By Marie Brown
Northeast LA experienced one of the worst ice storms in modern history this past week. Ouachita Parish was hit extremely hard. In fact, over 90% of the storm damage has been here. By Tuesday of this week, 45,000 residents in Ouachita Parish were without power. Damages consisted of downed power lines, phone lines, trees, icy roads, and no water, just to name a few. Most hotels were full to capacity, and the only hotel in downtown Monroe was charging over $300.00 per night. Although everybody, including the rich and poor were affected, those with limited resources have been hit the hardest.
Governmental officials are the ones we look to for leadership during times such as these. However, faith-based clubs and organizations and community representatives, just to name a few, are looked to for support as well. We certainly appreciate those who step forward to show initiative in coming to the rescue. Overall, we do not have a plan of action to address major emergencies where communication is widespread and the community is connected to the governmental officials. We have mostly new governmental officials on the state and local levels, so they should look at the past strategies that were used by previous experienced officials or create new ones.
With all the chaos going on with politics, elections, and life in general, these weather-related storms should teach us all that we should not only be prepared but stay prepared. When this happens, we will be able to Love where we Live and Live where we Love.
