Ida’s toll could have been worse

Aug. 31 Greenwood (Miss.) Commonwealth

When a hurricane packing 150-milesper-hour winds and torrential rain hits, it’s difficult to look for a silver lining amid the destruction.

But, fingers crossed, there definitely is one: The loss of life has been so much less than might have been anticipated.

As of early Monday evening, despite thousands of destroyed or heavily damaged structures, despite an estimated million homes and businesses losing electricity, despite untold numbers of utility poles and trees being blown down, only two deaths had been recorded as a result of the massively powerful hurricane.

That number is almost certain to rise, as rescue efforts are ongoing to find and bring to safety scores of people who remain trapped in their flooded homes. Also, as the storm continues to move northward, there remains the chance that it will spin off life-threatening tornadoes.

But barring some catastrophic turn of events, the fatality count from Ida will be nothing like the 1,800 deaths that Hurricane Katrina — a storm of like ferocity — caused 16 years ago. For that we can be extremely thankful, and appreciative of the tougher building codes and the billions of dollars spent on levee upgrades and seawalls to protect the most vulnerable areas along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. We can also be grateful that many took the threat seriously and evacuated out of harm’s way.

That’s not to say there won’t be a lot of misery and cost as a result of this storm. The loss of property is almost certainly going to be in the tens of billions of dollars. It may be a while before some of the displaced are able to return home and assess their damage. Power could be out for weeks in some places. And the necessity of putting large numbers of unrelated people in shelters could cause the current COVID-19 surge in Louisiana and Mississippi to go even higher.

Still, it could have been so much worse. Katrina demonstrated that less than a generation ago.

Many in Mississippi felt overlooked in 2005 when so much national attention was focused on the catastrophic flooding and loss of life in New Orleans, but this time Mississippi truly did fare better than did Louisiana. Remembering that it could have been the other way around, this state should not only look after its own but also help our neighbor to the west. The people of Louisiana are going to need assistance with utility and cleanup crews, with temporary housing and, when trustworthy channels have been set up, with monetary donations.

Gov. Tate Reeves set the right tone Monday when he announced that federal emergency personnel in Mississippi should be reallocated to Louisiana, where their services are more needed, and that Mississippi would add National Guard troops to help as well.

Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama all share some common attributes. None of them are wealthy states. All of them have vulnerable coastlines. All of them put much emphasis on the religious faith of their people.

When a natural disaster like this hits, it puts that faith and that commonality to the test. Mississippi has come through before for its stricken neighbors. We have confidence it will do so again.