January 18: Hurricanes v. Fires

Facebook is an interesting place. It allows everyone to express their opinion no matter how ill-informed and conceived.  

One I have seen recently is the comparison between the effects, aftermath, and federal help for the victims of Hurricane Helena and those of the Los Angeles fire. 

Definitely an example of apples and oranges, or maybe apples and ham.  There is only a superficial connection, and I don't mean geographically. 

First, fires in Los Angeles are, well, common.  This is not the first time this has happened.  As a podcaster pointed out, Joan Didion wrote eloquently of this problem in 1972--that is, the problem of the Santa Ana winds, the lack of rain, and the regular fires. One of the best movies ever made (despite the director), Chinatown, is about this subject, or its origins. Despite its beauty and amiable climate--that is, dry rather than the humidity we Southeasterns suffer--it's a desert and living in a desert is perilous. 

Because of these regular fires, insurance rates, if insurance is available, are much much higher in Southern California.  This is actually a complicated issue because the state government is involved and wanted to cap premiums, leading insurance companies to pull out of the market.

Second, I would venture to say that the median incomes of the people who have lost their homes-- and lives--in California is much higher. It would have to be, where a home like I live in would be five times the price of what I paid, if not more.  And of course, as we are seeing on TV, many are celebrities and actors, able to get on media to protest the government's seeming inaction. 

There are many, many reports, unfounded and verifiable, of the local and state government incompetence, but I will leave that to others because I am not in a position to write about it. I am in more of a position to write about what happened here in September. 

In the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains, after a time of already heavy rains, Hurricane Helena went wild and came in from the coast to South Georgia, South Carolina, and the Eastern side of Southern Appalachia. Georgia and South Carolina are not strangers to hurricanes, but their mountain uplands are. Tennessee and North Carolina more so.  Widespread devastation from flooding and winds resulted. And anger, controversy, grief and sorrow because victims are still to be found from overflowing rivers and creeks and tornadic winds.  To the extent FEMA is supposed to help, it hasn't bestowed honor on itself. 

The people affected in TN and NC, and related areas, have two disadvantages. Access (roads washed out, already isolated conditions) and less income.  They were, and are, out of the way and poor in many cases. Less footage than what we can get of fires on the slopes of Los Angeles. Lots of crushed trailer homes and modest homes.  

Money and class matters.  Thus the angry memes on Facebook, like this:  

 I have some suspicions that the "redneck" or "poor Appalachian" stereotypes might be operating. That's why I think this is an issue of apples v. ham rather than two different fruits.  There is also the issue of "why didn't they?"  "Why didn't they know this would happen if a hurricane hit them?" Well, because hurricanes are not expected 300 to 500 miles inland. Fires are expected in Southern California. Helena was a once in a century event; Santa Ana winds happen every year.  

In October, our college was asked to help institutions in South Georgia that "had no food." The lack of power and other problems had cut off their ability to get in food shipments for residential students. That brought it home to us.  We just do not think of such things. Logistics are our savior. Until they aren't. 

I understand my fellow Southerners' anger, but I am not sure dueling disasters is a winnable argument.