By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@star-telegram.com
It was impossible to watch the progress of Hurricane Isaac headed in the direction of New Orleans without visualizing those unforgettable scenes in the aftermath of Katrina seven years ago.
A major American city was underwater, bodies were lying in the streets, stranded residents remained on rooftops summoning help, and thousands were trapped for days in a domed stadium with no air-conditioning, inadequate supplies and overflowing toilets.
As the world watched masses of people in misery, many made homeless and separated from family members, the government they counted on (local, state and national) seemed to be paralyzed, so overwhelmed by the disaster that it took far too long to get a workable rescue plan in motion.
Once authorities mobilized and began a mass evacuation to transport thousands of New Orleans residents hundreds of miles away, we began to see that spirit of America that usually appears in times of great distress.
I was never more proud of my community in North Texas and cities around the state than in those days when evacuees began to arrive at public buildings that had been set up as shelters.
The Friday night the buses started pulling in at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center in southeast Fort Worth, I went by and watched the tired, stunned, grief-stricken passengers unload, many of them not even knowing what city they were in.
Hundreds of volunteers already were on the job; food and supplies were plentiful; the city's emergency team was organized and effective at trouble-shooting major problems.
It didn't take long for our "guests," who would quickly become part of our "family," to become more at ease and begin to cope with their new reality.
Ministers, social workers and representatives from various agencies and city departments had come by to provide any help needed.
When I went back on Sunday afternoon, 350 displaced people were there, including some children who were orphaned.
There were also smiles that day, as most of the kids had been given new toys, and several Fort Worth families had invited many of the evacuees to have Sunday dinner at their homes.Barbers showed up to cut the boys' hair, and there were people from the school district on hand to get the youngsters assigned to schools.
I visited one of the elementary schools on the day some of the New Orleans children first arrived. At Harlean Beal Elementary, the school's namesake, who had been one of my teachers years ago, showed up to offer those students a very special welcome.
About 3,000 evacuees came to Tarrant County after Katrina, and many would decide to stay. That meant they needed permanent housing and jobs and other assistance in getting settled into a new home. (Houston got between 150,000 and 200,000 new residents from Louisiana, with 25,000 new students added to an already overburdened school system.)
Despite the challenges, we did what friends, neighbors, good Americans are supposed to when people are in need.
That is not say there were not some people around who griped, sometimes thinking that the New Orleans evacuees were getting more service than longtime needy residents. For example, many who had been on a waiting list for public housing were upset when they saw evacuees being given vouchers for rental assistance.
Those complaints paled in comparison to the overall generosity of our local governments, churches, agencies and caring individuals.
Hurricane Isaac wasn't expected to carry anywhere near the wallop of Katrina, but the amount of rain produced by such storms and the tornadoes they sometimes spin off can still cause havoc for the affected area.
We can pray that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be spared major devastation, but if disaster comes, that caring American spirit is sure to rise again.
Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.817-390-7775Twitter: @BobRaySanders
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