I’ve been so busy that I haven’t seen anything other that a shot here or there of cars strewn on the highways around Houston. Because I only saw the images and didn’t really have the mental bandwidth to actually have the volume turned up, I was wondering what was going on. I’m finally catching up, but assuming that most of you knew about the shortages and whatnot, I’ll skip to TNR’s article on the implications of the events in and around Houston. Good read, and I’ll let it stand on it’s own, but I do want to point out something that caught my eye:

Rita caused such panic it may come to be known as the Second Runaway Scrape, eerily like when Texans fled across the landscape in 1836, in advance of the Mexican army. Then, Texans battled Indians, cold, rain, and hunger. This time, the town of Sealy, 24 miles from Houston, looked like it was ravaged by riot: stores shuttered, gas pumps empty, garbage everywhere, desperation on drivers’ faces as they ran low on fuel under the scowl of the cops. “If it hadn’t been for Katrina, maybe I wouldn’t have been so concerned,” says Susan Clark, who with her husband Adam had fled Houston, only to make it 15 miles. “People in New York might say, ‘Take the trains,’ but we don’t have that here. I was having a fucking anxiety attack.

In the context of a hurricane, not sure the trains thing is really relevant (how many people could really evacuate this way?). The thing is, within the greater culture of America and in diverse issues such as obesity and energy policy and commerce, I think that more local light rail and subway/trolley systems are a very good idea.

When I lived in Boston, I was healthier. Not because I ate better or went to the gym more, but because I walked a LOT more. I walked to work on nice days, I walked to get groceries. I walked to have dinner or to meet friends. If friends lived far away, I took the T or the light rail out and had them pick me up. Short drives instead of long ones on the highway.

I used way less fuel because I didn’t need to drive. I actually didn’t own a car, but I realize that’s because I was in a special situation (truly urban living is different than neighborhood suburban living, for sure). It’s interesting to see that some communities are starting to see this, though. Atrios pointed out an interesting light rail development around Denver, I think. Denver, by the way, used to have ZipCar. I think they’re working on the right type of development and Atrios’s comment about reducing vs. eliminating cars is spot on.

I would totally love a way to take rail to ESPN, but the problem with a big sprawling campus is that they really need to be away from urban centers. But Hartford, man, Hartford could use a hub-and-spoke development strategy with light rail running out to the major suburbs. No one lives in the city, and it’s all cars over interstates and local highways.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune runs a followup on the stories of rapes and violence in the convention center and the Superdome. It’s an interesting read. The good news is that most of the stories seem exaggerated or at least the product of communications that mirrored the “telephone game” rather than first hand journalism.

MSNBC’s Brian Williams has more on his blog.

The National Hurricane Center offers their advisories via RSS feeds if you want to track the storm news. I suspect that this will be very helpful to folks who want to track storm warnings. It’s probably of limited use to residents in places that get hurricanes often, but particular storms might be interesting to have in a desktop aggregator (perhaps a Konfabulator or Dashboard widget?) in case you want to keep abreast of the storm track without having to constantly check the NHC web site.

If you’re interested in these sorts of things, NPR’s All Things Considered put together a long timeline of the events leading to and following the landfall of hurricane Katrina. Atrios has links up to the transcripts and information. NPR , of course, has audio of Part 1 and Part 2. They go through most of the local and federal efforts and detail several different things I, quite frankly, didn’t know. I’ll have more on this later this weekend.

I’m already tired of the blame game. Fact is that no one looks good in the preparations going into Katrina. I just think it’s silly to focus on satellite photos of school buses or funding cuts for levee repair right now. The focus (and any criticism) should be focused on saving lives and getting supplies in. We need a dispassionate appraisal of what everyone could’ve done better later. Not now.

Please, if you haven’t donated to the Red Cross or other relief agencies, consider doing so. I’ve been working so hard that I’ve had little time to read the news beyond what I hear in the background on CNN while at work. Today, I had a chance to take a long break and read news stories and reports from CNN and other news sources. The stories coming out of New Orleans are heartbreaking. Dead bodies lying in the streets, looting being the only source for food and water, and an enormous amount of damage that’s impossible for me to comprehend. New Orleans is in dire straits, one of our major and most beautiful cities. The images and reports make it seem like a third world city and the slow response by authorities seems hard to understand.

I’d also encourage people to contact their representatives and senators and encourage them to support measures to ease the burden on the affected citizens. There’s a move right now to shield affected residents of Louisiana and Mississippi from the recently passed bankruptcy bill. The school districts taking on refuge students need extra funding, too. Congress also needs to evaluate seriously whether we’re planning and staffing key agencies correctly. The head of FEMA and disaster investigators should not be political appointees but career staffers with expertise in disaster recovery. Four years after 9/11 and we still seem slow to react to a disaster like this. It’s disappointing to say the least.

I’ve been watching a lot of CNN today where the news has obviously been hurricane Katrina and the damage in Mississippi and Louisiana. It’s been amazing seeing the damage that’s happened there because of this hurricane, especially since for New Orleans this was nowhere near the worst it could have been.

I got a little irked earlier today when one of the mayors down there compared the damage to the tsunami. We had warning, the death toll is nowhere near the same as the hundred thousand plus that died in that catastrophe, and our resources are far greater. After seeing footage all day about the damage, I realize that I’ve been too hard on the mayor. This is one of the worst natural disasters to hit the U.S. that I’ve seen in my lifetime. The worst part of the whole situation is the flooding that doesn’t seem like it’s going down as fast as it might in other areas.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those that are affected. Those residents face a long road ahead to rebuild and recover. If anyone has particular charities they know about that would be good to donate to, please leave comments below. The American Red Cross web site is swamped right now, but as soon as I can donate I will be giving some money there.

People are posting photos if you want a different perspective on the thing.

Update: Kevin Drum links to a good list of relief organizations.