Maybe it'll take a few thousand deaths

It's heartbreaking, of course, to hear about the predicament of the people who decided to stay in New Orleans, Mississippi, and other places rather than do the smart thing and clear out. To hear about people, including children, stranded without food or water. To hear about snipers picking off innocent people who are just waiting to be rescued. To hear about looters, some of them looting valuables or alcohol, but some of them just looking for food or bottled water who nevertheless could be shot by a policman.

Still, they were warned. Not just recently with the storm on the way, but, in the case of New Orleans, through some TV documentaries explaining that New Orleans in particular, being below sea level, could be inundated by by a hurricane driven storm surge. The documentary I saw made it clear that the scenario we are witnessing now wasn't just idle speculation, but that it was a matter of when it would happen, not whether.

That question has been answered.

Maybe the next time a city gets a warning like this, they'll remember this disaster and hightail it out of town.

It's just too bad it may take the deaths of thousands of children, women, and men to create that awareness.