Cape Karen
So far, so good - the new storms are staying away from our vulnerable coastlines. With the hurricane season still in effect, I shudder to think of what could happen if we were hit again right now with a category 4 or 5 storm. We will be hit again, but hopefully, not like we have just seen along the lower south.
I've been doing a lot of Googling on the subject of global warming, and have learned a great deal. The only reports negating the subject come from "business news" sources. (Of course!) The scientific communities all agree that we are seeing increasingly warm oceans and rapidly melting glacial areas, esp. in the western Antartic.
Since our president told the EPA to take all reports of global warming's negative effects off of their website, we sure won't see any truth from that sector of our government. (The truth - from our government - what a joke. And, how sad is that?!)
It is the little things I see during the rescue efforts that bother me the most. The simplest things.
For instance; yesterday, they showed a rescue helicopter sending down a rescuer to find a man trapped inside a huge grocery store. The helicopter hovered above the building as the rescuer dangled from the cable, seeking a way into the closed building.
He crawled around on the roof a bit, he swung over various parts of the building with its boarded-up windows and closed doors. Finally, he was lowered to the point where he could knock on the double-steel back door. No response.
My thoughts as I watched? Why didn't he have a bullhorn to call out to the man inside and let him know they were there, trying to reach him? A simple bullhorn could have easily announced their arrival. Actually, bullhorns could be very useful in trying to communicate with other people still trapped somewhere in their homes, if only they would use them.
Have we become so dependant on wireless phones, cell phones and computers that 'go down' in such circumstances, that the "old-fashioned" methods have been forgotten? I have four oil lamps, five bottles of lamp oil and lots of batteries for my portable radio and my flashlights.
I think I'll hang on to them. More storms are coming.
Posted by Karen at September 6, 2005 10:36 AM