Editorial: Nation will prevail over devastation

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

Television images since Monday have left viewers almost dazed by the extent of the property damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama caused by Hurricane Katrina. Viewers at first, however, could take solace in the relatively low loss of life. But then on Tuesday two levees holding back water from the 600-square-mile Lake Pontchartrain broke, sending water rushing into the already flooded city of New Orleans. As the news broke that 80 percent of the city was deep under water and that a total evacuation had been ordered, it also became clear from interviews with rescue workers that the hurricane's death toll was as yet unknown. Rescue workers acknowledged that all of their efforts, justifiably, were directed at rescuing people trapped on rooftops or in the rising water. There hadn't been time to retrieve bodies.

By Wednesday the tragic reality of heavy loss of life became more clear, taking away the one glimmer of hope in this national disaster, the worst in perhaps a hundred years. Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, leveled with reporters about the storm's mortal toll. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," the mayor told the Associated Press, adding that many other people are dead in their attics. He was asked for an estimate. "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands." Nagin's estimate was just for New Orleans. In Biloxi, Miss., Mayor A.J. Holloway told reporters, "This is our tsunami."

There can be no reliable prediction about when tens of thousands of evacuated people will be able to return to what is left of their homes. The best estimates, however, say it will be months before the worst-hit areas are habitable again. The nation's immediate challenge is to rescue as many people as possible, relocate them to safe areas and provide all refugees from the storm with drinking water, food, clothing and sanitary shelter. We are proud that search-and-rescue specialists from Nevada are taking part in that mission.

The challenges ahead may be even more daunting. Whole cities and towns, including their schools, hospitals, sewer and power systems, roads, residences and commercial districts, must be rebuilt. We can no longer take solace in the hope that casualties will be minimal. But we can be reassured in knowing that we live in a country with the resources and resolve to deal with any disaster, even one of this magnitude.