Portland Parents

School Starts!

Hurricane Katrina’s hit us hard. And it makes us wonder.

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not have heard about the Hurricane that pretty much wiped out New Orleans. You’ve not heard about the deaths, the injured, the totally wiped out people. Hurray for you, now get out there and read a little.

We’re getting 1000 people. Welcome, and relax a little. Portland’s lush and beautiful. Have a great stay.

Suppose a natural (or unnatural ) disaster struck Portland and the surrounding areas. In 1996, Portland had a flood that caused the mayor to put up flood walls along the waterfront. It’s happened in 1948 as well as 1964. What would happen if we had a major flood in Portland?

Well, the obvious response is that the number of hills in Portland would keep the situation from mirroring New Orleans. People would get to high ground a lot faster. So imagine Eugene. You remember Eugene, don’t you? Given twenty feet of water, the Willamette river could overcome most of downtown, and a good portion of the University of Oregon campus.

Or, perhaps you’ve had enough of flood; how about a fire? Imagine a huge fire sweeping through Old Town/Chinatown, all the way up to Powell’s, probably stopping at I-405 and moving ssouth down 12th avenue.

These imaginary disasters really aren’t big enough to encompass the destruction that has been visited upon New Orleans. But they’re a starting place.

What kind of responses might we see in Oregon to the same situations we see in New Orleans? How would you react? Would you help people or help yourself?