A day after Hurricane Wilma struck, leaving at least six dead, power had been restored to several hundred thousand households and businesses by Tuesday evening. But 3.1 million still had no electricity, including about 93 percent of customers in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Eleven other counties also reported power failures, many of them widespread. Officials at Florida Power and Light said some customers might have to wait four weeks.
Wow, 48 hours after a hurricane and no power in the state? Such a travesty!!! Hang em all!!
Have we become a society so used to immediate gratification of every need, that any delay, no matter how reasonable under the circumstances warrants incredulity by the press? Hurrican Wilma body slams Florida on Monday. On Tuesday, some power has been resotred!! That is pretty damn fast work and I am impressed.
Of course, the Grey Lady couldn't help but start to play the class card:
In Miami-Dade County, where only 6 of 11 ice and water stations opened around the promised time of 2 p.m., Mayor Carlos Alvarez promised that the rest would open by day's end and said that all things considered, the delay was not bad.
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Across the state in Naples, just north of where the hurricane made landfall early Monday, ice and water distribution appeared to be going more smoothly. At one station, members of several National Guard units were operating with assembly line precision. By 9 a.m., hundreds of cars, from Mercedes Benzes to jalopies, had lined up on a road leading into the parking lot of Barron Collier High School.
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The storm clogged the streets of Naples, one of the wealthiest cities in the country, with fallen shrubs and trees. But even as the wind was dying down Monday afternoon, yellow frontloaders were pushing and shoving and lifting away debris, and by Tuesday afternoon the main streets and most residential byways were clear.
No mention is made of the fact that the people in Naples knew sometime on Thursday or Friday of last week that they were going to hit and, I don't know, made preparations. I am not surprised that Naples was prepared, the rich people spent money to make sure they were prepared--why is that such a bad thing? I just seems to me that if you prepare for the worst and the worst happens, you can respond better. If you don't prepare and the worst happens, response time slows down.
Aside from money, there is the issue of scope. Naples is a relatively small city, Miami is something on the order to ten times larger, the larger the city, the bigger the logisltical headaches.
Florida has a long history with hurricanes and is making pretty good headway in response to Wilma. As a nation, we have learned much in this hurricane season, hopefully people will learn patience along with perseverance.
Linked to the OTB Traffic Jam, the Political Teen, and Jo's Cafe
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