If a tree falls in a forest, but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

September 30, 2008
This page was originally intended to show my family and friends the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav in Sherwood Forest and other areas of Baton Rouge. However, it has apparently made the email rounds... a strong indication that others are still seeking information on what happened in the wake of this powerful storm. Though the site currently does not show up in search engines, my Yahoo site statistics page is now registering over 75,000 hits. THANK YOU, the readers, for sending this URL to your friends and relatives!

September 13, 2008
Hurricane Ike has added his punch to the Louisiana coastline, from Slidell to the Louisiana-Texas border. The president has declared a disaster in ten Louisiana parishes. Ike made landfall in eastern Texas, and the national media was there in full force, presenting the images of flood waters and damaged buildings once again. I am glad to see they are giving Texas this coverage, and I pray that they also extend that coverage over to the ravaged areas of Louisiana as well. National coverage plays a vital role in the recovery from powerful storms such as Gustav and Ike. Their reporting not only helps evacuated citizens, friends and relatives gain information, but perhaps more importantly, it generates much needed donations and attention toward the Red Cross and other relief organizations that are such an integral part of the recovery process.

I have chosen to leave my Gustav rant on the page, even in the face of Ike. Certainly, Ike has been covered by the national media. And yes, our hearts and prayers go out to all who have been affected. However, coverage of Ike does not change the history of Gustav, and thus the criticism below is still warranted. A photo gallery of Gustav's impact on Baton Rouge appears below.

September 10, 2008
While sitting in the dark during the last band of heavy thunderstorms that blasted through Baton Rouge, I turned to our battery-powered television for news and information. Fumbling with the dial in the 90+ degree heat, I began to envy those who had generators! It seemed like the tornado watches were never going to end, and I longed for a voice from the outside world. I was elated when the rabbit-ears finally picked up ABC. But, that elation soon turned to disgust as I heard the words that wafted across the airwaves on ABC's World News Now, along the lines of "Hurricane Gustav was a fizzle." What?!?! Did they experience the same hurricane we had?! Apparently, they had not. Over the next few days, my own disgust was magnified by the voices of others in my neighborhood, and then my city, and then my state. Relatives who lived in other parts of the country wondered why they hadn't heard anything about what was happening here. When I was finally able to charge the laptop in the car and snag a phone line to check my email about a week after the storm, I discovered that online friends believed the media hype that Gustav had been a non-event. More than a week after Gustav passed through Baton Rouge, our electricity was restored and I began an online search to see if anybody had told the real story of Gustav. Apparently Reuters let the rest of the world know that Gustav lacked "punch" and they all readily lapped it up. My friends, I am now officially PISSED OFF! Following is my open letter to Reuters and all the national media pundits I would love to tell off, who of course will never see this and would never care even if they did... but I will feel better for writing it:

Your story about Gustav is sadly lacking in fact. Gustav did pack a "punch" and rivaled the most powerful hurricanes ever to travel up the state of Louisiana. Check the statistics! Following the storm surge and the winds, which were longer in duration and higher in sustained speed during Gustav than during Katrina or even Hurricane Betsy in 1965, we were subjected to over a day of repeated tornadoes that ripped through the majority of our state, hindering any efforts to begin cleanup and recovery. Over 1.4 million households were left without power statewide (i.e., about 3 million people). Gustav maintained Category 1 status all the way up to Alexandria, Louisiana... to my knowledge, the strongest a storm has ever sustained 200 miles inland before. Hospitals, nursing homes, shelters housing evacuees from further south, the elderly, rich people, poor people, businesses, schools, no matter what, no matter who... we were ALL in the same situation after this storm... throughout most of the state. Sure, all you media pundits were sitting down in New Orleans waiting for the levees to break so that you could all lob criticisms at FEMA or Bush. You were all chopping at the bit to take photos of angry people who failed to listen to the evacuation orders and then were caught on their roofs because of this failure to evacuate. But, guess what?! The levees held, FEMA learned from past mistakes and got their act together, citizens realized an evacuation order meant they really SHOULD evacuate, and so the national media was down there all by themselves. Thus, they apparently decided to declare Gustav a "fizzle" or say it lacked "punch". When media personalities have been asked why they didn't cover the misery this time when they were all over the story for Katrina, many have responded that it's just not "visual" this time. Well, we've had devastation from wind and flooding throughout an ENTIRE STATE and not just one city this time, we've had 46 deaths statewide, we've had long lines for life's basic necessities, we've had tireless and selfless workers from all over the country toiling around the clock to bring the power back on in 105 degree heat factor weather so that others won't suffer, we've had neighbors helping neighbors and refusing to give up. We've had PLENTY of visual images and plenty of drama. What we haven't had is a scapegoat for the national media to blame... and with only nature to blame, you guys apparently just aren't interested. SHAME ON YOU!!! Journalists are supposed to report the news, not steer it to meet their own agenda.

Below is just a small sampling of the "punch" Gustav packed within my small neighborhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My neighborhood only had wind damage and rain, and it still looked this bad. The coastline areas (such as Grand Isle) were practically wiped from the map with storm surge and wind, St. Francisville and others were pounded repeatedly by tornadoes, many of the areas by rivers and in central Louisiana were flooded. I find it impossible to believe that the national media truly would not have found enough that was "visual" to cover this story!!!

Okay, that ends my rant. Ev

UPDATE: Thank you to The Advocate for running my Letter to the Editor on September 17, 2008.

Click on thumbnail to see larger image.
Copyright Evelyn Park Blalock, 2008
All rights reserved.


       

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

       

       

       




A few photos from other areas around Baton Rouge.
Click on thumbnail to see larger image.
Copyright Evelyn Park Blalock, 2008
All rights reserved.


           

           

           

           

           

   




This is just a small sample of the many photos that can be found on the website of Paul Dietzel II.
View more photos by this very talented photographer by visiting paultwo.net.


       

       

       




A small sampling of the uncredited photos submitted by listeners to the Gustav photo gallery at WJBO.com. Visit their website to see more.
Click on thumbnail to see larger image.


       

       

       

           

           

       




A small sampling of the uncredited photos submitted by viewers to the Gustav photo gallery at WAFB.com. Visit their website to see more.
Click on thumbnail to see larger image.


       

           

           

           

       




A small view of the massive amount of damage to Baton Rouge's energy infrastructure caused by Gustav.
Many Gustav-related photos from throughout Louisiana appear in the gallery posted by Entergy.
Visit their website to see more.


       

           




A small sampling from the thousands of Gustav-related photos on Yahoo flickr.
Hover mouse over each photo for details and photographer credit.
Click on thumbnail to go to a larger image on that photographer's flickr page.













* * * Other local news coverage * * *

2theAdvocate's front page story about the critical need for power restoration in nursing facilities post-Gustav.
My mother-in-law, Thelma Blalock, was included in the story, which ran four days after the storm.
THANK YOU to The Advocate for running this story. Power was restored the same day!

2theAdvocate's online photo galleries


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