Glenn Reynolds: Lessons in disaster for the next Katrina

It’s been a decade since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. What were the lessons? Here are a few:

1. The press did a lousy job.  Forget Brian Williams’ "huge lies." Though the press patted itself on the back afterwards, in fact, as American University Journalism Professor W. Joseph Campbell writes, “it’s instructive to recall how extreme and over the top the reporting was from New Orleans in Katrina’s aftermath.” Reports of wandering bands of rapists, a 10-year-old girl raped in the New Orleans Convention Center, claims that people were shooting at rescue helicopters, sharks haunting the floodwaters, bodies stacked like cordwood — all were false.

Though the extremism generated ratings, and satisfied the anti-American urges of the foreign press, it did real harm. New Orleans, a city battered by disaster, was portrayed as, in Maureen Dowd’s words, “a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning.” Dowd used this portrayal to take shots at then-President George W. Bush, and I suspect a lot of the media pile-on was similarly motivated, but it had the effect of stigmatizing victims and, by playing up anarchy and danger, may even have delayed the arrival of aid, as rescuers feared to go in without armed escort. Overall, a horrible media performance.

As Campbell notes, a bipartisan Congressional report in 2006 observed, “If anyone rioted, it was the media.” Sad.

2. Crying wolf is dangerous. There are a lot of reasons why New Orleans didn’t evacuate in time. According to George W. Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco froze. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (now in jail for corruption) was late in ordering evacuation of the city, despite warnings from "weather nerd” Brendan Loy. And the Bush White House and FEMA were notoriously late, Bush in particular being unwilling to federalize the issue and override Blanco’s inactive state government. But another reason why people didn’t evacuate in time is because the media engage in hurricane hype. When every story is treated as the storm of the century, people tune out. Some perspective, please? Oh, and reporters: We’ve all seen someone stand out on the beach as huge waves roll in, while telling everyone else to evacuate. It’s old news, and it sends mixed messages. A little common sense self-control in the media would go a long way toward making sure that serious warnings get the attention they deserve.

3. Be prepared, because basically you’re on your own. After Katrina hit — not only in New Orleans, but up and down the Gulf Coast — it took a lot longer than people expected for aid to arrive. Years later, when Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, it once again took a lot longer than people expected for aid to arrive, to the point that I was prompted to call Sandy ”Katrina-on-the-Hudson.” (“Weather nerd” Brendan Loy even warned again that authorities, in this case, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, weren’t taking the storm seriously enough before it struck. And as recently as this summer, the news was still running "horror stories" about the Sandy recovery, almost three years later.) Part of the problem is with people’s expectations. When roads are flooded, washed out, blocked by trees and power lines, etc., it takes a while to get them back in order. That means you need to be prepared to get by for at least a few days — and, much better, at least a couple of weeks — on your own. That means having extra food, water, medications, fuel, batteries, etc. on hand. It also means getting along with your neighbors. For a few days at least, and maybe longer, they’ll be all the help you have.

4. Really, when they tell you to evacuate, listen. And if you’re particularly vulnerable, or just disinclined to be a victim, pay attention to the news. You’re free to leave before orders are given, and if you do, there won’t be as much traffic, and conditions elsewhere won’t be as crowded.

5. This will all happen again. It was over seven years after Katrina that Sandy hit, but New York made many of the same mistakes. We’ve been fortunate not to have any really severe hurricanes since, despite post-Katrina predictions that heavy hurricane seasons would be the new normal. But sooner or later, a hurricane strikes, or a tornado, or a blizzard, and things break down. We think of them as unusual, but on any reasonable time scale they’re regular events. At both the governmental and the personal level, we need to think of preparedness for disaster as part of normal life. Because it is.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor, is the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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