to recover from Katrina. The storm destroyed at least 50 FEMA trailers and dozens of homes, and damaged many others -- many of which were in various states of repair. (Watch witnesses describe how area will cope with latest setback )
"We were trying to get my mother back in the house. Now there is nothing to repair," said Mervin Pollard, whose 81-year-old mother's Katrina-flooded home was reduced to a pile of lumber Tuesday. "How do you start over again when you are already trying to do that?"
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/02/13/new.orleans.tornado.ap/index.htmlHow surprising (not) that a predominately white town of good living middle class Christians is the settin for such photo ops. Had that tornado struck a school in New Orleans, the chocolate city, and caused such devastation and killed students, would there be all this fuss? Or would the right be carrying on about how the dark skinned leaders should have done better for the citizens. Would there still be the party influences, do democrats deserve the same attention? Had the trailers damaged been fema trailers, would the town get the attention?
Some interesting statistics.
Enterprise Alabama
Median resident age: 36.9 years
Median household income: $37,661 (year 2000)
Median house value: $83,400 (year 2000)
Races in Enterprise:
White Non-Hispanic (69.4%)
Black (23.0%)
Hispanic (3.9%)
Two or more races (1.9%)
Other race (1.3%)
American Indian (1.0%)
Korean (0.8%)
New Orleans LA
Median resident age: 33.1 years
Median household income: $27,133 (year 2000)
Median house value: $87,300 (year 2000)
Races in New Orleans:
Black (67.3%)
White Non-Hispanic (26.6%)
Hispanic (3.1%)
Vietnamese (1.5%)
Two or more races (1.3%)
Other race (0.9%)
American Indian (0.5%)
But does politics have anything to do with the visit?
Robert Terry Everett (born February 15, 1937) is an American politician, who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing the 2nd Congressional District of Alabama. This district includes the entire southeastern portion of the state, including Dothan, Enterprise and part of Montgomery.
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Everett was reelected with 73 percent of the vote in the 1994 Republican wave and has not faced serious opposition since then.Everett and his wife, the former Barbara Pitts, makes their home in Enterprise, Alabama. They are members of the Baptist Church.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_EverettIronically enough, the president did visit Katrina communities and acknowledges that the federal government has a responsibility to the Katrina survivors and that WORK IS STILL NEEDED:
The job of the federal government has been to help. And I made a pledge early on in the process that I would work with the United States Congress, members of both political parties, to get some healthy checks written. And it's important for the check writers, the taxpayers of the United States,to know that progress is being made with their money, and that the peopleof Mississippi appreciate the fact that the country came to help when they needed help. It's a neighborly thing to do. And secondly, I fully understand there's still work to be done, thateven though progress has been made, this storm was so devastating that we have still got to stay focused on the task, and that we've got to work withthe Governor and the local officials, the supervisors and the mayors, to continue to help address their needs.
I just don't remember so much attention on the Gentilly (NOLA) community after the Feb 14, 2007, storms. Do you have the images of * visit after that tragedy, as he viewed the damaged fema trailers and consoled Ms Chambers' family? I guess I could have overlooked that photo op, maybe he did visit it when he was there surveying the Katrina efforts on the same day as the Enterprise storm. Heck, no need to declare Gentilly a disaster zone, it still is considered that after Katrina. It's only been 18 months and I bet there are plenty of stock piled fema trailers available to replace the 50 damaged in the Valentine's Day storm. Those people affected are used to dealing with the stress of destruction. They don't need anyone's concern. They just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and move on.
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