by Alan Walker

The following was excerpted from The Lake Charles Bonsai Society September 'Bonsai News'. We don't know how fortunate we are until we see the devastation that some of our friends and relatives have suffered. All or us hope that our friends and loved ones, as well as our bonsai friends, in the affected areas are safe and sound. – ED

On 29 August 2005, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Alabama were struck by the "perfect storm", Hurricane Katrina. This storm delivered the worst case scenario which had been predicted by many in recent years. And we were all caught off guard. It is uncanny how accurate the predictions were. And how unprepared we were.

Like most of us, I had been desensitized to these sorts of events by all the inevitable hyperbole we hear in news accounts, etc. This disaster is just impossible to exaggerate. It is only different from the devastation of the 26 December 2004 tsunami in that there was warning and time to evacuate from this event.

It is sad but understandable that individuals like me would underestimate the danger. After all, New Orleans is over 300 years old, and this had never happened before. Sure, we'd had Betsy in 1965 and seen Camille in 1969 just over on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Those were monster storms. But Katrina just dwarfs them. Katrina, the big bad wolf, blew lots of houses down and killed a lot of people and left everyone shocked and amazed at the power.

I thought I was affected by Hurricane Andrew, which after all had visited Louisiana after wreaking havoc on Homestead and south Florida. But this is much more up close and personal. I am grateful that my home and immediate community were spared any direct effects from Katrina. I am heartbroken for my friends.

As I write this we have seen so much, yet we know so little. We do not know the fates of many of our friends and families there. We hope and pray. We offer our money and goods and services which all seem so paltry next to the immense need.

It will probably be quite a long, long time before our bonsai friends from the New Orleans area will be thinking much about bonsai. Right now those who survived are evacuated and frustrated in their inability to return or have been trapped there without electricity, working batteries, fuel, potable water, internet or telephonic communication, functioning toilets, and dwindling supplies of food and hope. We've heard tragic stories about the anarchy which developed when any substantial aid failed to appear for the better part of a week following the disaster.

There is much more to say about this storm. It will impact us all the rest of our lives. I hope that all of you will be generous in your support to the Red Cross who always is there to lead the rescue and recovery effort in all these disastrous events.