WJ Editorial: America’s Disaster Response Legacy

For two months, the “20 Years Ago” section of The Waterways Journal’s “This Week” column (see page 14 in this issue) has featured stories of rescue operations and recovery efforts that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which quickly followed on Katrina’s heels.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500 people after the storm moved inland. Amazingly, two-thirds of those rescues were by boat, with Coast Guard members crisscrossing the flooded streets of New Orleans and surrounding communities in search of residents trapped in their houses.

As the recovery progressed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Guard, police agencies, fire departments, utility workers and other emergency responders all descended on southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi to help the region recover.

Then, there were the volunteers. The pages of this magazine captured some of the stories of mariners and maritime companies stepping up to send supplies, muck out houses and swing hammers, all in a collective effort to help the greater New Orleans area rise above the flood lines.

At this writing, the federal shutdown is still in force, but essential personnel from the Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard and other federal agencies remain at their stations. On October 28, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica with Category 5 winds of up to 185 mph. The storm then made a second landfall in southeastern Cuba before continuing toward the Atlantic. Melissa was reportedly the worst storm in the 174 years that Jamaica has been tracking landfalling storms. The U.S. State Department has already announced it has sent disaster assistance response teams to Jamaica and is coordinating with the Defense Department to airlift food, water and supplies to the island. Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Barbados will also receive aide.

No doubt, volunteers will pour into the hardest hit Caribbean nations to help in the recovery efforts as well.

Today, just as it was 20 years ago, is a good time to thank our first responders who are on the job 24/7, staffing the world’s largest and most extensive and capable emergency response system. Besides the Coast Guard and Corps, they include local police, rescue and fire departments, as well as military service teams. And let’s not forget that our commercial inland mariners make up part of that system, regularly rescuing people and working closely with other first responders.